The 1997 Mobiline Cellulars season was the 8th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The team change its moniker from Cellulars to Mobiline Phone Pals beginning the Governor's Cup.
Occurrences
Norman Black became the new head coach of the Mobiline Cellulars, replacing Yeng Guiao at the start of the season. Coach Norman Black steered the team to a semifinal stint in the All-Filipino Cup after two years of being a doormat. After the Cellulars were eliminated in the Commissioner's Cup, Mobiline top honcho Choy Cojuangco and RFM chairman Joey Concepcion agreed on a player-coach trade during the first week of August, that brought Norman Black to Pop Cola and Bottlers' team consultant Derrick Pumaren to the Cellulars.
Mobiline also acquired Ato Agustin from Pop Cola in exchange for Elpidio Villamin and Peter Martin. At the start of the Governor's Cup, former Grandslam coach Tommy Manotoc has taken Norman Black's place at the Mobiline bench with Derrick Pumaren as his co-head coach.