Record cast drawn for 2021 PBA draft

MANILA, Philippines — The biggest, most exciting PBA Rookie Draft in years looms with big names from the 3x3 circuit and the collegiate leagues bannering a record number of players who made themselves available for the 2021 draft exercise set March 14.

Gilas cadets Calvin Oftana from San Beda and William Navarro from Ateneo, a host of other promising names from the NCAA and the UAAP, and an array of Fil-foreign players lead the cast of 97 applicants all hoping to crack PBA Season 46 with a target opener in April.

Yesterday’s close of office was the deadline for the list-up as well as the submission of required documents for among the Fil-foreign hopefuls.

Not all Fil-foreigners were able to satisfy the requirements, but PBA commissioner Willie Marcial intends to extend the deadline to March 14, subject to the approval of the PBA board of governors in a meeting today.

Jason Brickman, Jeremiah Gray, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser and Taylor Statham are among the marquee names among 31 Fil-foreign applicants – also a record number, nearly doubling the cast of 16 in the 2015 draft.

Meanwhile, the total list of  97 hopefuls surpassed the previous record of 91 in the 2014 exercise led by top selections Stanley Pringle, Kevin Alas, Ronald Pascual, Matt Ganuelas-Rosser and Chris Banchero.

“We’ve drawn a big, strong cast for what could well be the most exciting draft in years,” said the league commissioner, seeing the 2021 draft class as the most stacked since the 1989 batch of Benjie Paras, Nelson Asaytono, Ato Agustin, Bong Alvarez, Dindo Pumaren, Boy Cabahug and others.

The draft program, whether featuring a special Gilas draft or just the regular draft, is among the key topics in today’s board meeting, along with the planned PBA 3x3 launch and the East Asia Super League invites.

Together with counterpart leagues in China, Korea and Japan, the PBA has a standing invitation to be a founding member of the FIBA-sanctioned EASL that intends to hold its initial tourney late this year.

A torny issue is the conflict of schedules, and apparently it’s a cause of hesitation from some PBA board members.

The EASL has penciled a calendar for a home-and-away, five-month season featuring two teams each from China, Korea, Japan and the Philippines divided into two groups.

EASL CEO Matt Beyer is reportedly offering a guaranteed appearance fee of $20,000 per game plus a bonus of $20,000 for each win.  Aside from the $1 million first prize, EASL will award $500,000 to the runner-up and $250,000 to the third placer. – John Bryan Ulanday