CHICAGO - The day after his contract with Ginebra officially expired last December 15, Japeth Aguilar reached out to Japan B.League teams interested in acquiring his services.
A Japan-based agent told SPIN.ph that the Gin Kings star inquired if a "three-year deal worth $35,000 a month" was on the table.
There was none.
The only counter-offer that returned was for "$25,000 a month for one year."
And that, in a nutshell, was why Aguilar will remain in the PBA in the immediate future, a move that at age 34, is likely to close the doors on him playing in the Land of the Rising Sun as an Asian import.
Bad timing, not waning interest for the still-coveted Aguilar, was the reason behind the quick disappearance of those previously rumored big-money offers that was his for the taking and reportedly spurred Ginebra to pressure him unrelentingly into re-signing an extension.
With the B.League season in full-swing and entry visas almost impossible to secure in Japan, teams have tightened the purse strings on spending because the prudent thing to do is align the budget and wait for the fresh season to commence.
This unexpected twist left Aguilar in a bind.
Dilemma
If he chose Japan and abandoned Ginebra, he risked unemployment for a few months while waiting until June or July to get a firm offer on paper that wouldn't be stained with tampering.
This also explains why a basketball personality aligned with the center's camp told me in a Viber conversation that Japeth was willing to go on a Zoom meeting with Japan reps if they can provide proof of an offer.
Team reps told me to inform Japeth's people that Aguilar will get as much as $50,000 a month on his second contract with the B.League, the caveat being he must first prove himself in his rookie one-year contract, something they believed the nimble big will be able to accomplish with flair.
BUT GOOD THINGS DON'T ALWAYS HAPPEN TO THOSE WHO WAIT.
Apparently, Japeth wanted something more tangible right now, not later, and that is why word began to leak as early as last December 24 that he was staying with the Gin Kings.
Sources told me his new deal with Ginebra is around P1.2 million a month for three years and God knows how the San Miguel group would pull off the financial gymnastics in a way that would contort the deal to fit with the league's salary cap memo that allows max contracts to be no more than P500,000 a month.
That, for now, is a column for another day, a stark reminder that small, independent PBA teams simply do not have the chance to compete against moneyed franchises that seem to have both the nerve and the financial wherewithal to circumvent the salary cap rules.
And this is also about how Aguilar triumphed with a nailing a hefty contract by playing his free agency cards like a poker shark, allegedly leveraging his Japan offers to get the kind of cash and perks that Ginebra wouldn't have necessarily given him otherwise.
I've always been pro-labor and I'm ecstatic that this contractual tug-of-war ended the way it did, in favor of Japeth.
Athletic careers have short shelf lives, with injuries constantly threatening it like the sword of Damocles hanging over a player's career. Whatever he's getting with the Gin Kings, Japeth has surely earned it.
As for B.League teams, some felt "used" while others thought that Japeth's planned flight to Japan was "never real" to begin with.
I don't know about that and I sure won't torment Japeth for doing what he thought was best for him and his family.
There is no such thing as fair play in the negotiating table where the foundation is getting the best results, not necessarily good faith.
POSTSCRIPT. Japeth's saga is Exhibit A for B.League suitors that PBA players from the SMC and TNT groups will be harder to pry than the other stars who play for smaller fishes in the 12-team pond.
When Matthew Wright and Robert Bolick get their offers from Japan in the next few months, there is no chance in hell that Phoenix and NorthPort can match.
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