ANOTHER former PBA top draft pick is on the move.
Mac Belo is being dealt by Blackwater to Meralco in exchange for starting point guard Baser Amer in a one-on-one trade agreed upon by the two teams on Tuesday.
Trade papers had already been submitted for approval to the Commissioner’s Office.
The transaction came on the same day the league approved the San Miguel-Terrafirma trade that sent 2018 No. 1 overall pick CJ Perez to the Beermen for Matt Ganuelas-Rosser, Russel Escoto, Gelo Alolino, and two first-round picks in 2021 and 2022.
Belo, 27, was the top pick of the Bossing in the 2016 special draft among Gilas cadets following a decorated career with Far Eastern University where he won a UAAP men’s basketball title in 2015 and was named Finals MVP.
He also had stints with the national team in the 2013 and 2015 Southeast Asian Games.
While the Midsayap, Cotabato native has shown flashes of brilliance, the 6-foot-4 forward hasn’t had a so-called breakout season in the league as his four-year pro career has been mostly marred by injuries.
Amer meanwhile, was the Bolts’ first round pick (No. 7 overall) in the 2015 draft and has been the team’s starting player in the backcourt since the retirement of former MVP Jimmy Alapag.
Like Belo, the 28-year-old Amer is a three-time league All-Star, who won the All-Star MVP in 2018 during the Mindanao leg of the annual spectacle.
He was a four-time NCAA champion with San Beda, who was adjudged Finals MVP during the 2012 season.
Ironically, Amer was a teammate of Belo with the Gilas cadets team that won the SEA Games gold in Singapore in 2015.
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