CHICAGO - With an expiring contract heading into PBA's Season 50, the Magnolia Hotshots tendered a two-year offer to Jerrick Ahanmisi.
The deal, however, wasn't exactly smoldering hot, just P240,000 a month, a source with knowledge of the situation told me.
Feeling that he deserved more as a four-year veteran, Ahanmisi rejected the offer hoping that perhaps a fatter proposal would follow.
SOURCES SAY What went wrong in Jerrick Ahanmisi-Magnolia negotiations
What transpired instead on August 22 was the news that the former Adamson Falcons gunner was traded to, of all damn places, Terrafirma for Javi Gomez de Liano and a second-round pick in this year's PBA Rookie Draft.
There are currently no ongoing contract talks between Ahanmisi and Terrafirma, which isn't surprising because the Dyip are for sale and are bracing for a potential transitory period where preserving wealth and not taking in new contracts for a buyer to inherit is paramount.
FROM 5 MIL TO ZERO.
So instead of making a guaranteed P5,760,000 or roughly $102,857 in the next 24 months, Ahanmisi is left with nothing for now.
Although he averaged a career-high 6.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.9 assists in the entirety of Season 49, Jerrick's output dropped to 4.8 points, 1.2 rebounds and 0.8 assists in the Philippine Cup.
In fairness to Ahanmisi, though, he barely got out of former coach Chito Victolero's doghouse and logged just 7.8 minutes an outing in the all-Filipino conference.
Despite the lack of playing time, Ahanmisi showed that he can knock down shots when he is on the court and given opportunities as shown by his 3-for-8 clip from 4 and 3-for-9 rate from 3 this past conference.
Given all of the circumstances, was Magnolia's offer fair?
JUST DO MORE.
Yes, so said Jude Roque, a TV analyst for PBA Rush on Cignal.
"Jerrick is a great shooter coming out of college but for him to command a higher pay, he needs to show more, like playing better defense and getting more active on the boards," Roque, who is also team manager of San Beda in the NCAA, explained.
What happens if the 6-foot-1, 185-lb guard can't strike a deal with Terrafirma?
The 27-year-old Ahanmisi's options will be limited but not completely arid. He can head off the Taiwan or the Indonesian Basketball League (IBL) where another Fil-Am, Franky Johnson, is doing really well.
There's also the MPBL, where the salaries are escalating, at least on some of the rich teams like Abra.
The Magnolia-Jerrick Ahanmisi break-up is a cautionary tale.
PBA players need to know their value, but they must also be careful in setting a price point for their services
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