ROOKIE Avan Nava suffered the same fate as Kyt Jimenez at San Miguel.
The 6-foot-2 Fil-Canadian guard was relegated to the injured/reserve list prior to the start of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup since the Beermen would be exceeding the limit for Fil-foreign players in the active roster per team.
“Sosobra na kami sa Fil-foreign players,” said team manager Gee Abanilla when sought to explain management’s decision to relegate San Miguel’s first-round pick in the last PBA draft to the reserve list.
COLUMN: Kyt Jimenez leaving SMB for the Valientes is a win-win
As things stand, the Beermen have exactly seven Fil-foreign players in their roster, namely Marcio Lassiter, Chris Ross, Mo Tautuaa, Simon Enciso, Kris Rosales, Andreas Cahilig, and yes, CJ Perez.
The 31-year-old Perez, who was raised in Pangasinan, is considered a Fil-foreigner under PBA rules since he was born outside of the country (Hong Kong).
That’s the same case as Jimenez, who falls under the same classification since Saudi Arabia was the listed place where he was born. He was relegated to the team’s unrestricted free agent with rights to salary (UFAR2S) list.
While Nava continued to be a fixture on the San Miguel bench in street clothes during games, Jimenez has reached a verbal agreement to play for the Zamboanga Valientes in the coming 34th Dubai International Basketball Championship.
Nava has yet to be activated for the mid-season conference after playing a total of seven games wearing the yellow-and-red San Miguel jersey in the Governors’ Cup, where he tallied a total of six points, five rebounds, and five assists.
READ PBA revisits rule limiting Fil-foreign players per team
The No. 12 overall pick in the last draft previously played for the Seoul Samsung Thunders in the Korean Basketball League prior to joining Asia’s pioneering pro league.
The only difference between Nava and Jimenez's situations is that the latter, being an unrestricted free agent, can sign with another PBA team without any restrictions while reserve Nava cannot.
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