THE megadeal involving TNT, NLEX, and Blackwater has raised not a few questions, both on its fairness and on the legality of trading a PBA No. 1 pick.
Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, you see, was part of the three-team, six player deal that will see the big man and Paul Desiderio go to NLEX, Calvin Oftana and Raul Soyud move to TNT and Troy Rosario and Gab Banal end up at Blackwater.
[READ: Oftana to TNT, Rosser to NLEX, Rosario to Blackwater in trade]
Shortly after news of the trade broke in online media outlets, questions were raised by netizens on whether Ganuelas-Rosser can be traded or not, being the No. 1 pick in the league' mosy recent draft.
Fans pointed to media reports, including one by SPIN.ph, in 2018 quoting PBA officials as saying that the board of governors unanimously approved a rule barring the trade of the first selection overall starting 2019.
The supposed ruling was an offshoot of the controversial 2018 trade where KIA gave up its top pick to San Miguel in exchange for Ronald Tubid, Jay-R Reyes, Rashawn McCarthy, and its 2019 first-round pick.
“Starting 2019, hindi na puwede,” PBA commissioner Willie Marcial was quoted as saying in the 2018 article, referring to the ban on trading the No. 1 pick.
[READ: PBA to disallow trade of No. 1 pick, says Marcial]
Fast forward to now.
When asked whether there is a rule that prohibits the trading of the player drafted first overall, the PBA said there is no such thing at the moment.
“We don’t have that policy as of now,” said PBA deputy commissioner Eric Castro.
Odd as it may be, the rule may be open to interpretation.
The PBA hasn't revealed details on the supposed board approval mentioned by Marcial in 2018, much less its implementing rules and guidelines.
But if there is indeed a rule, it is not clear if it only applies to No. 1 draft pick, just like in 2018 when the Beermen eventually selected Christian Standhardinger after the deal was struck, and not to the player selected first overall.
The important question is: Does the supposed ‘no trade clause’ rule apply only the pick or does it also apply to the players selected?
For now, let’s all wait for the PBA trade committee to make a decision - and for its top officials to clear up this confusion.
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