RUMOR: Petron and Barangay Ginebra were supposed to be major players in the multi-team transactions consummated in Singapore, until a top official stepped in and pulled the plug on deals involving Jay Washington, Kerby Raymundo, Japeth Aguilar, and Sol Mercado among others.
FACTS: Petron and Barangay Ginebra were supposed to figure prominently in the blockbuster PBA deals on Thursday, but ended up holding empty bags at the end of the trading frenzy.
What happened?
Globalport was the major player in the trades consummated in the early-morning hours in Singapore, getting Japeth Aguilar from Talk 'N Text for Rabeh Al-Hussaini then acquiring Sol Mercado, Kelly Nabong, and JP Belencion from Meralco for Rey Guevarra, Vic Manuel, Josh Vanlandingham, and a draft pick.
Under the original premise of the six-team trade discussed in Singapore on the sidelines of the PBA board's planning session, Ginebra and Petron were supposed to step in during the second wave of the transactions after the Aguilar-Al-Hussaini swap, with Air21 coming in for a separate transaction with Meralco.
Petron was supposed to part with forward Jay Washington and get Vic Manuel and Jason Deustchmann from Globalport while Aguilar was set to land in Ginebra's lap while the Kings part with Kerby Raymundo, who in turn will be packaged by Globalport with Rey Guevarra and sent to Meralco for Mercado and Nabong.
Globalport, for its part, will end up with Washington and Mercado.
The basic framework of that deal had been all but sealed, sources said, and the proposal had in fact been sitting on the desk of league commissioner Chito Salud since two weeks ago, or at around the same time Spin.ph broke the story on the Aguilar-Al-Hussaini trade.
""May arrangement na yang trade na 'yan, kumbaga isang bulate na lang ang hindi pumipirma,"" said a source. ""Two weeks ago pa, nasa Commissioner's Office na yung proposal na 'yan.""
That was also the framework top officials of the six teams started to work with over wine when they sat down on Wednesday night to seal the deals. But somewhere along the way, Petron and Ginebra got lost in the shuffle.
But why?
According to sources, confusion arose during the Singapore negotiations when the two San Miguel-owned teams backed out of the transactions. It was supposedly a top SMC official, acting decisively after being adviced against the trades, that pulled the plug on the Petron and Ginebra deals.
On Thursday morning, SMC sports director Noli Eala shed a little light on San Miguel's decision with a pair of tweets.
""It is very unfortunate that some papers headlined an alleged trade involving some of our players which we don't agree with,"" he said through his Twitter account @NoliEala, apparently referring to the Washington and Aguilar deals.
Quizzed by his followers, Eala posted another tweet: ""Don't misunderstand me. We want Japeth. But if that deal means entering deals which we don't want, we are in no rush to do it.""
With Petron and Ginebra out of the picture, Globalport went for the next best available deals. The Mikee Romero-owned franchise decided to keep Aguilar then shipped Manuel, Guevarra, and Vanlandingham to Meralco for Mercado, Nabong and Belencion.
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