THE Bella Belen sweepstakes will take a pivotal turn on Monday night as the PVL hosts its second-ever draft lottery.
Although the National U star still stands at a crossroads on either pursuing or withdrawing her draft application, the four cellar-dwellers from the last two PVL conferences remain eager to get their hands on the best available talent.
READ: Bella Belen to PVL not yet a done deal. Here's why
Some of the prominent names that have reportedly thrown their names in the mix are Belen's NU teammates Erin Pangilinan and Sheena Toring, Ateneo's AC Miner and captain Lyann de Guzman, Far Eastern University's one-two scoring punch in Jean Asis and Chenie Tagaod, University of Santo Tomas' Pia Abbu and University of the Philippines' Nica Celis among others.
What are the odds?
This year, Nxled has the highest odds of securing the top pick.
The 40-percent incentive for the lottery was awarded to the Chameleons by virtue of their back-to-back 10th place finishes in the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference and the 2024 PVL Reinforced Conference.
Simply put, Nxled will have four balls out of 10 when the league draws the team set to land the top overall draft pick.
Then comes last year’s No. 2 pick Capital1 that also had the second-best odds of the top selection in the inaugural lottery.
The Solar Spikers’ lottery chances rose despite a franchise-best seventh-place finish in import-laden play with record-breaking Russian winger Marina Tushova.
Unfortunately, the team’s post-Tushova era fell flat as it finished second to the last in the All-Filipino Conference at 11th place with just one win in 13 matches played.
Farm Fresh, after landing the No. 4 pick last year, has a chance to move one spot up the drafting order as it has the third-best odds of obtaining the No. 1 pick.
It essentially becomes a lottery swap with Galeries Tower that had the No. 3 pick last year but will now have the fourth-best odds to pick first in the draft.
The remainder of the provisional drafting sequence has ZUS Coffee going from fifth to first in the draft last year, Cignal in sixth, Chery Tiggo in seventh, Choco Mucho in eighth, PLDT in ninth, Akari in 10th, Petro Gazz in 11th and Creamline in 12th.
As per the league, there are ties yet to be broken between the teams set to choose from fifth to 12th which can still result in a few changes in the final drafting order to be released in the coming days.
The lottery will be followed by a two-day draft combine from May 30 to 31 before the final list of eligible draft aspirants is released on Jun. 4 — four days before draft night on Jun. 8 at Novotel Manila Araneta City.
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