Trade Rumors in PBA, Lassiter to Baclao and Guevarra

AKTV/Paul Ryan Tan

Amid reports of the sale of its PBA franchise, Powerade is trading one of its top players to the Petron Blaze Boosters, the flagship squad of San Miguel Corporation, which has been rumored to buy the Tigers team.

Multiple sources with knowledge of the deal told InterAKTV that Powerade is planning to send rookie Marcio Lassiter to Petron in exchange for Noy Baclao and Rey Guevarra.

Picked fourth overall in this season’s rookie draft, Lassiter has emerged as one of the best players in the league, ranking third in the statistical points race in the Philippine Cup behind Petron’s Arwind Santos and Powerade teammate Gary David, and established stars James Yap of B-MEG and Alex Cabagnot of Petron. With David and fellow rookie JVee Casio, Lassiter helped the Tigers embark on a Cinderella run in the recently-concluded Philippine Cup.

Baclao and Guevarra, who were drafted first and third in the 2010 draft, were tipped to contribute heavily for the Boosters after the erstwhile San Miguel Beermen acquired them in a blockbuster trade with Air 21 last season. But the duo have seen limited playing time in the Philippine Cup, with Baclao playing an average of just 11.3 minutes over 21 games and Guevarra appearing in just 10 of the Boosters’ 23 games.

The deal still requires the approval of the PBA. League commissioner Chito Salud has the right to revise or veto deals that he deems imbalanced.

PBA media bureau head Willie Marcial said the league office has yet to receive paperwork for any such deal.

Report of the transaction comes in the midst of murmurs that the Tigers will once again become part of SMC. The Philippine Daily Inquirer on Thursday reported that the team has been sold to the conglomerate, but Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines Inc., the company that owns the Powerade team,denied the story.

Coke’s PBA franchise used to be part of SMC, before the corporate giant sold its stake in CCBPI in 2006. Under terms of that transaction, SMC retained right of first refusal to buy the PBA team if Coke decided to sell it.

Despite the denial of Coke, officials of other PBA teams expressed alarmed over the development. One team executive who requested anonimity feared that the purchase would allow SMC to strengthen its current teams by acquiring top players from the Tigers.

Many PBA franchises on the way to being sold or disbanded have seen their marquee players transferred prior to their sale or disbandment.

In 2009, Sta. Lucia traded star players Kelly Williams and Ryan Reyes to Talk ‘N Text a few months before the franchise was sold to Meralco, which is owned by the Manuel V. Pangilinan group that also controls the Tropang Texters. InterAKTV is part of InterAksyon.com, the online news portal of TV5, which is chaired by Pangilinan.

In 2006, top Coke players Rudy Hatfield, Rafi Reavis, and Billy Mamaril were traded to Barangay Ginebra before SMC let go of the franchise.

In 2005, top players from Shell including Tony dela Cruz and Rich Alvarez (Alaska), Billy Mamaril (Coca-Cola), Roger Yap (Purefoods), and Ronald Tubid (Air 21) were traded to different squads before the team left the PBA.

In 2001, Tanduay traded stars Eric Menk to Ginebra and Dondon Hontiveros to San Miguel before selling the franchise to the FedEx Express.

source : interaksyon.com