How Can Prospective PBA Rookies Avoid The Ban?

The PBA has a new regulation that was approved by the PBA board last 17 July, sent to players and team owners on 18 July, and made public on 5 August. Many considered it as the strongest response of the league to stop the trend among the country’s rising stars and skilled veterans going abroad to play, mostly in Japan and South Korea.

Whether the PBA order will have a legal leg to stand on, or whether it violates the constitutional right of individuals to plan their own destiny, will not be known until the regulation is contested in court.

What is clear, however, is that the PBA has been hurt to its core as player after player abandoned the league in increasing frequency. Over the past few years, some college stars have refused to enter the PBA draft, veterans have not renewed their contracts, and, in one publicized case, a rookie did not honor the draft selection and played for a rival league.

That rookie is also banned for three years under the PBA’s new rules and regulations.

Surprisingly, despite the shock waves generated by the memorandum, the PBA has not called a press conference to explain how it arrived at its earth-shaking decision to ban players.

However, it doesn't take much thinking to find out how to avoid the ban.

In order not to be the subject of any PBA rules, college and amateur players planning to join the PBA should first think twice and examine their options. Don't submit any application to the draft or avoid signifying any interest until all those options are exhausted.

After graduation, promising, skilled, and potential PBA superstars can send feelers to the Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese leagues. If a positive response is expected, then that is a sign not to apply for a PBA draft, therefore, not subjected to any PBA rules and regulations.

If the player has to wait for the foreign leagues' official response, then they can temporarily take their talents to the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL), a men's regional professional basketball league composed of 30 teams. The contracts can be a short-term engagement and there are no MPBL policies detrimental to the players seeking work abroad.

There is an inevitable shelf life for athletes. It is adviseable to choose the biggest paycheck when they are still able. The PBA can be a pre-retirement destination and the last option whenever others doesn't work out.

Over the past years, the PBA has seen its popularity decline, its fan attendance diminish, its income reduced. It is, therefore, prudent, for any professional Filipino basketball players to avoid it during the early years of their career.

For the PBA, it must accept the reality that all over the world the best basketball players are moved around like chess pieces. This is the norm, one accepted by both players and teams, amateur and professional. Players going from one league to another is regarded favorably. They do what they have to do to achieve the ultimate dream: to play at the pinnacle of the sport, the NBA.