Out of the total of 128 players officially applied for the draft, guard Jason Brickman is considered as the most elite and ripe for the taking at 33 years old.
Brickman has been on Filipinos’ radar since his time in the U.S. NCAA Division 1 playing for Long Island where he built a reputation as a pass-first point guard. In his senior season, he was one of the finalists for the Bob Cousy Award which is an honor given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to the best collegiate point guard of the year.
After college, the Filipino-American guard played around the world before returning to his mother’s homeland, the Philippines. He is undoubtedly the most experienced player in this draft class—not just by age, but by resume too. He has played in Russia, Germany, Malaysia, Thailand, and Taiwan, winning several championships along the way.
Now, he joins the Meralco Bolts, who picked him seveth in the PBA draft last 7 September.
He has already acquainted himself with the local brand of basketball though, as he has played for San Miguel Alab Pilipinas in the ASEAN Basketball League, the Abra Weavers in the MPBL, and most recently Strong Group Athletics in the William Jones Cup.
If not for his age, Brickman would have likely been considered a shoo-in to be picked first overall in this year’s draft. A point guard with his playmaking skills has the ability to elevate a good team into a great one. Instead, he selected behind 25-year-old Juan Gomez de Liano and 26-year-old Will Gozum.
With the Bolts, he should step in immediately as the team’s backup point guard behind Chris Banchero.
Brickman’s road to the PBA has been a long and winding one indeed. He first tried to apply in 2021, but the COVID lockdown prevented him from completing the exhaustive list of documents, a couple of which required a personal appearance in Manila, in time for the deadline.
The following year, it appeared that Brickman would never have a chance of playing in the PBA after the league imposed a head-scratching age limit of 30 on all future Fil-foreign applicants. Brickman was already 31 at the time.
Thankfully, the PBA eventually abandoned this rule, but by that time Brickman was already tearing up the T1 League in Taiwan and couldn’t get out of his contract.
Fast forward to January 2025, and it now appears that there is nothing to stop Brickman from finally throwing his name into the PBA draft.
"Yeah, I think the goal is to enter the PBA, so I’m looking forward to the next draft," Brickman said. "Hopefully I can enter and join the PBA."
Brickman says he has played out his contract in Taiwan, where he led the league in assists in 2021-22.
"I was in a contract in Taiwan, so I was not able to get out of my contract. I had a few more years still left, so now that I’m out of my Taiwan contract, I’m able to join the PBA. I wanted to when they changed the rules to allow just the passports. I would be able to join, but unfortunately, I was just in a contract in Taiwan. "Now that I’m out of the contract, I should be able to join the next PBA draft," Brickman added. As he enters the PBA Draft, he is expected to make an immediate impact as he has logged miles both overseas and around the local circuit for over a decade. Given his overseas experience, he should settle in quickly in the PBA and it should only be a matter of time before he finds himself running the offense of a contender.
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