MANILA, Philippines – Now that the 2024 PBA Draft has begun, the clubs have selected their players. Evaluating the draft’s winners and losers is the next step. It turns out that this process is not as simple as it seems.

How should the “winner” of a draft be chosen? Usually, the club that selects first overall is regarded as the winner; this is how the San Antonio Spurs selected Victor Wembanyama. It is a simple decision that would have been made by any team in their position.

On the other hand, one may also wonder if the first-pick team is ever truly a loser. This has happened on a few occasions, including when the Phoenix Suns selected Deandre Ayton over Luka Doncic.

But these kinds of decisions are frequently made after the fact. Whether Luka was the best choice at the time was hotly contested. Even the winner of the transaction between the Dallas Mavericks and the Atlanta Hawks (Trae Young for Luka) was discussed. That argument is essentially resolved now.

Teams who got a better value for where they placed their draft picks are the ones who win in this situation. It would be like setting out on a budget for one bag of groceries and coming home with two.

Phoenix Fuel Masters 

Taking into account their meager haul, this is an improbable choice. However, keep in mind that they only have the fourth overall pick—they don’t have a second-round pick—and the fourth pick—28th overall—in the third round. They acquired Kai Ballungay and CJ Payawal, both of whom I believe will be important rotation players—Ballungay, in particular, has the potential to be a real force.

Although Payawal was selected in the third round, he was my choice for a draft steal if he dropped to the late second round. Therefore, in that situation, he truly is a steal; hopefully, he won’t disagree with me. Ballungay dropped to the fourth rank. “Fell” because, even if Barangay Ginebra was chosen, I believed he would be number three. They must truly want Jamie Malonzo’s route to be unobstructed.

Larry Muyang and Raul Soyud are small bruisers that might be very useful to Ballungay. Coach Mike Jarin, who also has Ateneo ties, would love to work with him because of his greater versatility.

NLEX Road Warriors

The main reason for this is because Jonnel Policarpio finished in sixth position. Simply said, I believe he is a better choice right now than Dave Ildefonso. They also deserve praise for avoiding the Caelan Tiongson trap. Tiongson isn’t a horrible player, mind you, but Policarpio is young and full of promise.

Additionally, they ranked FEU’s Xyrus Torres, a serviceable player and shooter, well down in 30th place. You won’t typically find rotation guys that far.

Beermen of San Miguel

Despite their lack of interest, how did the SMB win the draft? That’s precisely the objective, and things can suddenly turn out nicely because of their wild cards. Avan Nava and Abdul Sawat would be that.

As an aside, I would like to suggest calling Avan Nava “The Palindrome” because his name exemplifies that. In the PBA, most likely the first.

Sawat and Nava were able to decipher SMB’s convoluted rotation. That’s a significant accomplishment given their weaponry. Regardless, the group acquired a substantial amount in comparison to their selections and had nothing to lose.

How can we be certain that SMB, not Magnolia or Ginebra, prevailed in the draft? Take note of the rush of deals that followed the draft. Everyone is aware that if the SMC empire truly wants players, they won’t think twice about acting. The flagship team, SMB, accomplished very little following the draft. That’s most likely due to the fact that they truly are so loaded and don’t perceive an urgent necessity.

Ultimate winner verdict

Magnolia took a chance on Jerom Lastimosa, whom I believed to be a great deal. Still, it was appropriate to finish ninth overall. Considering who else was present, it could even be a stretch.

Is Nelle the biggest loser of all time? He was ranked in the top four in several mock drafts, which I disagree with.