Sedrick Barefield hopes he is not struck by lightning twice.

In what he hopes will be his successful conclusion, the Fil-Am journeyman has reapplied for the PBA draft, adding another possible Top 5 prospect to the rookie pool.

Barefield also put his name in the local draft two years prior, but sadly; the league did not allow him to be added to the final roster of Season 47’s rookie class.

The league, despite the fact that he had all the documentation needed to support his eligibility when he first applied, requested a hard copy of Barefield’s Filipino passport. This is a crucial prerequisite for Fil-foreign players hoping to apply for the draft.

The Fil-Am player, who played briefly for Oklahoma City Blue in the NBA G League, said that the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles had already forwarded the passport to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila, even though he was in Los Angeles at the time.

However, because of a COVID-19 epidemic that required the department to close at the time, the DFA was unable to print a copy of the passport.

The PBA demands a hard copy of the passport itself, therefore obtaining a certification from the embassy was likewise not feasible. As a result, the league excluded him from the final draft application list.

This inspired him to play more abroad. He first performed for the Tainan TGS GhostHawks in the T1 League and then for the Bay Area Dragons in the EASL Champions Week, where he contributed to the team’s third-place result.

He also played for the Taipei Fubon Braves in the PBA and the Guinean team SLAC in the Basketball Africa League. League+, where he eventually had the opportunity to play in the nation for Season 1 of the EASL Home and Away season, when the Braves hosted the TNT Tropang Giga.

Strangely, top choice Justine Baltazar also withdrew from the procedures to pursue a career abroad the same year Barefield was removed from the PBA draft list.

Likewise, there will be another Abarrientos at the PBA.

RJ Abarrientos, a former guard for the Gilas Pilipinas, has chosen to enter the upcoming rookie draft and is now traveling to Asia’s innovative professional league.

The former star player at Far Eastern University gave SPIN.ph confirmation of his intention to enter the draft and compete in the same league as his illustrious uncle, Johnny Abarrientos, who had a spectacular playing career.

The cunning 24-year-old guard revealed that, according to him, both parties reached a mutual agreement when Shinshu Brave Warriors, a team in the Japan B.League, released him.

The Brave Warriors and Abarrientos agreed to a two-year contract that included a player option for the second year.

Before he received his B. After a brief spell at FEU, he played for the Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus in the Korean Basketball League.

Following a season in which he played just one game in the KBL, he finished with 13.6 points, 4.8 assists, and 2.9 rebounds to win Rookie of the Year.

Additionally, Abarrientos decided to take his act to Japan rather than completing his two-year deal with Hyundai.

He submitted his application on the last day that would-be rookies could enter the draft.