THE PBA has no problem with its cagers bringing their acts overseas — as long as it’s done in black and white.
Pro league chairman and TNT governor Ricky Vargas said the pro league is not taking the “poaching” issue on its players sitting down.
“(The) poaching (issue) is very serious. We have lost some very good players who did not join us in the draft or who have been drafted but have left the PBA. So, that’s very serious.
All we’re asking for is not to poach but to be very professional in this whole process,” Vargas said yesterday in the league’s pre-season press conference at the Conrad Manila in Pasay.
“I guess it takes a lot from the players to be professional about it and from those agents who are poaching them,” he added.
A slew of amateur standouts and even pros have opted to seek greener pastures the past two years.
The likes of brothers Kiefer and Thirdy Ravena, Bobby Ray Parks Jr., Kobe Paras, Dwight Ramos, Kemark Cariño, and Matthew Aquino are among those who suited up in the Japan B. League last season.
Just recently, former La Salle standout Justine Baltazar pulled out of the rookie draft at the last minute to test the fledgling Japan league waters.
Jordan Heading and Jason Brickman are playing in Taiwan, while 7-foot-3 center Kai Sotto saw action in the National Basketball League of Australia.
Vargas maintained the PBA learned from its experience of losing some players.
“We’ve learned a lot the past two years when we lost some of our key players. We’ve learned from that experience,” Vargas said. “Surprisingly, the PBA stood its ground, and the PBA is as successful as it is even without the players we’ve lost.”
Those ‘unregistered agents’ are only after money, according to Vargas.
“It’s not getting behind the PBA’s back. It’s that there are agents who go directly to the players and are not even registered agents. Normally, a registered agent in the PBA would be more circumspect in the way they get players,” Vargas said.
“What is difficult is there are agents who don’t understand the PBA and are just there to make their own money. We’re trying to protect our players from that as well. It is good that these agents who poach would go directly to the players and register themselves in the PBA. This is also for the protection of our players.”
Vargas said working together with other leagues such as the NCAA and UAAP will be crucial in resolving the problem of poaching.
“There’s a lot of poaching and promises made to players to even have contracts, saying that at the end of your contract come and join us. It’s very disrupting to the PBA and the players. We’re trying to put some professionalism into that,” he said.
