After four seasons with the team, Blackwater has opted to let go of former top pick Mac Belo as it shipped the onetime Far Eastern University star to the Meralco Bolts Tuesday in a one-on-one trade.
A reliable source confirmed that the 6-foot-4 Belo, the No. 1 pick of the Elite in a ‘special’ Rookie Draft on Gilas Pilipinas cadet players, was sent to Meralco for point guard Baser Amer.
The trade papers had been forwarded to the PBA Commissioner’s Office for approval of the five-man trade committee headed by league Deputy Commissioner Eric Castro.
Belo and Amer had similar statistical numbers in their stints with their teams.
In his four years with the Elite, Belo averaged 11.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists, although he missed a number of games during that span because of various injuries. In the last PBA bubble, he produced nearly the same numbers from his career averages.
Amer, on the other hand, has career averages of 10.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.9 assists in five years with the Bolts, the team that selected him No, 7 overall in the 2015 PBA Rookie Draft.
The former San Beda stalwart, however, had to share playing minutes with a deep Meralco guard rotation the previous season that included Fil-Ams Trevis Jackson and Aaron Black, as well as John Pinto and Anjo Caram.