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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Hopefuls await destiny as PBA draft unfolds on Sunday

Hopefuls await destiny as PBA draft unfolds on Sunday

Published Sep 6, 2025 03:07 pm

At A Glance

  • It is now a date with destiny for all of the 122 remaining PBA rookie aspirants as each and every one of them only hopes for one thing to happen at the Mall of Asia Music Hall on Sunday, Sept. 7.

The countless times in practice, the hundreds of hours in honing the craft and talent in the gym, now boils down to the moment of truth.
It is now a date with destiny for all of the 122 remaining PBA rookie aspirants as each and every one of them only hopes for one thing to happen at the Mall of Asia Music Hall on Sunday, Sept. 7.
That is for their names to be called in the 2025 PBA rookie draft.
University of the Philippines standout Juan Gomez de Liano and 6-foot-9 center Geo Chiu emerge as the potential top two picks in this year's draft.
Former Gilas Youth star Dalph Panopio, veteran Jason Brickman and agile big man Will Gozum are also making a strong  case for themselves as the top choices.
Other notable names in the draft are Fil-foreign players in the likes of Chris Miller, Jack Cruz-Dumont, and Ashon Andrews as well as college standouts LJ Gonzales, CJ Austria, Joshua Yerro, Mark Omega and Shaun Umali among others.
Also making a case are some unheralded players like Mario Bacasi, Jude Roque, Edrian Ramirez and Sonny Estil, who were adjudged as members of the draft combine Mythical Five. 
Estil even bagged the mini-tournament MVP honors.
Picking first in this year's draft and its sixth in the last eight seasons is Terrafirma – a task that will be carried out by first-time head coach Ronald Tubid.
The Dyip will be followed by the FiberXers at the second pick which was previously owned by the Phoenix Fuel Masters.
The two teams agreed to a pick swap in the draft in a trade that also saw Bryan Santos landing at Phoenix and a future second-round pick being acquired by Converge.
Blackwater holds the third pick, which it could use to add another potent talent to add to the duo of Sedrick Barefield and Christian David – the teams back-to-back second overall pick in the last two drafts.
Rounding out the Top 5 are NorthPort and NLEX at the fourth and fifth spots respectively.
Magnolia and Meralco will be picking at the sixth and seventh spots followed by Phoenix.
San Miguel is picking ninth while Rain or Shine selects at 10th and 12th spots sandwiching Barangay Ginebra’s 11th pick.
The Kings will have two more picks in the second round and they will be selecting first with their 13th overall pick while the Elasto Painters will have three second round picks.
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