Philippine Basketball Association draft

The Philippine Basketball Association draft is an annual event dating back to 1985 in which the twelve teams from the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) can draft players who are eligible and wish to join the league. The draft usually takes place between October and December, during the league's off-season. No player may sign with the PBA until he has been eligible for at least one draft.

Eligibility

All players have to be natural-born Filipinos. Persons who chose Philippine citizenship by the age of maturity are considered as natural-born citizens.

The following are the eligibility requirements for local players:

• Entrants of at least 22 years of age on the day of the draft must be at least four years removed from high school or have played one year of college basketball;
• Entrants between 19 and 21 years of age must have had at least two years of college education;
• All entrants must be at least 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m) in height.

Eligibility requirements for Filipino-descended foreigner entrants (Filipino-foreigners) are similar to the locals but with some additions:

• All Filipino-foreigner entrants must be a holder of a Philippine passport.
• All Filipino-foreigner entrants must have previously played professional basketball elsewhere and is not under contract with other teams.

Players who apply for the draft on the fourth or fifth year of eligibility will instead be assigned to a lottery separate from the draft proper.^[1]

Foreign players, or imports, don't enter the PBA draft. Instead, they are signed directly by teams and only play in conferences which allow imports, such as the Commissioner's Cup and Governors' Cup. Naturalized citizens can only play in the association also as imports.

Historical requirements

From 2015 to 2019, all entrants were also required to play at least seven games across two PBA D-League conferences. Anyone who played for the Philippines men's national basketball team was exempted from this rule and was automatically eligible for the draft.^[2] Starting with the PBA season 46 draft in 2021, this requirement was abolished for all players.^[3]

Until the season 46 draft, all Filipino-foreigner entrants must have had documents from the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Immigration proving their Philippine citizenship. This clause was repealed later in November that year, abolishing the rule as of the PBA season 47 draft in 2022.^[4]

Order

The draft order is determined by the teams' final rankings within each conference from the previous season, with rankings from the Philippine Cup having heavier weight than the import-laden Commissioner's an Governors' Cups. Teams pick in ascending order of the weighted cumulative rankings, with the team with the lowest cumulative ranking picking first while the team with the highest cumulative ranking picking last.^[5] The draft order can also change if teams choose to trade their first- or second-round picks to another team.

Number of rounds

From 1985 to 2004 and since 2011, the PBA draft consists of a minimum of two rounds where teams are required to pick. The draft can go past the second round, but from the third round onwards, teams have the option to pass. Doing so opts the team out for the remainder of the draft. Once all teams have passed, the draft is finished and all undrafted players become free agents.

From 2005 to 2010, the association limited the draft to only two rounds with no selections beyong that point. This restriction was attributed to an agreement between the PBA and the Philippine Basketball League (PBL), which also included a development fee to the PBL team from which the player was drafted. This was removed in 2011 as the PBL had folded, and amateur players played in the PBA D-League instead.^[6]

Occasionally, Gilas Pilipinas players may be placed in a special Gilas draft. In 2016, the Gilas draft was held as the first round of that year's draft, but in all drafts since that have the Gilas draft, it is held as a separate round from the draft proper.

Draft lottery

Before 2015, a draft lottery determined which team gets the first overall draft pick. The lottery involved the two teams with the worst cumulative rankings from the previous season. The team with the worst cumulative ranking had a 2 in 3 chance of clinching the first pick while the second-worst only got a 1 in 3 chance.^[7] The lottery was usually held prior to the finals of the final conference of the season. It was abandoned after the controversies that aroused during the lottery for the first pick of the 2014 draft.^[8][9]

Expansion draft

There have been three expansion drafts in the league's history. The first was in 1990, in which the new teams Pepsi Hotshots and the Pop Cola Sizzlers selected up to six players from the expansion pool, which is made up of three players from each of the six existing franchises. The second was in 2000, when newcomers Batang Red Bull Energizers selected players from the draft.

An expansion draft for new teams Blackwater Elite and Kia Sorento was held on July 18, 2014, so that both team can form its rosters for the 2014–15 season. The 10 existing PBA franchises protected up to 12 players in their roster.^[10][11] Two time MVP Danny Ildefonso of the Meralco Bolts was selected as the first pick of the expansion draft by Blackwater, followed by Reil Cervantes of Barako Bull by Kia.^[12]

Carry over amateurs

If a new franchise also has an existing franchise from an amateur league (from the Philippine Basketball League before 2011 and the PBA D-League afterwards), the franchise, upon approval from the PBA's Board of Governors, may be given an incentive of selecting players from their amateur team to be directly elevated to their PBA team. This was last given to the Welcoat Dragons, who elevated three players from their PBL team.

List of first overall picks

^	Denotes players who have been selected to the Mythical Team
*	Elected to the PBA Hall of Fame
Player (in italic text)	Rookie of the Year
PPG	Points per game[a]
APG	Assists per game[a]
RPG	Rebounds per game[a]

Flags indicate the country where the player competed as college student-athletes; all players are Filipinos until proven otherwise, like Sonny Alvarado's case where he fled the country as his citizenship was being questioned.

Draft	Player	Selected by	College	Draft venue	PBA rookie statistics			Ref.
					PPG	RPG	APG
1985	Sonny Cabatu	Shell	PSBA[b]		5.2	4.83	0.53	[13]
1986	Rey Cuenco^	Alaska	Arellano		5.4	3.59	0.62	[14]
1987	Allan Caidic*	Great Taste	UE		16.6	3.27	1.9	[15]
1988	Jack Tanuan	Purefoods	FEU		2.6	2.24	0.52	[16]
1989	Benjie Paras*[c]	Shell	UP Diliman		25.8	12.98	2.05	[17]
1990	Peter Jao	Great Taste	USJ-R	The Ultra, Pasig	7.8	2.13	1.25
1991	Alejandro Araneta	Alaska	Ateneo		5.2	3.89	0.49	[18]
1992	Vergel Meneses^	Presto-Tivoli	JRC		17.69	2.15	1.59	[19]
1993	Jun Limpot^	Sta. Lucia	De La Salle	The Peninsula, Makati	20.6	8.09	2.27	[20]
1994	Noli Locsin^	Tondeña	De La Salle[d]	Manila Hyatt Hotel, Manila	18.5	8.78	2.9	[21]
1995	Dennis Espino^	Sta. Lucia	UST	New World Makati Hotel, Makati	14.7	6.34	1.23	[22]
1996	Marlou Aquino^	Ginebra	Adamson		17.9	8.39	1.82	[23]
1997	Andy Seigle	Mobiline	New Orleans	Glorietta Activity Center, Makati	13.5	9.93	2.29	[24]
1998	Danny Ildefonso^	San Miguel	NU		11.6	5.04	1.58	[25]
1999	Sonny Alvarado^	Tanduay	Texas		22.9	13.13	3.9
2000	Paolo Mendoza	Sta. Lucia	UP Diliman		8.0	2.45	2.13	[26]
2001	Willie Miller^	Red Bull	Letran		7.6	2.76	2.29	[27]
2002	Yancy De Ocampo^	FedEx	St. Francis		7.0	5.58	0.36	[28]
2003	Mike Cortez^	Alaska	De La Salle		11.4	4.41	4.2	[29]
2004	Rich Alvarez	Shell	Ateneo		8.8	6.39	2.4	[30]
2005	Jay Washington^	Air21	Eckerd	Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall, Cainta	5.3	3.66	0.94	[31]
2006	Kelly Williams^	Sta. Lucia	Oakland	Market! Market!, Taguig	17.3	9.56	1.69	[32]
2007	Joe Devance^	Welcoat	UTEP		13.6	6.5	1.1	[33]
2008	Gabe Norwood^	Rain or Shine	George Mason		11.5	7.95	3.27	[34]
2009	Japeth Aguilar^	Burger King	Western Kentucky[e]		10.0	9.0	2.0	[35]
2010	Nonoy Baclao	Air21	Ateneo		3.4	5.2	1.1	[36]
2011	JVee Casio	Powerade	De La Salle	Robinsons Place Manila, Manila	11.9	3.1	6.4	[37]
2012	June Mar Fajardo^	Petron	UC		12.1	9.3	0.6	[38]
2013	Greg Slaughter^	Barangay Ginebra	Ateneo[f]		14.6	10.1	1.5	[39]
2014	Stanley Pringle^	GlobalPort	Penn State		14.0	5.9	3.8	[40]
2015	Moala Tautuaa	Talk 'N Text	Chadron State		8.93	4.1	1.24	[41]
2016	No first overall pick[g]				—	—	—
2017	Christian Standhardinger	San Miguel	Hawaii		16.59	9.26	1.56	[42]
2018	CJ Perez^	Columbian	Lyceum		20.8	7.39	3.36	[43]
2019	Roosevelt Adams[h]	Columbian	College of Idaho		10.33	8.11	0.89	[44]
2021 (S46)[i]	Joshua Munzon	Terrafirma[j]	Cal State Los Angeles	TV5 Media Center, Mandaluyong (draft held via conference call)	19.0	4.33	3.17	[45]
2022 (S47)	Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser	Blackwater	UC Riverside	Robinsons Place Manila, Manila	12.7	5.7	1.0	[46]
2023 (S48)	Stephen Holt	Terrafirma	Saint Mary's	Market! Market!, Taguig	17.0	6.9	5.5	[47]
2024 (S49)	Justine Baltazar	Converge	De La Salle	Glorietta Activity Center, Makati	12.2	10.1	2.2

Notes

1. All statistics are taken from the players' respective rookie season unless otherwise noted.
2. Cabatu previously played for University of Northern Philippines and University of Baguio before PSBA.
3. Paras also won the Most Valuable Player award, the only player as of 2021 to win the citation on his rookie year.
4. Locsin studied at St. Benilde while he was playing for De La Salle.
5. Aguilar played for Ateneo de Manila before playing for WKU.
6. Slaughter played for the University of the Visayas before playing for Ateneo.
7. The 2016 draft was composed of two pools: the Gilas pool, which consists of players reserved for the Philippines internationals, and the regular pool. The pick order for the Gilas draft was not revealed and the regular draft started on the second round. Raphael Banal (Hope International University) was selected by Blackwater Elite as the first pick of the regular draft.
8. The 2019 draft was composed of two drafts: the Gilas special draft, which consists of five players reserved for the Philippines national team, and the regular draft. Isaac Go (Ateneo) was selected as the first pick in the special draft. Adams (College of Idaho) was selected by Columbian Dyip as the first pick of the regular draft.
9. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 and succeeding drafts have been held, and its picks were exercised, one year later.
10. The 46th season draft was also composed of two drafts: the Gilas special draft, which consists of players reserved for the Philippines, and the regular draft. Jordan Heading (California Baptist) was selected as the first pick in the special draft. Joshua Munzon (Cal State Los Angeles) was selected by Terrafirma Dyip as the first pick of the regular draft.

By school

School	Total
Ateneo	5
De La Salle	4
UP Diliman	2
Others	1 each