MANILA – Days before the virtual 2020 PBA Rookie Draft on Sunday, NLEX Road Warriors, Blackwater Elite, and TNT Tropang Giga have swapped players and draft picks.
In the trade approved by the PBA trade committee, NLEX sent its number four pick in Sunday’s draft to the Elite for Celedonio Trollano, Shej Roi Sumang, Maurice Shaw, and Elite’s 2022 second-round pick.
The Elite then swapped Road Warriors’ number four pick to Tropang GIGA for Simon Enciso, David Semerad, and TNT’s 2023 first-round pick and 2024 second-round selection.
Before PBA announced the approved trade on Thursday, Road Warriors head coach Joseller “Yeng” Guiao already hinted major changes in the NLEX squad days leading to the draft.
In an interview with The Game at ONE Sports on Wednesday evening, Guiao said the Road Warriors will have transactions, which includes trading away their draft picks.
“We’re situated at No.3 and 4. The draft is going to take place on Sunday. I’d like to probably give a heads up that there are a lot of things that are going to happen from (Wednesday night) until Saturday,” said Guiao.
Trollano and Sumang were solid addition for the Road Warriors after averaging 14.18 and 10.36 points for the Elite last season. Shaw, meanwhile, had a forgetful rookie year as he was hampered with injuries.
Enciso will also add depth to the Elite’s lineup after averaging 9.6 points and 32 percent from the three-point line for TNT last season. Semerad was sparingly used as a defensive stopper.
Tropang GIGA, for their part, is planning to use Road Warriors’ number four overall selection to pick Filipino-American Mikey Williams, who is a former NBA G-League player./PN
