PBA: Lassiter for Baclao, Guevarra trade offer sent to league office

The PBA's Twitter account (@pbaconnect) confirmed that the commissioner's office has received the papers for a proposed trade that has the Powerade Tigers shipping Marcio Lassiter to the Petron Blaze Boosters for Nonoy Baclao and Rey Guevarra. 

 

Rumors of a deal between the two sides have existed since last week online, but the two teams only sent the appropriate paperwork to the PBA today. 

 

Lassiter, a Filipino-American graduate of Cal State Fullerton, played for the Philippine national team prior to entering last year's PBA draft, where he was picked fourth.

 

Together with 2011 top rookie pick Jvee Casio and veteran Gary David, the trio had a Cinderella-like run to the PBA Finals, before getting bounced in five games to the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters.

Baclao was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 PBA draft, while Rey Gueverra was the third overall choice , both being selected by the then-Air21 Express, now known as the Barako Bull Energy.

However, less than a year passed before the Express opted to trade the two, along with No. 2 overall pick Rabeh Al-Hussaini, to the then-San Miguel Beermen, now known as Petron, in exchange for veterans Paul Artadi, Danny Seigle, Dondon Hontiveros and Dorian Pena.

Lassiter was ranked third in statistical points in the recently concluded All-Filipino Cup, with averages of 16.93 points, 6.04 rebounds, 3.93 assists, and 1.43 steals in 36.25 minutes.  

Both Baclao and Guevarra on the other hand, saw little playing time with Petron. Baclao figured in 21 games, averaging 1.95 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.76 blocks, while Guevarra was an even rarer sight, playing in just 10 games, norming 2.9 points and 1.4 rebounds.

 

It is unlikely that the trade will be approved any time soon, or without any changes.  

Rumors persist that the San Miguel Corporation is jockeying to purchase Powerade from their current owner, Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc.  

San Miguel currently owns three teams in the PBA, Petron, the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings, and the B-MEG Llamados. The league prohibits trades between teams under the same owner.

As a result of the perceived imbalance that would result from one corporation owning half of the teams in the league, coupled with a possible trade between one of those teams and a team to be added to the fold, there is considerable resistance from the other non-SMC teams against either move pushing through.

 

The PBA has called for a special meeting on Friday to tackle both the sale of Powerade and the trade. — AD/JVP, GMA News