After many sleepless nights, Aljun Melecio has decided – he will enter the 2021 PBA Rookie Draft.
This means that the 22-year-old will forego his final year at De La Salle University.
Despite already pledging to stay for his fifth year back in October of 2019, the uncertainty of collegiate sports’ return made him change his decision.
“This is a painful announcement, but it is one I have to make: I am entering the 2021 PBA Draft,” the 22-year-old native of Valencia City, Bukidnon said.
UAAP originally slated Season 83 to open in February of 2021. But since the Inter-agency Task Force has yet to approve the protocols for the return to practice for varsity teams, the league has decided to scrap the season altogether.
“There are just some things in life that we can’t control, and this was one of them. This was not the ending I expected for my time playing for the green and white. Being the team captain in my last playing year, I almost did not let go, but there are just some hard, but important decisions we must make,” he said.
Season 84, on the other hand, will most likely take place in early 2022, making the seniors batch enter the draft in 2023 at the earliest.
With this, Melecio, a one-time UAAP champion, ends his collegiate career with norms of 11.53 points, 3.32 rebounds, 2.59 assists, and 0.91 steals per game to go along with 108 triples.
And he feels grateful to have been a true green La Sallian.
“From Zobel to Taft, I always bled green. I will always be a Lasallian and I hope to keep making the Lasallian Community proud as a professional basketball player,” he expressed.
