All concerns have been eased as the Philippine Basketball Association received over a hundred applications for the Season 50 Draft set next week.
The league announced that a total of 128 hopefuls are vying to make the jump at the close of the 5:00 PM deadline for the submission of papers on Friday.
The number of aspirants matched the record set in 2023.
Last year, 70 prospects applied, headlined by Justine Baltazar and Sedrick Barefield.
However, the total could still go down following a thorough screening via the Draft Combine set for September 4-5 at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
The draft is on September 7 at the Mall of Asia Music Hall.
Still, getting this many applicants is a win for the PBA after only a few declared themselves eligible days before the August 29 deadline.
The league began accepting draft applicants last August 4.
Abra big man Geo Chiu was among those who beat the Friday deadline, unofficially becoming the tallest in the 2025 class as he’s listed at 6-foot-8.
Two other intriguing prospects who were able to make the cutoff were Filipino-American guards Cole Micek and Kascius Small-Martin.
Small-Martin, represented by TMG, is a 6-foot-1 Filipino-Canadian guard who is a product of Brock University. Meanwhile, Micek is a 3×3 specialist.
Others who submitted their papers near the deadline were the College of St. Benilde quartet of Tony Ynot, Shawn Umali, Gab Cometa, and Jake Gaspay.
The same goes for the San Beda University trio of Bryan Sajonia, Yukien Andrada, and Joseph Celzo, as they also turned in their documents on Thursday.
Other notable names in the pool include former NCAA MVP Will Gozum, L-Jay Gonzales, Jack Cruz-Dumont, CJ Austria, Joshua David, Chris Koon, Christian Manaytay, and Royce Mantua, to name some.
The oldest in the draft are Archie Yu and Jason Brickman at 33 years old, Bulacan’s Joseph Celso at 32, and Achie Inigo at 31.
Meanwhile, listed as the youngest is Qatar-based guard Jacey Cruz at 21 years old.
Headlining this year’s draft are Juan Gomez de Liano, Brickman, and Dalph Panopio — potentially the top three picks of the Season 50 batch.
