Ateneo’s Dave Ildefonso is one of two Filipino players that have piqued the interest of Korean Basketball League teams that arrived in the country last month with the other one being Letran’s Rhenz Abando.
However, both young prospects have decided to play out their final years in college.
Just like Abando with Changwon LG, Ildefonso has politely declined all interests from foreign teams on him for now — including one from Seoul Samsung.
Multiple sources closely monitoring the situation confirmed the development to Tiebreaker Times.
According to one of the sources, Ildefonso ended up deciding on staying with the school on Monday — hours after Daegu KOGAS announced that it has signed his good pal SJ Belangel.
There were also other interests from a couple of B.League clubs on the table for Ildefonso.
Another source added that Dave’s dad Danny had a huge hand in the decision, believing that another year under Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin will be beneficial for his son’s future.
Ildefonso averaged 10.67 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.38 assists in his first season with Ateneo. However, his chase for gold did not find its happy ending as the Blue Eagles lost to University of the Philippines in an epic three-game series last month.
Seoul Samsung is on a full-on rebuild after finishing with a 9-45 record last season.
