NLEX having second thoughts on pro league bid

Photo by Celest Flores/ INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — NLEX, one of three companies set to join the Philippine Basketball Association next season, is having second thoughts on taking the jump to the pro league for fear of not being able to come up with a competitive team.

A source privy to what the final decision will be bared this to the Inquirer, saying that the deal that NLEX—and two other expansion teams got from the PBA board—as far as the composition of their final lineup is concerned does not look too appealing.

“We are not going to join the PBA simply for marketing our products,” the source, who asked not to be identified, said. “We want to form a competitive team.”

“NLEX has been a part of basketball and the PBA [because of its involvement in the D-League], and we want to enter the PBA with the goal of winning,” the source added.

The league’s board of governors accepted the applications of NLEX, Blackwater and KIA Philippines last month.

They will have to form their respective rosters through the Draft—where they will have the last three picks in the first round—and from the expansion pool where the 10 regular members will protect 10 players from their current rosters and put the others up for signing.

NLEX had asked the PBA for an extension in the deadline to pay its P100 million franchise fee to June 7, but the source said that management is leaning toward not making the jump at all.