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| CJ Perez enters the PBA Draft as a Fil-foreign prospect. Nikki Collantes (file photo) |
By Ivan Saldajeno
MANILA--CJ Perez leads the cast of Fil-foreign players who formally declared for the Philippine Basketball Association Draft by submitting their applications.
Yes, that CJ Perez.
The league declared the Lyceum star and Gilas Cadet, who was born to a Filipina mother, a Fil-foreigner as per league rules.
PBA rules also say that Fil-foreign players have an earlier draft application deadline so that the league gets ample time to look at their eligibility. For this year's draft, the Fil-foreign draft application ended on Friday.
The list of eligible Fil-foreign draft applicants will be revealed on Dec. 3, the same day the application period for homegrown players will end.
Perez is projected to be among those to be selected early in the Dec. 16 draft.
In fact, Columbian reportedly expressed its intent in selecting the King Pirate the first overall pick of the draft.
Meanwhile, three Fil-foreign players currently playing in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League also threw their names to the PBA Draft.
Navotas' Matt Salem, San Juan's CJ Isit, and Batangas City's Paul Varilla applied for the top tier league draft.
Also leading the Fil-foreign cast were former Adamson gunner Robbie Manalang and PBA D-League standouts Trevis Jackson and John Ragasa.
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
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