THE PBA NEEDS TO FIX THEIR CONTRACT SYSTEM

The 2025-26 PBA season still has one conference left, and the Governors' Cup will start on July 10, or when the FIBA World Cup Window 3 is finally over.

And now, I am going to rant.

The thing about a PBA season is that players should start and finish the season with their teams. And yeah, I get it that some players need to be released because their teams either have new additions in mind or they simply outlived their usefulness, but for me, player additions and subtractions are all about strengthening the team.

I know moving the likes of Joshua Munzon and Sedrick Barefield will further mess up Titan Ultra and Blackwater, but maybe they are trying to acquire better assets either through the draft or by creating salary cap flexibility.

However, what's alarming is that some teams are desperately trying to re-sign their starters.

Why are teams like Rain or Shine having problems re-signing their core players like Gian Mamuyac and Andrei Caracut? Last conference, Rain or Shine emerged as a legit championship contender, with both players playing vital roles in their campaign. Why are they suddenly having trouble bringing them back to the roster?

I know there are international teams interested in Mamuyac, but it's the MIDDLE of the PBA season!

And as for Caracut, is there a foreign team pursuing him? Is Rain or Shine unsure whether he's still an integral part of the squad? The fact that they waited until after the Commissioner's Cup to negotiate his contract is just weird.

And this is coming from Rain or Shine, one of the better independent teams in the league. Even if they have a family-like atmosphere, both the players and the teams are entitled to have clarity on these matters. Teams should have the right to lock their players into contracts until their season campaign is over.

This is exactly why grand slams are counted within the three conferences of a single season, and not across three consecutive conferences. I just can't understand why teams are dealing with issues like these in the middle of the season.

I know there are three conferences in the PBA, but these are the kinds of problems you should have during the preseason!

THE PRESEASON!

Again, I get that contract extensions usually happen in the middle of the year, with players performing well so they can earn the best possible contract a team can offer, or as a way for teams to gauge whether or not they want to extend a player's contract.

But again, what makes a PBA preseason different from a PBA pre-conference?

And I know people might say I have an old-school mentality, where players were locked into season-long contracts back in the '90s and even before, I guess, 2016 or so, when international leagues started swarming PBA players as well as amateur standouts. But even in the NBA, teams sign players to season-long contracts and release them by waiving them. Waiving a player means they are no longer part of the team's plans, way before they are officially released. It's like Chris Paul's final season in the NBA. If they can't trade, then they just let his contract lapse.

I mean, why waive a player if you can still get something in return, like a draft pick, or simply let them sit out, like what happened with Bong Hawkins when he had contract issues with FedEx back in 2002?

Again, this is the problem I have with the PBA's free agency. Even with some players entering free agency unprotected, we have no idea how much a team is willing to spend for their services. All we know is that the best players will look for contracts with big-market teams, while the smaller teams look for budget-friendly or salary-saving signings instead of pursuing the released superstars. This is why we see some teams passing on the likes of Terrence Romeo. Yes, part of his inactivity in the PBA may be attributed to an alleged mafia, but another part of it is that teams have to look for minimum-salary players just to survive the season.

But that's the thing. Players and teams have to lock in their contracts either for the entire season or for a conference. In the NBA, there are multi-year contracts, but there are also two-way contracts, rookie deals, and 10-day contracts. Teams have the option to sign players to another 10-day contract, and if they still want to keep them, they have to sign them for the remainder of the season. Two-way players also have the opportunity to earn full-time contracts if they perform well enough. Then there are multi-year deals, in which a team can decide to move on from a player, but they also have to make the separation favorable for both parties.

In the PBA, it's like they want all of this, and more, in the middle of the season.

Teams sign players to one-conference deals, which is valid considering that the PBA has three conferences. That said, they also sign players to multi-year contracts that simply expire on the date specified in the agreement.

And what's with those contract dates? Did they copy and paste the expiration dates from when the league still finished its season in June? The last time the PBA concluded its season in June was during the 2023-24 season. I know that was only two years ago, but surely they've had enough time to amend the contracts, have their legal teams review them, and restructure the system during one of their meetings.

PBA SEASONS FROM 2014 TO 2025

SEASON	START	END
2014-15	OCTOBER 19, 2014	JULY 17, 2015
2015-16	OCTOBER 21, 2015	OCTOBER 19, 2016
2016-17	NOVEMBER 20, 2016	OCTOBER 27, 2017
2017-18	DECEMBER 17, 2017	DECEMBER 19, 2018
2019	JANUARY 13, 2019	JANUARY 17, 2020
2020	MARCH 8, 2020	DECEMBER 9, 2020
2021	JULY 16, 2021	APRIL 22, 2022
2022-23	JUNE 5, 2022	APRIL 21, 2023
2023-24	NOVEMBER 5, 2023	JUNE 16, 2024
2024-25	AUGUST 18, 2024	JULY 25, 2025

This is why we saw guys like Arvin Tolentino leave NorthPort to play in the KBL before NorthPort's season had even finished, and why we saw Troy Rosario legally walk away from Blackwater to sign with Ginebra without anything in return. These are the kinds of moves players should make during the offseason, not while the PBA season is still ongoing.

Again, I understand if these players are second-stringers, but it can't be the same for rotation players. In some ways, this really makes the league look third-rate.

When Jamie Malonzo got cut from his B.League contract after playing just five games, we already knew the reason.

If a guy like Gian Mamuyac or Andrei Caracut leaves Rain or Shine by simply walking away with the possibility of joining another team, whether within or outside the PBA, it means they found a better opportunity.

I know the PBA calendar isn't as structured as the NBA's, but there has already been a precedent where players signed contract extensions because the PBA season became longer. And what happens if Rain or Shine's stars do leave for better opportunities? Are they going to ban them again, just like they did with Will Navarro?

We live in a time when politicians' SALNs are scrutinized, which is why the league also needs to be transparent with player contracts so PBA fans can understand why one team can sign a certain player and why another team traded its star for benchwarmers.

And the worst thing about this is that the PBA is missing out on the kind of drama it once had during its peak. Remember when Benjie Paras threatened to sit out the remainder of the season if Shell wouldn't trade him to Barangay Ginebra? Or those massive multi-year contracts Pepsi used to lure Alvin Patrimonio and Jerry Codiñera away from Purefoods?

In the NBA, we see teams engage in bidding wars for players, and there are even player-option deals that make free agency more interesting. Just have the contracts state that a player is obligated to play for his team until the season ends or until the team decides to release him. And if they're worried about non-PBA opportunities a player wants to explore, then that's his concern. As long as he's under contract, his priority should be the PBA.

This would not only help keep the PBA season exciting until the very end, but it might also convince players to put off exploring other opportunities. I think that's the right thing to do, and it's not like the player will be left hanging. Besides, what player would even try to leave a team if he knows how important he is to it?

When Calvin Abueva was drafted by Alaska, he reported to the team only after finishing his NCAA campaign. And mind you, the NCAA is a school league that can only provide allowances to its players.

A consummate professional would never leave his team high and dry, especially when he's still being compensated to fulfill his contractual obligations.

I really hope the PBA figures this out sooner rather than later because it will not only make the league better, but it will also help sustain the great momentum it has at the moment.