Fans have taken to social media to discuss the PBA trade between Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and the Terrafirma Dyip, which involves four players as well as a swap pick.
The fireworks began even before the PBA Season 49 Draft took place.
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel pulled the trigger in perhaps the biggest trade deal in recent memory, sending two-time Best Player of the Conference awardee Christian Standhardinger and veteran point guard Stanley Pringle to the Terrafirma Dyip in exchange for rising star Stephen Holt and big man Isaac Go.
[ALSO READ: Blockbuster trade: Ginebra gets Stephen Holt, Isaac Go from Terrafirma for Christian Standhardinger, Stanley Pringle]
The stunning development also featured the Gin Kings acquiring the no. 3 pick in the draft from Dyip, who got the 10th overall selection in return.
Many are now debating--is this a fair trade?
Interestingly enough, all four players are the top picks of their respective draft classes.
Pringle was the top overall pick in the 2014 draft by the Globalport Batang Pier--now called NorthPort. He was traded to Barangay Ginebra in 2019, winning four titles with the team in his five-year stay.
In the PBA Philippine Cup, he averaged 9.3 points from a 43.5% shooting percentage, along with 2.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.1 steals.
Standhardinger was San Miguel Beermen’s top overall selection in 2017 and spent just one season there before getting shipped to the NorthPort Batang Pier.
That pick originally belonged to Kia Picanto (now called Terrafirma), in exchange for Ronald Tubid, Jay-R Reyes, Rashawn McCarthy, and San Miguel's 2019 first round pick. Tubid is now the team manager for the Dyip.
Standhardinger then joined Ginebra in a one-on-one trade with Greg Slaughter where he won two titles, a Finals MVP award, and a Best Player of the Conference plum.
CStan also blossomed into one of the league’s premier bigs and a legitimate scoring machine, dropping a career-high 41 points just last season in the Philippine Cup.
He averaged 21.3 points from a 50.2% field goal shooting, 10.5 rebounds, and 5.0 assists in the previous conference.
He later penned his farewell message to Ginebra, while also stating that getting traded is 'part of the game.'
[ALSO READ: 'Part of the game': Christian Standhardinger speaks out on Ginebra-Terrafirma blockbuster PBA trade]
Holt is the reigning top overall pick from the 2023 draft and is bound to his second team already after a promising rookie year that saw him flourished into one of the rising stars of the league.
The current ROTY frontrunner averaged 21.1 points from 51.1% field goal percentage, 8.2 rebounds, and 6.3 assists in the Philippine Cup and led Terrafirma to their first playoff appearance in eight years.
And there is Go, the top pick for the special Gilas Pilipinas draft in 2019. He overcame an ACL injury suffered in 2022 to slowly bounce back in a big way.
The three-time UAAP champion with the Ateneo Blue Eagles had one of his best seasons since turning pro, averaging 11.7 points from 42.4% field goal shooting, along with and 7.1 rebounds in the previous conference.
Besides the trade involving the four players mentioned, Ginebra also acquired the third overall pick in the 2024 Draft which will be held tomorrow, further adding youth talent in their squad in a talent-laden rookie class. Terrafirma slipped to no. 10 selection in the process.
[ALSO READ: Tim Cone bares factors in trading Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle for Stephen Holt, Isaac Go]
So in this latest move featuring a quarter of top picks, who won the trade?