Salud welcomes Manny to PBA

It’s a free country and anybody who thinks he can play in the PBA is welcome to try his luck in the draft.

In the NBA, every player must go through the draft. If a player isn’t picked in the draft where he applied, then he becomes a free agent. An international player who is older than 22 and wasn’t picked in the draft on the year of his 22nd birthday becomes a free agent. Since 2005, the NBA requires draft eligibles to be at least 19 and a year out of his high school graduation. There is a move to up the age limit to 20 but that wouldn’t be approved until after a transition season as is the case in most leagues around the world except in the UAAP when it comes to implementing new eligibility rules.

The oldest rookie to break into the NBA in the last 40 years was the New York Knicks guard Pablo Prigioni of Argentina. The point guard was 35 when he began his NBA career two seasons back. He averaged 3.5 points, 1.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 78 games, including 18 starts, with the Knicks in 2012-13. This past regular season, Prigioni averaged 3.8 points, 2.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 66 games, including 27 starts, also with the Knicks.

In NBA history, there have been 22 players who were at least 40 still on active rosters. The list includes Nat Hickey (the oldest player ever at 46), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Grant Hill, Steve Nash, Michael Jordan and Jason Kidd. Bernard James, at 27, was the oldest player to be picked in the NBA draft over the last 20 years. James, a six-year US Air Force veteran, was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers on the second round in the 2012 draft.