By Adrian Stewart Co

Blackwater Elite, NLEX Road Warriors and TNT Tropang Giga swapped players and draft picks days before the virtual 2020 PBA Rookie Draft on Sunday, March 14.

In the trade that was approved by the PBA trade committee, NLEX sent its no. 4 pick in Sunday’s draft to the Elite for Celedonio Trollano, Shej Roi Sumang, Maurice Shaw, and Elite’s 2022 second round pick.

The Elite then swapped Road Warriors’ no. 4 pick to Tropang GIGA for Simon Enciso, David Semerad and TNT’s 2023 first round pick and 2024 second round selection.

Prior to PBA’s announcement of the approved trade yesterday, Road Warriors head coach Joseller “Yeng” Guiao already hinted of major changes in NLEX in the days leading to the draft.

In an interview with The Game at ONE Sports on Wednesday evening, Guiao said that the Road Warriors will have transactions, which includes trading away their draft picks.

“We’re situated at nos. 3 and 4. The draft is going to take place on Sunday. I’d like to probably give a heads up that there are a lot of things that are going to happen from (Wednesday night) until Saturday,” Guiao

“I’m not in a situation where I can probably divulge more information, but you’ll know soon enough,” the veteran PBA tactician further noted.

Trollano and Sumang were solid addition for the Road Warriors after averaging 14.18 and 10.36 points, respectively, for the Elite last season. Shaw, meanwhile, had a forgetful rookie year as he was hampered with injuries.

Enciso will also add depth to the Elite’s lineup after averaging 9.6 points and 32 percent from the three-point line for TNT last season. Semerad was sparingly used as a defensive stopper.

Tropang GIGA, for their part, is planning to use the Road Warriors’ no. 4 overall selection to pick Filipino-American Mikey Williams, who is a former NBA G-League player./ASC, WDJ