CHICAGO — Quietly, without as much as the reading of last rites, the proposed Joshua Munzon deal to TNT is now officially dead.
“It’s off the table,” a source told me on Friday after the Tropang 5G put a lid on their attempt to acquire the Titan Ultra guard.
The trade proposal first surfaced last August 12 when the Giant Risers agreed to send their best player to the telecommunications giant in exchange for seldom-used rookie Joe Celzo and a Season 53 first-round pick.
But the egregiously one-sided move was pulled back in anticipation of a league denial following an intense wave of criticism on social media.
Both sides tried to make the trade proposal look more tenable, which included TNT’s willingness to add another lottery pick and Titan trying to obtain a live body in rising defensive star Sean Quitevis.
NO GO.
Ultimately, though, a person with knowledge of the dealings, told me that TNT balked at Titan’s request for cash considerations.
The source wouldn’t say how much the ask was, revealing only that the figure contained a decent amount of zeroes.
I made multiple attempts to reach a high-ranking Titan executive for comment but he declined.
While money changing hands in the course of transacting a trade may sound nefarious and reek of under the table chicanery, it isn’t necessarily illegal, either.
In fact, in the NBA, cash considerations are legal and used as a means to “help balance, incentivize, or finalize complex deals.”
FAIR GAME?
It’s unclear if the PBA by-laws or an existing PBA memo explicitly permits or prohibits cash considerations as a tool to even out trades.
Absent that determination, it would be unfair to villainize Titan assuming the team did angle for cash while dangling Munzon.
And besides, other teams have allegedly been involved in past trades where cash was bartered.
Attempts to interview PBA commissioner Willie Marcial were unsuccessful.
So unless there are other interested parties, it looks like, at least for now, one of the best young stars in the PBA is staying with an independent team.
And for parity’s sake, that’s not a bad thing.
