The Magnolia Hotshots have the rights to Arvin Tolentino. Whether they ever get him is a different question entirely.
The PBA Commissioner’s Office approved the trade on Tuesday, officially sending the rights to the 6-foot-5 Tolentino to Magnolia in exchange for the rights to William Navarro going to the Titan Ultra Giant Risers. The deal also included a swap of second-round picks—Magnolia reclaiming its own second-round pick next season that had gone to NorthPort (now Titan Ultra) in the Calvin Abueva trade, while the Giant Risers receive the Hotshots’ Season 52 second-round pick.
William Navarro, Arvin Tolentino Won’t Be Playing Yet
For Navarro, the move is a homecoming of sorts. NorthPort originally traded the big man to Magnolia before the Batang Pier franchise was sold and rebranded as Titan Ultra. He is back in the fold—or at least his rights are.
The problem is that neither player is likely to be suiting up in PBA games anytime soon.
Tolentino is currently under contract with the Seoul SK Knights in the Korea Basketball League, and after an impressive first season with the team, the KBL side has little incentive to release the 30-year-old. Getting him to Manila would require a negotiated exit from that contract—a process that is far from guaranteed.
Navarro’s situation is more complicated still. He was released by the Busan KCC Egis following a disappointing debut KBL season in which he averaged 5.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 21 games and sat out most of the team’s playoff run. He is currently unsigned. But the former Gilas Pilipinas mainstay is covered by the PBA’s three-year ban on players who signed with teams in other leagues while carrying an existing offer from their PBA mother team. Being unemployed does not make that ban go away.
Between the two, Tolentino has the clearer path back to the PBA—that is, if Magnolia can ever pry him out of his KBL deal. Navarro will have to wait out the ban, regardless of where he plays or doesn’t play in the meantime.
The trade is official. The players remain elsewhere. Such is the nature of PBA rights deals—paperwork approved, actual basketball pending.
