Munzon, Malonzo, Gilas Cadets, Chooks stars lead record PBA Draft entries

With no D-League residency required for this year, a record 97 hopefuls applied for the upcoming 2021 PBA Rookie Draft.

And the players came from all across the basketball spectrum.

Of course, headlining this batch – which surpasses the previous record of 91 players set in 2014 – are Filipino-Americans Joshua Munzon and Jamie Malonzo.

Also in are Gilas Cadets Calvin Oftana, Jaydee Tungcab, and William Navarro, along with Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 stars Alvin Pasaol, Troy Rike, Santi Santillan, and Franky Johnson.

With the collegiate basketball season still up in the air for the calendar year, Aljun Melecio of La Salle, Larry Muyang of Letran, Ben Adamos of Perpetual, Jerrick Ahanmisi of Adamson, Andre Paras of UP, and Reymar Caduyac of Lyceum were some of the players who decided to forego their eligibility and enter the draft set on March 14.

This batch also set a second record, as a total of 31 Fil-foreigners sent in their application forms.

Besides Munzon and Malonzo, the likes of Jason Brickman, Taylor Statham, Jeremiah Gray, Brandon Rosser, and Mikey Williams also threw their names in the draft.

All Fil-foreigners have to submit their Department of Justice recognition and Bureau of Immigration affirmation papers.