S’hardinger poser: Who’ll take the risk?

The Kia Picanto ball club is as good as out in the fight for the PBA Governors Cup playoffs and could well claim the rights for the top pick in the coming PBA Rookie Draft.

The question is Kia’s readiness to select a top draft prospect who may not be available to play for the team right away.

Christian Standhardinger has loomed as the brightest draft candidate after filing his draft application through an online letter to the PB A Commissioner’ s Office the other day.

The Fil-German center/ forward is eligible to join the draft even without going through the PBA D-League since he has served the national team.

But there’s a risk for the team that will select Standhardinger since the 6-foot-8 player has earlier signed up with the Hong Kong Eastern Lions in the Asean Basketball League.

It presents a huge conflict since the ABL season runs from November to March while the next PBA season also starts in November.

It means whichever team selects Standhardinger should be willing to wait for the player who may not be available for the duration of the next Philippine Cup and up to the middle of the Commissioner’s Cup.

And what if Standhardinger decides to have a contract extension deal with his ABL ball club?

Before the start of the current Governors Cup, the NLEX Road Warriors are also in the running to claim the No. 1 draft rights.

But they’re now out of it following a big turnaround that led to their outright playoff entry.

NLEX coach Yeng Guiao has said they will take in the best available talent that will be available for them.