If the Barangay Ginebra-Terrafirma Dyip trade that transpired on the eve of the 2024 PBA Draft was lopsided then I don't know what isn't lopsided anymore.

By giving up Christian Standhardinger, coach Tim Cone was trading the PBA's second-best center and a proven scorer in the person of Stanley Primgle for leading rookie of the year candidate Stephen Holt and sweet-shooting big man Isaac Go.

You may contend that swapping Dyip's No. 3 overall pick for the Gin Kings' No. 10 overall picks was highway robbery, but in terms of talent, there isn't a considerable drop off when it comes pure basketball talent when you compare R.J. Abarrientos and Mark Noynoy. You can even say, that Noynoy—with his 53-inch running vertical jump—is a far superior physical specimen compared to Johnny A's nephew (I do admit, however, when it comes to hoop smarts, the younger Abarientos has Noynoy beat).

Critics of Ginebra and team manager Al Chua contend that the 35-year-old Standhardinger, the 2017 PBA first overall pick, and the 37-year-old Pringle, the 2014 No. 1 overall pick, are getting longer in the tooth, but Holt, last year's top pick, is no spring chicken either at 32 years old. Go, meanwhile, is the Benjamin of the four at only 28 summers young.

You can say that trading Standhardinger is like trading Joel Embiid for Victor Wembanyama as the 76ers center is arguably the NBA's second-best center (although as a Heat fan I think it's Bam Adebayo) behind Nikolo Jokic and Webmanyama is the NBA's reigning Rookie of the Year, while Holt—barring any "take it, take it" hocus pocus—will be named PBA Rookie of the Year.

But ladies and gents, that is a stretch as Wemby is a generational basketball talent cut in the same cloth as say Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Adbul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, and LeBron James (see The King fans I said it), while Holt is just a good player that can be compared to a streakier Mikey Williams with less drama. Go, meanwhile, has yet to tap his full potential and it remains to be seen if he can be this generation's next Nick Pennisi, hopefully minus the iconic flop.

If the Standhardinger-Pringle-No. 3 pick swap for Holt-Go-No. 10 picks was lopsided then what do you call the Rey Nambatac transaction that had Rain or Shine Elasto Painters' former longtime leading scorer get shipped from his transient team Blackwater Elite to TNT Tropang Giga in exchange for bench players Kib Montalbo and Jewel Ponferada? And to think that not's the first iteration of the Nambatac trade as the premier team of the MVP Group first offered Montalbo and a future second round pick!

Maybe, Chua, who is also the sports director of the SMC Group, already knew that the PBA top brass will shut down a lame trade offer for Holt and Go so he immediately went for the jugular and offered Standhardinger and Pringle. For me, it's a fair trade and giving up Standhardinger—even if he's disgruntled—is tantamount to Ginebra giving up the farm and, funnily, to a purported farm team. But I'm an unabashed Ginebra fan since the days of the Big J so I could be a bit biased.

Now, the rigodon among the SMC Group camp (Terrafirma has long been rumored a farm team of San Miguel, Barangay Ginebra, and Magnolia Hotshots Chicken Timplados) didn't end in the pre-draft day blockbuster trade as the next couple of days saw the Gin Kings and Hotshots pillage the ranks of another of their suspected farm teams, Northport Batang Pier.

Up-and-coming center Ben Adamos for a shell-of-himself Sidney Onwubere and Zavier Lucero for Jio Jalalon and Abu Tratter is the PBA's equivalent of Pau Gasol to the Lakers for Kwame Brown and spare parts. Now, if anti-SMC fans has something to definitely raise hell about these are the deals they should have their sights on.