2024 PBA Draft: Top 5 STEAL OF THE DRAFT candidates!



 Now that we have more than a week of observing the reactions of teams to the rookies that they drafted, we can now name the top 5 potential sleepers.

They are the draftees that in our eyes, have the biggest chance of outplaying their draft position. Of course, the quality is considered like being taken as the #5 pick but the draftee has a clear chance of being the best in the draft.

#5. Germy Mahinay - 46th pick by Northport
Instead of being a negative factor, his MPBL suspension could actually be the reason why Northport will give him a chance. It seems like Northport is trying to create an image for their team and Mahinay fits very well. That means he will be given the opportunity to prove himself.

#4. Kai Ballungay - 4th pick by Phoenix
Kai is one of the four players that I can clearly see to have a good shot of being the best player out of this class once their career end. Those four are the top 4 picks and him being the last one taken means he is the steal of that pack.

#3. DJ Mitchell - 26th pick by Blackwater
I am pretty sure that the reason why DJ dropped to the 3rd round is the rule about the maximum number of Filipino-Foreign players that is allowed per team. Blackwater catch him and they gave him a 1-year contract to prove his worth.

#2. CJ Payawal - 28th pick by Phoenix
Phoenix decided to let him go and now TNT is trying him out. CJ is consistently a part of our mock draft. So, it was a shocker that he dropped to the 3rd round. Now, with the arrival of the 4-point shot, CJ is suddenly a deserving 1st rounder and TNT is about to get him for nothing.

#1. Ben Phillips - 21st pick by Converge
I did not foresee Ben sliding to the lower part of the 2nd round. It was due to the fact that he may not be available until the beginning of 2025. Converge took advantage of that and get another bite for a potential starting caliber bigman.

Here are my top 5 sleepers/steals in the previous drafts!

2023 PBA Draft Analysis: Top 5 Biggest Steals!
2022 PBA Draft: Top 5 Potential Draft STEALS!

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