The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) has decreed that basketball star Kiefer Ravena has to honor his live contract with the NLEX Road Warriors, thereby shuttling his bid to play for the Shiga Lakestars in Japan’s B.League.
PBA chairman Ricky Vargas made the announcement in a virtual press conference on Saturday.
“The board has decided that Kiefer (Ravena) has to honor his contract with NLEX and with the PBA. That’s where we are,” said Vargas.
“The philosophy is basically the sanctity of the contract. Breaking a contract is going to be difficult for us to manage moving forward,” he added.
The league’s vice chairman, Kris Rosales, also echoed Vargas’ words, saying that having a contract broken might set things into motion, from which there is no coming back from.
“That was the primary reason for the decision of the board. It’s really that the contract is a legal document that should not be broken. We don’t like the consequences and avoid the consequences if a contract is broken. We just hope that the party concerned will realize the sanctity of a contract,” said Rosales.
Ravena made waves last Wednesday when Shiga announced that it has signed the 27-year old guard to a one-year deal. However, PBA commissioner Willie Marcial immediately put a wrench into Ravena’s plans, saying the second-generation star cannot head to Japan since he not only has a contract with NLEX but also with the league itself through the Uniform Player’s Contract.
Vargas added that they would write to the B.League to let them know of the league’s decision, which he said is already final.