Blackwater Not Interested in Current Offers for Barefield, David

It’s not surprising to see Sedrick Barefield and Christian David, two first-round picks of the Blackwater Bossing over the past few years, draw high interest from different teams.

But for Blackwater, getting the most logical offers in the midst of these wheeling and dealing is more important.

“Not interesting,” was Blackwater team owner’s Dioceldo Sy’s response to ALL-STAR Magazine when asked to describe the offers being dealt to them by teams interested to get the services of these two talented players.

There were rumors and unconfirmed reports circulating on social media about the impending transfer of Barefield and David to another team, but with the Bossing not getting the better end of the deal, it looks like the franchise is going to hold on to the rights of these two Fil-foreign players who remain their most marketable players as they prepare for the upcoming PBA Governors’ Cup.

For the Bossing, it’s going to be business as usual.

Head coach Patrick Aquino, who will now have a chance to coach his first full conference with the squad, believes trade negotiations are something beyond their control.

“I just hope those trade (negotiations) won’t affect them,” Aquino said in an exclusive interview. “It was not us who initiated all the talks. We are simply negotiating what offers they can give us and make sure it won’t be a one-sided deal.”

“As per Boss (Dioceldo), his instruction was for us to decide what will make our team better for the future.”

Barefield and David are two of the top-performing local players of Blackwater and they are expected to play key roles in supporting import Kentrell Barkley, who arrived last week from Vietnam.

Selected No.2 overall in the 2024 Rookie Draft, Barefield averaged 21.08 points, 3.67 rebounds and 3.83 assists per game.

But David hasn’t lived up to this potential just yet and in the past conference, he only averaged 8.58 points and 5.08 rebounds.

Much will be expected by Aquino on these players in complementing the all-around game of Barkley, a Most Valuable Player and Import Player of the Year in the Indonesian Basketball League in 2024. 

Just this season, he averaged 24.2 points and 14.4 rebounds per game while playing for the Kesatria Bengawan Solo team.

Barkley was measured 6-foot-4 and ¼, shorter than the two other imports who were measured ahead of him like BJ Johnson of Phoenix, who was measured 6-foot-5 and 13/16, and KJ Buffen of the Magnolia Hotshots, who came in also with the same height measurement as the Fuel Masters’ reinforcement.

“He’s very good, athletic and aggressive. We’re hoping he could make an immediate impact and he loves the challenges and he blends well with the team,” added Aquino.