Bossing will have a face-to-face talk with their No. 2 overall pick on Tuesday

PHOTO: EASL

OSAKA – No. 2 overall pick Sedrick Barefield is on his way to Manila and is set to have a sit down meeting with Blackwater’s top officials for his coming stint in PBA Season 49.

Team governor Silliman Sy said the highly-touted Fil-Am will be arriving in the Philippines on Monday and would then meet with him and his brother, team owner Dioceldo, at the Blackwater headquarters the following day.

Coach Jeff Cariaso said he’s thrilled to see Barefield for the first time attend the Bossing’s practice after initially talking to him prior to last week’s rookie selection process.

PHOTO BY: PHENOM CHAMPIONSHIP CLINIC

Barefield was taken second overall behind consensus top pick Justine Baltazar, who was chosen by Converge.

The other draft picks of Blackwater include DJ Mitchell of La Salle and Keith Pido of Perpetual.

Sedrick’s steps to the PBA

The 6-foot-2 Barefield initially applied in the 2022 PBA Draft, but was stricken out of the official list at the last minute after failing to submit a hard copy of his Filipino passport.

But PBA coaches and players, along with Filipino fans got a glimpse of the kind of talent Barefield has following his stint with the Bay Area Dragons of coach Brain Goorjian in the East Asia Super League Champions Week, and later in the EASL Home-and-Away Season 1 where he suited up for the Taipei Fubon Braves.

Barefield helped the Dragons to a third-place finish in the Champions Week, but unfortunately couldn’t do the same for Braves in the EASL Home-and-Away tournament where the Taipei-based club bombed out in the group stage.

Undrafted in the NBA, he still had a stint with Oklahoma City affiliate Oklahoma City Blue in the G-League.

He also took his act to Lithuania, Greece, Africa, and Chinese Taipei.

Barefield also played for former NBA champion coach Larry Brown in college with the MSU Mustangs.