On October 27, 2017, PBA Commissioner Chito Narvasa approved the trade that sent Kia Picanto's first-round pick (first overall), which is used to draft Christian Standhardinger, in exchange for Ronald Tubid, Jay-R Reyes, Rashawn McCarthy and San Miguel's 2019 first-round draft choice, with minimal revisions from the original trade proposal that originally involved Keith Agovida, Reyes, McCarthy and a San Miguel draft pick.

[2] The trade proposal already earned the ire of fans as well as Wilfred Steven Uytengsu, team owner of the Alaska Aces,[3] and Dioceldo Sy, team owner of the Blackwater Elite,[4] since Kia traded its opportunity to pick a potential starter in exchange for role players.

In defense of approving the controversial Kia-San Miguel trade, Narvasa cited that TNT KaTropa also tried to make a deal with Kia's first-round pick.

[5] TNT management then released a statement hours after the 2017 draft concluded, blasting Narvasa for being biased and questioned his credibility as the league's commissioner.

TNT also clarified that the actions done by Magnum Membrere when submitting Standhardinger's draft application papers were done as a Philippine national basketball team representative.