The 2012 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) rookie draft was an event held at Robinson's Midtown Mall in Ermita, Manila on August 19, 2012 which allowed PBA teams to draft players from the amateur ranks.
The lottery determined the team that will obtain the first pick on the draft. The remaining first-round picks and the second-round picks were assigned to teams in reverse order of their cumulative win-loss record in the previous season, with records from the Philippine Cup having heavier weight.
The lottery was held on July 22, 2012 during halftime of Game 1 of the 2012 PBA Governors Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. The Air21 Express won the rights to the first overall selection against the Alaska Aces, but due to a previous transaction, the draft rights of Air21 went to the Petron Blaze Boosters.
Note: This is the natural drafting order.
Note: Air21, Alaska, Petron Blaze, and Talk 'N Text passed in this round.
Note: Barako Bull, Meralco, Rain or Shine and B-Meg passed in this round.
Note: GlobalPort passed in this round.
Note: All traded draft picks associated to GlobalPort previously belonged to the Powerade Tigers before selling their franchise to Sultan 900 Capital, Inc.
Prior to the day of the draft, the following trades were made and resulted in exchanges of draft picks between the teams.
a 1 2 3 The first pick, owned by the original Barako Bull Energy Boosters were traded to Burger King Whoppers via a three way trade that sent Japeth Aguilar to the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters on October 12, 2009. The said draft pick, including Burger King's original 2012 pick were traded to the Petron Blaze Boosters in exchange for the former’s first round picks in 2012 and 2013 (Burger King was renamed as the Air21 Express in 2010). The original Barako Bull franchice was bought by the Lina Group of Companies in 2011 and was renamed as the Shopinas.com Clickers then later as the Air21 Express. The original Air21 Express however was renamed as the Barako Bull Energy in 2011 after the Lina Group acquired the majority share of the Energy Food and Drinks, a subsidiary of Photokina Marketing which owns the Barako Bull brand.
b On August 29, 2010, the Powerade Tigers traded their 2012 first round draft pick and their 2011 2nd round pick to the Air21 Express (now Barako Bull Energy Cola) in exchange for Air21's Ren-Ren Ritualo, Sean Anthony and the 2010 2nd round draft rights for Jai Reyes. However, on July 18, 2011, the 2012 first round draft rights that originally belonged to Powerade and KG Canaleta were traded by Air21 to Barangay Ginebra in exchange for Willie Miller.
c
d On May 29, 2012, Air21 Express traded starting point guard RJ Jazul to the Alaska Aces in exchange for backup guard Eric Salamat and a 2012 second round pick.
e
f 1 2 On November 16, 2011, Barako Bull Energy, B-Meg Llamados and Barangay Ginebra Kings were involved in a three team trade that sent Barangay Ginebra's Jimbo Aquino and the Kings' 2012 2nd round and 2013 1st round picks to Barako Bull; B-Meg receives Barako Bull's original 2012 2nd round pick and Yancy de Ocampo whlie Barangay Ginebra received Rico Maierhofer from B-Meg and Allein Maliksi from Barako Bull.
g On September 22, 2010, Meralco, Powerade and Barako Bull (now Air21) were involved in a three way trade that sent Asi Taulava from Powerade to Meralco. Barako Bull got Jason Misolas and Khasim Mirza from Meralco and Ken Bono from Powerade. Powerade on the other hand got Robert Reyes from Barako Bull, Meralco's 2011 1st round and 2012 2nd round picks and Barako Bull's 2012 2nd round pick.
h
i On January 31, 2011, Powerade traded their 2nd round pick, including their 2013 1st round pick to Air21 (now Barako Bull) in exchange for J.R. Quiñahan
j On May 30, 2011, Air21 (now Barako Bull) traded their 2012 2nd round draft pick acquired from B-Meg from a previous transaction, together with the team's 2011 2nd round pick and Jay-R Reyes to Alaska in exchange for Joe Devance.
A The GlobalPort Batang Pier acquired the draft rights to 9th pick Vic Manuel along with Val Acuña from B-Meg in exchange for Sean Anthony.
B 1 2 The Barako Bull Energy acquired the draft rights to 12th pick Dave Marcelo, along with Sean Anthony (which was traded from GlobalPort earlier in the first round), in exchange for Barako Bull's draft rights for Aldrech Ramos.
C The Meralco Bolts acquired the draft rights to 17th pick Kelly Nabong from Rain or Shine in exchange for Meralco's 2015 second round pick.
