PAUL LEE, an international first-timer, will come home from two big events with the Gilas Pilipinas national five feeling like a winner — no matter what happens in the World Cup in Spain and the Asian Games in South Korea.

No less than Rain or Shine co-owner Raymond Yu said last week that the team will have ready a maximum three-year pact for the 6-foot Lee, which would pay the former Rookie of the Year P420, 000 a month when he returns.

That deal will put Lee in the company of such league superstars as James Yap, Mark Caguioa, Jason Castro, Arwind Santos, etc. as franchise players.

Lee certainly deserves it, he has turned in the time and effort to make himself the player that he is today, a player that most of the other teams in the PBA — if not all — would want to have in their respective rosters.

The former University of the East standout in the UAAP shunned being a part of the original Gilas Pilipinas program five years ago to concentrate on becoming better and getting himself ready for the PBA.

There were reports that Lee, prior to applying for the Rookie Draft three years ago, went to the United States on his own to enroll in several basketball camps to get better. He paid for those trips and the fees with his own money.

Lee being paid the maximum is the fruit of all of his labor.

It’s just time for him to enjoy all of them, for him to make his family enjoy the good life. For him to enjoy the good life and have his future secured.

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Yu, who co-owns the Elasto Painters together with the very unassuming Terry Que, said in an interview with a leading daily that giving Lee the maximum is a “no-brainer.”

In his first three seasons in the PBA, Lee helped the Elasto Painters to their first title, which came in the 2012 Commissioner’s Cup, though he missed the final five games of the series with San Mig Coffee because of a dislocated shoulder.

Rain or Shine entered two title series in the last season and dragged the Mixers to a deciding Game 5 in the Governors’ Cup Finals less than a month ago.

With Lee as the franchise player of the Painters, Rain or Shine can be expected to make more than a handful of championship appearances in his next three years, unless of course, something happens.

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There’s this very disturbing news that Arab News gathered on Friday morning that one rich company — which owns multiple teams in the league — will do everything to sign Lee up when the Rain or Shine point guard’s pact expires at the end of the month.

According to a very reliable source, a well-known former official of one of the company’s teams is the one trying to initiate the deal that would send Lee to one of his boss’s teams.

Arab News learned that the man had even gone to the extent of approaching Que, one of the owners of Rain or Shine, to ask that they trade Lee to one of the rich company’s teams and get any player that the Painters would want in exchange.

Naturally, Que’s answer was a solid no. Rain or Shine feels that Lee is theirs. Rain or Shine is where it all started, and they have no reason to give Lee because Lee has been very loyal to them and has continued to play his heart out for the Painters.

In the same manner, Lee would have no reason to leave Rain or Shine because the Painters will be offering him the maximum pact when he returns, proof that management recognizes his value to the team.

I said disturbing because the man who approached the Rain or Shine owner reportedly is ready to offer Lee money over and above the maximum amount allowed by the league.

There have been reports in the past that there are some players who receive such. But the PBA has not been able to prove this — not in the longest time.

The salary cap is there to balance the financial capabilities of all the teams in the league, so that teams who have more money wouldn’t have an advantage over teams who have less.

Should this be true — and we will know it when Lee’s pact expires at the end of the month — then the PBA must step in and see why this is so.

Until then, I am hoping that this doesn’t happen. I hope the rich team doesn’t pollute Lee’s mind and that it works within the parameters of the guidelines being enforced by the league.