CHANGSHA, China: This corner has been very critical of the KIA franchise in the PBA ever since it entered the league more than a year ago.

I have always questioned the sincerity of the company in maintaining a PBA team for real, whether the ball club will be used for other means or what have you.

The first thing that KIA did in what I thought was a complete disrespect to the PBA and all the aspiring professional players in the country was when it took in Manny Pacquiao not only as its player but also its coach.

Let me repeat, I have the utmost respect for the “Pacman” as a person and as a boxer, but when he entered the PBA, I thought he just went too far and insulted the intelligent basketball fans of the country.

I’ve asked this before and I will ask it again: Had Floyd Mayweather asked to play for Miami in the NBA, do you think the Heat would have taken him?”

Toyota was the first and only automotive manufacturer that played in the PBA before KIA, and that team left a lasting legacy in the league — from players like Robert Jaworski and Ramon Fernandez to the multiple titles it won and its classic match-ups with Crispa.

I have always thought that no car company in the country can maintain a PBA team at this day and age. No company can sell enough cars just to make the payroll of at least 12 players who are earning salaries fit for company presidents.

Unless of course, that company happens to monopolize all sales in the country.

Looking into it deeper, KIA is not even the No. 2 brand in the Philippines behind Toyota. It is not even the third-best selling brand.

And that is where this corner got so mad upon hearing very disturbing news.

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A number of members of the PBA’s board of governors flew to this quaint Chinese province to lend their support to the Gilas Pilipinas national team seeing action in the knockout stages of the Fiba Asia Olympic Qualifier.

Of course, everyone was in the National Team-mode for the week.

But Arab News chanced upon one board member whom we will not name at the moment, who confronted KIA executives in their annual board planning session in Tokyo, Japan two months ago.

The board member of this old team in the league wanted to clarify some things when it traded away Troy Rosario, the second overall choice in the Rookie Draft, to Talk ‘N Text in a three-team deal that was approved by the Commissioner’s Office.

The veteran board member asked the KIA executive, Bobby Rosales, why they traded away such a promising talent who could go on to be a franchise player for personalities who don’t have such potential.

To make a long story short, KIA got Aldrech Ramos and KG Canaleta and another player whose name I cannot recall, in a multi-team deal.

Clearly, it was as lopsided a trade as it could be, because there is no way that you can justify letting go of a 6-foot-7, 21-year-old athlete with such high basketball IQ for several players who haven’t realized their respective potentials as pros.

The question came during the board meeting itself, and the KIA executive said something like they let go of Rosario because the maximum salary that the company would want to give out per player is just P100,000 a month.

The board member of the old team then blurted out: “Why did you join the PBA in the first place, if you don’t want to pay players the salaries they’re supposed to receive?”

This is certainly disturbing news since Canaleta and Ramos are earning big bucks as veterans, while Rosario stands to receive no more than P150,000 a month in his first year with a gradual increase regulated under salary cap law for rookies.

So how does this justify the trade, when KIA gave up Rosario, who is cheaper and who will become much better, for several players who are making close to a million a month?

Something is really wrong here.

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The latest is that KIA has switched to the Mahindra brand for the coming PBA Season, set to open on Oct. 18 with the Philippine Cup.

Mahindra is an Indian brand but has barely been noticed in the country. There are days when you can walk in the streets from sunrise to sundown and not see a single Mahindra vehicle on the road.

How, again, will this company pay for such big salaries to good players and become competitive in the PBA?

Reportedly, that’s part of the reason why Pacquiao was hired as coach and player in the first place, so that the team could ask help from the generous eight-division world champion.

But is that the right practice in running a PBA team?

What if Pacquiao suddenly sets his efforts and resources to his team in the Asean Basketball League and abandon coaching and playing in the PBA, where does that leave Mahindra?

The PBA must look diligently into this to save the league.