Blatche, Douthit, express desire to play in the PBA

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Two of the most popular naturalized Filipino basketball players want to come and play in the PBA.

Andray Blatche, the Gilas Pilipinas mainstay naturalized big man and Marcus Douthit, the country’s naturalized player during their historic silver medal finish during the FIBA Asia World Cup qualifiers, recently posted their sentiments on Twitter while watching the ongoing 2021 PBA Governor’s Cup.

Blatche, the naturalized player with the longest playing tenure with the country’s national team, recently tweeted “I wanna come play.”

Meanwhile, Douthit, was straightforward with his Tweet and posted: “When PBA letting the naturalized players play in the PBA!!!”

Douthit already had his past stints in the PBA way back in 2015 when he was tapped by the Air21 and Blackwater franchises as an import.

That proved to be his first and last in the PBA and teamed up with Blatche in the star-studded Philippine Mighty Sports team.

Recently, the PBA board through commissioner Willie Marcial approved the relaxation of rules for Fil-Foreigner applicants in the PBA draft.

However, the rule where naturalized players can automatically play as PBA locals or import is still yet to be cleared by the board.