By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) is continuing their chase of awarding current NBA Sixth Man of the Year Jordan Clarkson of his Filipino eligibility to finally play at the FIBA level.
Previously, the FIBA committee disallowed Clarkson’s inclusion in the Gilas Pilipinas lineup because the Fil-Am wasn’t able to secure his passport by the age of 16.
However, SBP president Al Panlilio bared during the Power and Play sports podcast that some neighboring countries have started activating players with the same case of Clarkson.
“We continue to press it kasi we have gotten some information from some teams na may mga passports na nakuha beyond 16 for some reason. We’re looking at other situations that can help and aid us.” Panlilio said.
Indonesia was able to let Brandon Jawato play as a local in the recently concluded FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers in Manama.
For Qatar, a bunch of players also received the green light to play as locals: Babacar Dieng, Meho Haracic, Emir Mujkic, and Faris Avdic
“We have gotten some info na may passports na nakuha beyond 16 years old and we want to understand what happened there,” added Panlilio.
Clarkson has always expressed his desire of playing for the PH national men’s basketball team which he already did way back during the 2018 Asian Games when he helped the country clinch a fifth-place finish.
However, Clarkson was only able to don the Gilas jersey because the Asian Games are not sanctioned by FIBA.
“At the end of the day, these guys are Filipinos so we just continue to push our justification to FIBA.” Panlilio shared.
