THE Philippine Olympic Committee tried its best to get Fil-American Jordan Clarkson to play for the Philippines in the coming 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.
But, Clarkson, who was traded early this year to the Cleveland Cavaliers by the Los Angeles Lakers, can’t play because of a ruling by the National Basketball Association.
An NBA official said in a statement that they have an existing ruling that NBA players can’t join competitions that are not related to Olympics, the FIBA Basketball World Cup, and other associated tournaments.
NBA spokesman Tim Frank said in a statement that the Asia Games is not among the competitions where they allow NBA players to join.
“Because the Asian Games are not one of those competitions, NBA players are unable to participate. In accordance with the NBA’s agreement with FIBA, Jordan is welcome to represent the Philippines in the agreed-upon competitions,” clarified Frank.
“We tried our very best. Your Philippine sports leaders worked round the clock. So many sleepless nights. We were one clearance away, from a dear friend of the Filipino people. The NBA. Or so we thought. Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears. They applied a rule. A rule that will never be understood,” said POC secretary-general Patrick Gregorio.
Officials, however, raised questions on why why Zhou Qi of Houston Rockets is playing in Indonesia for China. NBA players were also cleared to play in the Pan American Games, like Canada’s Andrew Nicholson in 2015.
SBP president Al Panlilio said he felt disappointed over the decision.
But he is hopeful that the NBA will be fair to all concerned.
“Of course, we are very disappointed. I hope rule applies to all consistently,“ he said.
Last Friday, national team head coach Yeng Guiao included Clarkson in his final 12.
“We put Jordan there since we want to make sure there’s a slot for him. We’re still working on the procedures. SBP officials and other concerned people are working hard on trying to get him to play for the team,” Guiao said.
The rest of the Gilas team is led by the nucleus of Rain or Shine in Chris Tiu, Maverick Ahanmisi, Beau Belga, Raymond Almazan, James Yap, and Gabe Norwood.
Completing the team are JP Erram, Christian Standhardinger, Paul Lee, Stanley Pringle, and Asi Taulava.
Don Trollano, who was supposed to be the final member of the team, is expected to be back in the lineup.
Ricci Rivero and Kobe Paras were cut from the original 14-man pool.
The Philippine national team, which left for Indonesia Sunday, are bracketed with China and Kazakhstan in Group D.
They will face Kazakhstan on Thursday.