Another National Basketball Association prospect, who claims to have Filipino lineage, wants to play for the Philippine national team.
Nate Pierre-Louis, son of former FedEx import Frantz Pierre-Louis, posted on Twitter his intention to play in FIBA tournaments, carrying the flag of his kins’ country of origin.
“I want to play for a country I have a bloodline in,” said the 6’4” Pierre-Louis, a guard/shooting guard, who was not picked in the recent NBA draft, but played impressively in the NBA Summer League.
His tweet showed his parents’ flags, referring to his mother, followed by the Philippine flag.
“Can we make that happen?” he asked.
His post was re-tweeted by a Philippine-based basketball page Basketball Nation PH.
And he replied to the PH site: “My great grandmother on my mother’s side had Filipino blood. But they lived in Trinidad (Trinidad-Tobago). That’s how it was explained to me.”
The 23-year-old native of New Jersey played for seven games with the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Summer League last July, averaging 16.1 minutes, 4.43 points, 4.14 rebounds, 1.29 assists, and 1 steal per game.
In the NCAA Division 1 tournament, he averaged 10.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2 assists per game with the Temple University squad. Pierre-Louis calls himself “the best defensive player in the world. And I want to prove that in the NBA.”
Left undrafted in the recent NBA lottery, he’s now an unrestricted free agent and can negotiate with any NBA team.
In some videos posted on his page, he’s a slasher-type of player, who can both attack and dunk the ball. On defense, he’s like a smaller, pesky version of Dennis Rodman.
His documents are not clear, but if his ability can prove his worth to the Gilas Pilipinas team, he maybe considered as a naturalized player, like Jordan Clarkson of the Utah Jazz.
Clarkson, the NBA 2020-21 Sixth Man of the Year awardee, saw action in the recent FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers’ fourth window against Lebanon in Beirut and Saudi Arabia at the MOA Arena.
He is also expected to play again for Gilas in the 2023 FIBA World Cup.