Go apologizes for 5-on-5 game; PBA summons Japeth, ROS rookie

Gilas Pilipinas pool member Isaac Go apologized to PBA commissioner Willie Marcial on Thursday when the league boss gave him a call regarding a video that saw him playing in a pickup five-on-five game with Japeth Aguilar and Thirdy Ravena, among others, in a private gym in Greenhills.

And it looks like he won’t be the last.

“I reminded him that even though he is not in the PBA, he is considered part of the family and that he should be a good role model for the others,” Marcial said over the phone. “He said sorry and promised that it won’t happen again.”

Go, this season’s top Draft pick who was absorbed by the Gilas Pilipinas program, Aguilar, Ravena and all the others in that scrimmage violated strict Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases protocols banning contact sports during general community quarantine, which Metro Manila is under.

Marcial has summoned Barangay Ginebra’s Aguilar to a 2 p.m. meeting on Monday.

“I also talked to him over the phone to remind him that we [at the PBA] shouldn’t be seen setting bad examples,” Marcial said. “But we will have a long talk on Monday.”

Adrian Wong, picked fifth overall by Rain or Shine in the last Draft, was also seen in a video working out and not practicing social distancing. He will also appear before Marcial together with Aguilar.

The video showed Aguilar playing Go, as well as Japan BLeague-bound Ravena, in a private court in San Juan.