Gilas’ Asian Games struggles highlight player availability issue anew

FILE–Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone during the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines– Gilas Pilipinas’ campaign in the Asian Games again exposed a problem that has followed the national team through the years: the availability of Filipino players based abroad.

Without the team’s mainstays and naturalized star Justin Brownlee, the Nationals went with an all-PBA roster with a lone holdover from the gold medal run in Hangzhou to defend their title in the men’s 5-on-5 basketball Asian Games.

The Philippines placed ninth, its worst finish in Asian Games history after failing to advance from the group stage with a 1-2 record.

READ: Gilas’ loss of Asian Games crown leaves PH basketball searching for answers

During a Senate hearing on Thursday, Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone pointed out that the intention was to bring the country’s best players to Japan, but the options were limited by the restrictions placed by the Filipino imports’ foreign mother clubs.

This differs from Fiba-sanctioned tournaments such as the World Cup and Asian Qualifiers, where clubs are required to release players for national team duty.

“They were forced to play, those teams were forced to release those players because it’s a Fiba-sponsored tournament,” Cone said of the players who competed for Gilas during Fiba tournaments. “If they don’t release those players, then Fiba will suspend their country from other events.”

“So that’s why we couldn’t bring the same core. We actually wanted to bring the same core,” Cone said.

Cone was referring to the players who suited up for Gilas Pilipinas’ homestand in the fourth window of the Asian Qualifiers late in August but couldn’t join the team for Japan.

READ: Gilas’ Asian Games debacle not the players’ fault, Tim Cone says

He said Japan and South Korea were able to allow players from their domestic leagues to represent their countries in the Asian Games, while several Filipino players under contract abroad were not released.

Gilas Pilipinas men’s team for the Asian Games 2026 basketball 5×5. –SBP PHOTO

South Korea eventually won the men’s basketball gold medal, beating Japan in the final.

Among those unavailable were Kai Sotto, who recently rejoined the Japan B.League, along with Dwight Ramos, Mike Phillips, AJ Edu, and Quentin Millora-Brown, according to Cone.

Cone said Kevin Quiambao and Carl Tamayo, who are playing in separate teams in the Korean Basketball League, were initially expected to be allowed to play in Aichi-Nagoya, but that changed two weeks before the start of the Philippines’ preparations.

“We don’t have control because they’re under contract with those teams. So they could not break those,” Cone said.

“They all wanted to play in the Asian Games, but were disallowed to play.”

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas executive director Erika Dy pointed out that Gilas also missed players who ply their trade overseas during its Asian Games title campaign in 2023 following the Fiba World Cup in Manila.

This time, though, Brownlee was sidelined by health issues, while other naturalized players such as Ange Kouame and Benny Boatwright were also unavailable.

With the same issue potentially looming over future multi-sport campaigns such as the Asian Games and Southeast Asian Games, Cone said the country needs to find a way to secure the release of its best players.

“We have to develop some kind of mechanism to get players released to come to these games,” Cone said. “We can’t bring a secondary team and expect to beat the best of Korea, China or Japan or Lebanon or any other team. We have to bring our best to compete with them.”

“Until we find a mechanism that forces the teams to allow us to grab these players, we’ll be in the same situation four years from now.”