PBA commits support for Gilas, releases 17-man pool for Olympic Wildcard

Committing to support the national team program, the PBA on Wednesday released a 17-man pool from which the line-up for the Olympic Wildcard set next year would come from.

June Mar Fajardo, the two-time MVP of the league, leads the list of players the PBA will lend to the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.

Also included in the pool are Marcio Lassiter of San Miguel, the Ginebra triumvirate of Japeth Aguilar, LA Tenorio, and Greg Slaughter, Rain or Shine’s Paul Lee, Gabe Norwood, and Jeff Chan, Star’s Marc Pingris and Ian Sangalang.

Calvin Abueva of Alaska and Terrence Romeo of Globalport, Gilas’ energy guys during the 2015 Fiba Asia Championship, have also been included to the pool along with five Tropang Texters Ranidel De Ocampo, Matt Ganuelas-Rosser, Ryan Reyes, and rookie Troy Rosario.

The resolution came after a special PBA board meeting called by PBA chairman Robert Non.

“The PBA commits to fully support the formation of the Philippine national team,” said the San Miguel Governor Wednesday at the PBA Office in Libis.

After a silver medal finish in the 2015 Fiba Asia Championship, the Philippines gets one final crack at the Olympics through the Wildcard phase which would also feature powerhouse nations from other continents.

Deadline for the Philippines to signify its intention to join the finals qualifiers is on October 18.

As per the Board Resolution, the SBP shall name a final lineup of 12 players, including the naturalized player, at the end of Jan. 2016.

Those who are not include in the final lineup would still be included in the final delegation that would be sent to the qualifiers.