With the opening window of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers officially over, Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone revealed that Justin Brownlee is considering offers to play overseas.
Cone shared, following the Philippines’ 106-53 victory over Chinese Taipei on Sunday night, that Brownlee is set to make a decision soon on where he will head next with the PBA Philippine Cup set to begin this coming Wednesday.
“There’s offers to go play overseas since it’s All-Filipino (conference). We’re perfectly fine with that,” said Cone after the win.
“We hope that he doesn’t go to the D-League or the NBA like this guy (Kai Sotto),” he added in jest.
The Ginebra head coach said that the decorated PBA import has his full support and assured that Brownlee will be back for Gilas Pilipinas for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament set this July.
The team will face home team Latvia and Georgia.
“If he goes and plays somewhere, he goes and plays in Europe or Japan or Korea or the Middle East – which is he played in before – he’ll always be available for the window because he’s a naturalized player,” said Cone.
“If he goes and play, and he’s got a contract in June, July, and August, he’ll still like Kai be able to come back and join us for the window. We’re all for him going out and staying in shape,” he added.
Brownlee was coming off a months-long suspension due to a doping case. Yet he looked like he never left after leading Gilas Pilipinas to a dominant sweep of the first window.
The 6-foot-7 versatile forward delivered 16 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, and three steals in the Nationals’ 94-64 victory over Hong Kong last Thursday.
Then he unleashed 26 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, and two blocks against Chinese Taipei.
“He’ll definitely be back for us in Ginebra in the next conference after the All-Filipino. He’s already locked in for that so we’ll see him here,” said the decorated head coach.
“In the mean time, he’s looking at offers and he’ll probably end up playing somewhere for a while.”
