Jordan Clarkson has always been vocal about his desire to play and represent the Philippines in international tournaments.
And the feeling is mutual for Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.
The SBP still pushes its case for Clarkson’s inclusion in the national team to FIBA, bared SBP president Al Panlilio on Power and Play.
“We continue to press it kasi we have gotten some information from some teams na may mga passports na nakuha beyond 16 for some reason,” he said.
“We’re looking at other situations that can help and aid us.”
There have been two cases of players being classified as locals by FIBA despite not getting their passports by the age of 16.
The Philippines’ neighbor Indonesia got clearance to plug Brandon Jawato as a local during the Manama window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers last November.
Then there’s Qatar.
Babacar Dieng, Meho Haracic, Emir Mujkic, and Faris Avdic all played as locals for Qatar in the same tournament despite being Bosnian-Herzegovina and Senegalese by birth.
According to reports, Jordan’s basketball team will also have “new faces” for the World Cup Qualifiers.
“We have gotten some info na may passports na nakuha beyond 16 years old and we want to understand what happened there,” said Panlilio.
“We’re looking at other situations that might aid us.”
The 2020-21 NBA Sixth Man of the Year has already donned the Gilas jersey, a stint in the Asian Games – which is not sanctioned by FIBA.
There, he helped the Philippines to a fifth-place finish among Asia’s best in a one-time exception given by the NBA.
However, FIBA eligibility ruling states that a player may represent a country if he or she acquired a passport before turning 16.
But for Panlilio, technicalities and rules aside, the likes of Clarkson, Stanley Pringle, and Christian Standhardinger are Filipinos.
“At the end of the day, these guys are Filipinos so we just continue to push our justification to FIBA.”
