Gilas Pilipinas Men absorbed a tough blow heading into the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Scottie Thompson will not be available for the national team for the Riga Qualifiers.
The 6-foot-1 guard is not with Gilas for their three-day camp at Inspire Sports Academy that began today and will end on Sunday.
Thompson averaged 3.5 points, 9.0 assists, and 2.5 rebounds during the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers. The Ginebra stalwart has been nursing a bad back since that tournament.
(C) Inspire Sports Academy
In the bubble are Justin Brownlee, Dwight Ramos, Kai Sotto, Carl Tamayo, Kevin Quiambao, June Mar Fajardo, Chris Newsome, CJ Perez, Calvin Oftana, Japeth Aguilar, and Mason Amos. Practice players Ralph Cu and Donald Gumaru are also present.
Amos and Aguilar are the reserves stepping up to the plate for injured pool players AJ Edu and Jamie Malonzo.
It is still unknown if there is another player in Gilas’ preliminary pool who can replace Thompson. If there is none, Gilas will go to Latvia with just 11 players.
Gilas are slotted with Georgia and Latvia in the tournament that takes place from July 2 to 7.
