By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Scottie Thompson is back.
After suffering a hand fracture that kept him out for three weeks in the middle of the Gilas Pilipinas men’s national basketball team’s preparations for the upcoming FIBA World Cup, the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel superstar guard is now ready to render his service again.
Thompson already participated in the team’s shooting drills and workouts last August 13, 2023, together with the national team’s core members.
It was in their international training camp in Kaunas, Lithuania where the reigning Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the PBA broke his metacarpal in his right hand.
Thompson suffered his right-hand injury during one of their practice sessions and had to be brought to a near hospital for his X-ray results which turned out to be worse than expected.
Now that Thompson is finally back, the national team will have 10 more days to wrap up their final preparations in the global hoops tournament set to kick off this August 25, 2023, in Manila.
Thompson was still inserted in the pool despite a fractured right hand and will most likely make the cut for the final roster of Gilas Pilipinas.
During the final set of FIBA Asian qualifying games, Thompson became Gilas’ starting point guard and was doing it all both in defense and offense, a common skill set fit for playing under the FIBA rules.
Sharing the spotlight with Thompson at the point guard position are Kiefer Ravena and Meralco’s Chris Newsome.
Aside from Thompson, Kai Sotto is also back in the lab with his teammates and is now cleared to join the squad.
Despite arriving in the country two weeks ago, the seven-foot-three center failed to participate with Gilas in their past training camp due to a back injury he suffered last NBA Summer League.
