By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
For the first time in three years, Gilas Pilipinas’ naturalized player Justin Brownlee will be seeing action in a different country to play as an import.
On March 14, 2024, Brownlee already confirmed that he would be flying to Indonesia and suit up in their professional league as a reinforcement to an undisclosed basketball club.
Brownlee’s last import stint outside of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) was in 2021 when he played for Al Sharjah in the UAE National Basketball League.
Now that he will be playing in Indonesia for the first time, questions were quickly raised about whether he will be leaving Ginebra when the import-laced conference kicks off later this year.
However, Brownlee and Ginebra head coach Tim Cone already bared that his commitment is still with his mother team, which is the SMC-backed franchise.
Last February 28, 2024, Cone already addressed that Brownlee would be playing overseas after the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.
According to the seasoned tactician, the resident import of Ginebra is considering playing overseas after receiving multiple offers.
Cone then said that the national team and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) don’t have issues if Brownlee decides to accept the offer and they will lend their full support with whatever plans he will make.
“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,” Cone said.
After the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers, Gilas will return to the world stage this July for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT).
The national team will kick off its Paris Olympics quest on July 4, 2024, against Latvia and will face Georgia the day after.
When asked if Brownlee will be back in time for the national team preparations for the OQT, Cone replied that expect the star small forward to be available because he is the country’s naturalized player.
“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,” added Cone.
