By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Gilas Pilipinas men’s national basketball team will finally reveal its final lineup that will compete in the upcoming FIBA World Cup next week.
According to head coach Chot Reyes, the Gilas coaching staff together with the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas will still have more days to decide because some players just got back from injury with the likes of Scottie Thompson and Kai Sotto.
Thompson, the team’s starting point guard during their past FIBA Asia qualifying games, just healed from a fractured metacarpal in his right hand.
The current Barangay Ginebra San Miguel superstar suffered his right-hand injury during their last international training camp held in Lithuania.
Thompson was ruled out for three weeks by the Gilas medical team and is now ready after joining the team’s practice last August 13, 2023.
Meanwhile, Sotto just also rejoined the national team practices after nursing a back injury he got in the last game of his NBA Summer League stint with the Orlando Magic.
Despite arriving in the Philippines two weeks ago, the seven-foot-three NBA aspirant failed to train with Gilas because he was still waiting for his doctors to clear him from active basketball participation.
Now that the roster is complete together with naturalized player Jordan Clarkson from the Utah Jazz, Reyes and his coaching staff will have a difficult week to form the best 12-man pool against the best hoopers of the world.
The national team will still have two more FIBA exhibition games before the tournament proper will begin on August 25, 2023.
Gilas is set to face Montenegro on August 20 and Mexico on August 21. After those two games, the national team will then announce their final roster.
