By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Two of the biggest stars the Gilas Pilipinas men’s national basketball team currently have finally begun their training with the squad for the upcoming FIBA World Cup.
NBA sensation Jordan Clarkson and young center Kai Sotto, the only two remaining players that are yet to see action in the Gilas Pilipinas training camp, are now with the team and participated in one of its closed-door sessions last August 9, 2023.
Fresh off a convincing Chinese pocket tournament, the national team is already back in the country and is preparing for its final training phase for the global hoop games.
Gilas will only have two more weeks to work on their system and different schemes as the FIBA World Cup will kick off on August 25, 2023.
Despite training with the team in less than a month, the duo is still expected to perform at a high level given their international experience.
Clarkson is fresh off a new three-year deal with the Utah Jazz and continued to rise his game after winning the NBA Sixth Man of the Year during the 2020-2021 playing season.
The Filipino-American guard donned the blue and white national team colors during the second-to-the-last FIBA Asian qualifiers and produced an impressive 25.0 points, 6.5 assists, and 5.5 rebounds in just two games.
With the load of NBA talent from the competing teams that Gilas will be facing, it is with no doubt why the coaching staff still opted to choose Clarkson over Justin Brownlee.
Meanwhile, Sotto is coming out of an NBA Summer League stint with the Orlando Magic several weeks ago.
Before getting tapped by the Orlando Magic to play in Las Vegas, Sotto attended multiple private workouts and was also called up by several NBA teams to train with them during the off-season.
Can Clarkson and Sotto fine-tune their game with only two weeks left to prepare before their FIBA World Cup campaign?
