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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Gilas to flaunt all-local crew as Brownlee out for August window

Gilas to flaunt all-local crew as Brownlee out for August window

Published Aug 24, 2026 02:50 pm

At A Glance

  • National team head coach Tim Cone confirmed the development during a press conference at the Mall of Asia Arena on Monday, Aug. 24, revealing that naturalized player Justin Brownlee will not be available for Gilas duty.
Justin Brownlee. (File Photo/ FIBA)
Justin Brownlee. (File Photo/ FIBA)
Gilas Pilipinas is set to flaunt an all-local crew for the pair of crucial games against Jordan and Iran fourth window of the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers.
National team head coach Tim Cone confirmed the development during a press conference at the Mall of Asia Arena on Monday, Aug. 24, revealing that naturalized player Justin Brownlee will not be available for Gilas duty.
“Justin is not here and we’ll most likely be without him,” said Cone, who is now left with 14 players to choose from to form his team for the games against Jordan on Friday, Aug. 28 and Iran on Aug. 30 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“At this point, he doesn't feel like he's really healthy enough to contribute. Whether that's really injury or health, he was having some issues, obviously,” added the veteran mentor.
Brownlee was hobbled by injuries in the last window of the qualifiers, evident in his lackluster performance against New Zealand before missing out the game against Australia.
The 38-year-old flew back to the United States and sat out Ginebra’s campaign in the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup to recuperate from an assortment of injuries. He was expected to return to the country last week to join the training camp.
“As we know from the last window, he wasn't able to play against Australia. We're hoping that those issues would be resolved by the time we play here, but as it turned out, he's telling us that he's just not healthy enough,” said Cone.
Without the naturalized player, much of the load now falls on the shoulders of the returning Kai Sotto, who will form a tall front line alongside AJ Edu and June Mar Fajardo.
Young guns Kevin Quiambao and Carl Tamayo, who will be taking the usual Brownlee minutes, are also expected to play a big role for the Nationals. 
Aside from Sotto, also returning to Gilas duty are CJ Perez and Scottie Thompson to bolster a backcourt that also featured RJ Abarrientos, Dwight Ramos, Juan Gomez de Liano and Chris Newsome. Also part of the pool are Troy Rosario, Justine Arana and Justin Baltazar.

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Justin Brownlee Gilas Pilipinas
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