CHICAGO - No thanks to a late eligibility ruling from the host organizers, our Gilas Pilipinas roster to the upcoming 2025 SEA Games in Thailand has been decimated.
Down to eight players as of Sunday morning, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) is scampering to complete a 12-man line-up.
READ Gilas stays with same 12-man lineup for rematch vs Guam
And with Justin Brownlee, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser and Michael Phillips ruled out, the team coach Norman Black is attempting to assemble has a huge hole in the middle.
Greg Slaughter is a quick and viable solution. But, man oh man, it's complicated.
UNWELCOMED?
"I'm always willing to serve the flag and country," the amiable giant told me on Saturday night.
However, citing his prior history with Ginebra, a relationship that soured in February 2020 before eventually ending in divorce a year later, SBP sources told me that the federation is reluctant to touch Greg with a ten-foot pole.
I get it, grudges don't bend to time and are difficult to shed, but I didn't know that Slaughter's alleged "silent ban" in the PBA extends to the national team.
How petty, messy, and stupid.
No PBA ballclub has a proprietary claim to our national team and if Greg Slaughter is needed there, as evidenced by the fact that he was asked to submit his passport months ago plus Gilas' dearth in size for the Thailand sortie, he should be allowed to play.
I implore someone at the SBP to have the chutzpah to mediate this perceived Ginebra-Slaughter "civil war" and let the former Ateneo star rep our country in the name of national interest.
ONE MAN HOLDS THE KEY.
In fairness, "the person who cannot be named" didn't personally issue a direct order banning Slaughter from Gilas, sources said. But this person has not given his blessings, either. Had he done that, Greg would have already been in the lineup.
Greg's critics, mostly Ginebra diehards who push poison in the social media cesspool, tend to dismiss him as aged 37.
True, but he's still 7-feet and 258 pounds, and more decorated than a church's Christmas tree. He's in shape, too, and will be an asset to our title defense bid.
Unfortunately, this isn't just about basketball. It's dirty, rotten politics, and it's not fair to continue to allegedly blackball a breadwinner to a young family of five.
In an Instagram post last October, Greg apologized for what happened between him and Ginebra. He swallowed his pride, ate the proverbial ate the humble pie.
He just wants a second chance, and it's not looking like he's getting it.
Because the world is an unjust, unhappy place when those who are high and mighty believe that forgiveness is beneath them.
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