GILAS Pilipinas is scheduled to play a tuneup game against the Taiwan Mustangs on Monday at the Philsports Arena before leaving for Europe for its buildup for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
The tuneup game, which will be open to the public, will see the Philippine team play a Mustangs squad that reportedly signed former NBA players Dwight Howard and DeMarcus Cousins recently.
It is still unclear, however, whether the two will play in the tuneup game.
Gilas outlook for FIBA OQT
Gilas will be led by Justin Brownlee alongside newly-minted PBA Philippine Cup Finals MVP Chris Newsome and championship foes June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez. Also joining them are Dwight Ramos, Scottie Thompson, Calvin Oftana, Kevin Quiambao, Carl Tamayo, and Kai Sotto.
Jamie Malonzo and AJ Edu, though, are out due to injury and are expected to be replaced by Japeth Aguilar and Mason Amos.
The SBP said the game will be televised live on One Sports, One Sports+, and Pilipinas Live.
READ: Brownlee back in town, but AJ Edu, Malonzo out for Gilas in OQT
After the exhibition vs. the Taiwanese team, the Filipinos are set to fly out of the country on June 25 to play more tuneup games against the national teams of Turkey and Poland.
The final qualifier is set from July 2 to 7 in Latvia, where the Philippines is bracketed with the host country and Georgia.
The other group is composed of Cameroon, Brazil, and Montenegro.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the crossover semis, before the two winning teams dispute one of the four remaining berths in basketball for the Paris Olympics.
The Mustangs, for their part, are also preparing for the next leg of The Asian Tournament in July.
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