JORDAN Clarkson and Kai Sotto are among the top two priorities for Gilas Pilipinas as it looks to bounce back from its ninth-place finish in the 2022 Fiba Asia Cup.
Head coach and concurrent SBP program director Chot Reyes told PlayItRightTV that he hopes to trot a strong team backstoppped by the pair for the fourth window of the 2023 Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers this August.
"We also have word that Jordan Clarkson is coming. Hoping to join the team as well to play on the 25th and the 29th [of August]. Hopefully Kai Sotto can make it this time," the six-time PBA Coach of the Year awardee said.
[See Chot defiant after Gilas slide to 9th at Fiba Asia Cup]
Reyes is under fire and desperate to deliver results for the national team after Gilas won only once in four games in the continental showpiece, condemning it to the country's worst finish in 15 years.
Clarkson, a former NBA Sixth Man of the Year awardee with the Utah Jazz, has only suited up for Gilas in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, while Sotto last played for the national team in the February window at home.
Aside from the two, Reyes expects PBA players to beef up the roster with the ongoing Philippine Cup expected to be on its semifinal stages by then.
"We will have some PBA players available because the PBA players will then be in the semifinals or approaching the finals already so there will be already some players available. Very thankful for the PBA for allowing us, lending us those players," he said.
Gilas paraded a young crew for the Jakarta tilt, with B.League imports Kiefer Ravena, Thirdy Ravena, and Bobby Ray Parks, as well as TNT big man Poy Erram reinforcing a crew peppered with collegiate studs like Carl Tamayo, Rhenz Abando, and Kevin Quiambao.
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