DWIGHT Ramos is set to come home on Friday evening, but he's not the lone player based overseas who has expressed his intentions to come home and play for Gilas Pilipinas.
PBA chairman Ricky Vargas shared that he has gotten feelers from the likes of Kobe Paras and Javi Gomez de Liano in the hope of joining the national pool for the February window of the 2023 Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers.
"There are players who are coming back. We've gotten feelers that there are people who want to continue and come back to play in the PBA and play with Gilas," he said during the league's press conference on Friday.
The high-flying Paras is on a roller-coaster season with the cellar-dwelling Niigata Albirex BB, posting 7.8 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 21.3 minutes of action in his maiden season in Japan.
Gomez de Liano, on the other hand, has only seen spare minutes for the Ibaraki Robots, nabbing 2.3 points and 1.6 boards in 10.4 minutes. He has been deactivated in the team's last five games.
Dwight just the start
Vargas believes that Ramos' return to play for Gilas is just the start as he hopes to see more young players return to the country and be available for the national team as the country slowly eases its border restrictions.
"If we continue to allow basketball to be played in the Philippines and we start open our economy, there's a great chance that we will get these people back," he said.
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