THE camp of Quentin Millora Brown explained his absence from the Gilas Pilipinas team for the coming window of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers, saying the Fil-Am player was given a 'take it or leave it' offer that was simply hard to accept.
In a statement released on social media, QMB's camp bared the former one-and-done star of the UP Maroons was very much willing to play for Gilas in the crunch home qualifiers against New Zealand on Feb. 26 and Australia on March 1.
READ Cone confirms QMB out for Gilas: 'He just chose not to come'
However, Millora Brown's agents claimed they were stopped from signing a new contract with Gilas due to terms that were 'ethically and morally' hard to accept, pointing to provision that mandates QMB's participation in tournaments outside the Fiba window.
While insisting that the financial terms were secondary in the negotiations, QMB's camp claimed the SBP offer was much lower than what QMB signed when he first played for Gilas in the Window 1 games against Guam.
The statement first found its way on social media, but a check by SPIN.ph on Millora Brown's agent Tod Seidel confirmed that it was official.
"SBP offered him a contract that consisted of a pay cut from the last contract he signed," the statement said while touching on Gilas Pilipinas coach's statement on Monday that QMB 'just chose not to come.'
"This statement is meant to clarify that this was not a situation where out client decided not to show up, but rather SBP's refusal to negotiate terms that would allow [Millora Brown] to participate [in the games]," it added.
QMB's camp, which claimed the he spent P1.5 million of his own money to work on his eligibility to play for Gilas as a homegrown player, said the SBP offer came two weeks before the window and offered no chance of negotiations.
"There were no negotiations at all. they simply said, 'take it or leave it,' the QMB camp said. "While some may say he chose not to show up, the reality is that the SBP chose not to have him play."
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