FRIDAY'S basketball overload has bit Greg Slaughter hard.
The 2014 PBA Rookie of the Year expressed his excitement on the day's loaded schedule which will see his mother ballclub Ginebra and the Gilas Pilipinas national team hit the court.
"Do or die game for Ginebra and FIBA Asia games for our #TeamPilipinas got me itching to play again so bad!," he tweeted.
It's been 10 months since Slaughter last saw action, when the Gin Kings beat the Meralco Bolts to capture the 2019 PBA Governors' Cup crown.
Curiously, it will be Ginebra and Meralco facing off anew at 6:30 p.m. at the AUF Gym for the Game Five of their semifinals series, with the winner advancing to the 2020 PBA Philippine Cup Finals.
The Gin Kings are seeking their first championship berth in the all-Filipino conference since 2017, and their first in the league's most prestigious conference since 2007.
Slaughter was also considered for the Gilas pool in the second window of the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers in Manama.
There were preliminary talks between him and Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) program director Tab Baldwin, but those discussions hardly progressed.
Instead, the federation opted to fly an all-cadets team without any reinforcements to Bahrain as Gilas plays the first of its two-game series against Thailand at 9 p.m. at Khalifa Sport City.
Gilas is sporting a 1-0 record in Group A of the qualifiers for next year's continental tilt in Lebanon.
With those two teams seeing action, Slaughter will be one with the nation watching both games at the comfort of their own homes.