THE Macau Black Bears won’t be allowed to add Filipino players as part of their roster for the team’s PBA Commissioner’s Cup campaign.
Commissioner Willie Marcial stressed the point as the Black Bears previously paraded Fil-foreign players in other international tournaments where they saw action.
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Marcial said the PBA is just being consistent with the same concessions granted to past guest ballclubs like the Bay Area Dragons and the Hong Kong Easter.
“Tulad nung mga dati nating guest teams, hindi sila puwedeng mag-line up ng Filipino players,” stressed the commissioner.
The Black Bears once had Fil-Ams Quentin Millora-Brown, Cole Micek, and Kascius Small-Martin in their lineup and even played against Gilas Pilipinas in a friendly at the Smart Araneta Coliseum that served as sendoff for the national team to its campaign in last year’s FIBA Asia Cup.
Micek and Small-Martin eventually applied for the Season 50 draft, while Millora-Brown has since been declared a local player and became eligible to play for Gilas in the Asian qualifiers of the 2027 FIBA World Cup.
Micek ended up being selected by Rain or Shine in the third round, but wasn’t signed, Small-Martin was stricken out of the draft list at the last-minute for failing to complete the required documents, while Millora-Brown recently signed up with the Chiba Jets in the Japan B. League.
Even if Micek and Small-Martin become available, Marcial said they can’t play for the Black Bears in the mid-season conference.
“Dapat mga locals (Macau players) lang ang nasa lineup,” the commissioner repeated.
What's certain is Macau can parade two imports of different heights and can be alternated once any of the two gets injured, like in the case of Andrew Nicholson and Myles Powell with Bay Area and Cameron Clark and Chris McLaughlin with Hong Kong Eastern.
“Ganun pa rin ang bibigay natin na concession. Puwede kang magpalit ng import kung ma-injured yung isa. Pero kapag ini-activate ulit yung original import, hindi ka na puwede ulit magpalit,” said Marcial.
The commissioner along with PBa board vice-chairman Alfrancis Chua are set to leave for Macau this week to meet with Black Bears team owners Jackie Fung and Lukas Peng to formalize their entry as a guest team.
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