AFTER a long wait, NorthPort import Jamel Gurley Artis is finally in the country.
The 29-year-old native of Baltimore arrived on Friday after more than a month of trying to secure a working visa and booking a flight to Manila.
If there is anything positive about his late arrival, Artis will no longer have to spend time in isolation after the government lifted the rule requiring all arriving travelers in the country to undergo quarantine for a certain period of time provided the person is fully vaccinated.
The new travel order meant Artis, a replacement for the injured Cameron Forte, can join the Batang Pier in practice right away.
Coming from a stint in the Greek Basket League, Artis is one of three import replacements in the restart of the season-ending meet along with Orlando Johnson of San Miguel and Shawn Glover of Blackwater.
His arrival a week prior to the Feb. 11 resumption of the PBA Governors Cup couldn’t have come at a better time as NorthPort needed all the help it can.
Jamel Gurley Artis can join Northport practice right away.
The Batang Pier have yet to come to terms with key players Robert Bolick and Greg Slaughter, who are technically a restricted free agent and can be offered contracts by other teams which NorthPort has the right to match to retain them.
The team is also still winless in four games, one of two teams which has yet to make it to the win column along with Blackwater.
The Batang Pier played two of those games without an import after Forte went down with a knee injury.
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