THE waiting game for NBA standout Jordan Clarkson of the Utah Jazz and center Kai Sotto to join the Gilas Pilipinas national team training pool continues.
Less than six weeks before the FIBA World Cup kicks off, national coach Chot Reyes admitted there’s no definite date on when Clarkson, who is still in the United States, and Sotto, nursing a back injury after suiting up for the Orlando Magic in the NBA Summer League, will link up with the squad.
“I had a chance to talk to Toney Ronzone of Wasserman (Sotto’s agent), and he said all the X-rays came back negative, so I guess that’s good news,” Reyes said. “But I haven’t had a chance to talk to Kai himself.
“I think he’s arriving (yesterday). If he’s coming to practice, I don’t know. I’m not sure.
Well, unless he’s here, the only time we can be sure is when he actually shows up,” he added.
Reyes said the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas led by Gilas team manager Butch Antonio is still negotiating with Clarkson’s camp. The former Sixth Man of the Year winner recently signed a three-year contract extension with Utah reportedly worth $55 million.
The Filipino cagers lost their first two tune-up games against Estonia and Finland before traveling to Kaunas, where they won back-to-back matches against the Ukraine Under-20 squad and fell to a Lithuanian selection team.
The Philippine five is set to toughen up anew in a pocket tournament in China next month.
Gilas is bracketed with Italy, Dominican Republic, and Angola in Group A of the blue-ribbon world cage spectacle the country is co-hosting with Japan and Indonesia from Aug. 25 to Sept. 10.
The nationals need to finish at least in the top two at the end of the group stage to advance to the next round and hopefully boost their bid of becoming the best placed Asian squad to directly qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
