Jamie Malonzo and Mikey Williams won’t be available for Gilas Pilipinas for the SEA Games 2023 in Cambodia. –INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
Gilas Pilipinas will be missing the services of Barangay Ginebra rising star Jamie Malonzo and TNT top gun Mikey Williams when it tries to reclaim the Southeast Asian Games basketball gold in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, this May.
“Jamie has begged off. He has to attend to some personal matters back in the United States,” national coach Chot Reyes told the Inquirer on Tuesday.
“We also wanted to [have] Mikey but I think he left (the Philippines) already because his father is getting married. He had to be there,” he added.
Malonzo and Williams are part of the 28-man pool from which the Gilas 12 tasked to reinstate the Philippines as a force in the region will be built.
The pair were also coming off the Philippine Basketball Association’s championship series for the Governors’ Cup which the Tropang Giga eventually won in six games.
Malonzo has played in the previous Fiba windows and was shaping up as a shoo-in to the SEA Games squad prior the development.
Williams, meanwhile, is a favorite for the final roster as he could beef up the roster without any complications as the regional meet only requires a Philippine passport for a player to represent a country.
Also out for the competition is Williams’ teammate Roger Pogoy, who injured his finger during the PBA’s third conference finalé.
Gilas is expected to restart its training camp this Wednesday.
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