By REYNALD MAGALLON
Justin Brownlee is finally back.
The Gilas Pilipinas naturalized player returned to the country on Tuesday, Feb. 6 after finally getting the green light to participate in the February window of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 qualifiers.
Brownlee spent the last three months in the US while serving a provisional suspension which began on Nov. 9 after getting flagged by the International Testing Agence for banned substances.
Gilas team manager Richard del Rosario fetched Brownlee at the airport before the Ginebra resident import went to the San Miguel Corporation headquarters in Ortigas. Brownlee met with SMC sports director Alfrancis Chua who then posted a photo of them on his Instagram account.
“He’s back,” wrote Chua in the post.
Brownlee’s return came in the wake of FIBA’s decision to give the Gilas player a retroactive three-month Period of Ineligibility in relation to the anti-doping rule violation that occurred during the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
Brownlee not seeing action in any league and even sitting out Ginebra’s campaign in the Commissioner’s Cup, allowed him to become available for the games against Hong Kong on Feb. 22 and Chinese Taipei on the 25th.
The 35-year-old forward, however, is in the race of time to get back into game shape especially after having no competitive basketball for the past three months.
Gilas, though, is set to convene for its first practice on Feb. 15 as Brownlee gets reunited with the core players of gold medal winning Asian Games. Ginebra teammates Jamie Malonzo and Scottie Thompson join Brownlee in the team along with fellow PBA stars June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Chris Newsome and Calvin Oftana.
B.League players AJ Edu, Kai Sotto, and Dwight Ramos are also in the mix while free agent Carl Tamayo and UAAP Most Valuable Player Kevin Quiambao complete the cast.
