Justin Brownlee remained out of Meralco’s roster when it suffered a 72-82 loss to the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots for its second loss in the East Asia Super League last Sunday at the Taoyuan Arena in Taipei.

Brownlee, also the naturalized player of Gilas Pilipinas, has yet to report for his Meralco assignment with sideliners claiming that he is so incommunicado that even officials of his Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) club — Barangay Ginebra — have yet to reach him.

According to a Meralco insider, they are now getting worried over the absence of the three-time PBA Best Import awardee.

“We are clueless on his whereabouts,” said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“We couldn’t reach him. Nobody knows where he is right now — not even his bosses at Ginebra.”

Meralco coach Luigi Trillo, however, stressed that they will exert extra patience on Brownlee, knowing that his partnership with his PBA rival, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, can lift their campaign in the prestigious tourney where the best clubs in Asia are seeing action.

“We’re waiting for Justin. He is our naturalized player and he’s an option to play. But we have an option between him and another player who might come in, so we’re still not sure,” Trillo said during the post-game news briefing.

“But he (Brownlee) would be a big help if he was here.”

If Brownlee stays out, the Bolts will definitely bring in another naturalized player, who could be Ange Kouame, together with their Asian import, Sina Vahedi of Iran, whose playing contract has yet to be finalized. They will team up with Hollis-Jefferson and Puerto Rican Olympian Ismael Romero as the Bolts head into their crucial rematch against the Pilots this Saturday in Ilagan, Isabela.

After the Pilots, the Bolts will confront the Macao Black Bears on 15 November and 6 December before clashing with the Ryukyu Golden Kings on 11 February for their final game of the preliminaries.

Based on the new format, only the top two teams of each group will advance, which means that the Bolts have to fight tooth and nail in their next four matches if they want to win their maiden EASL title.

“Right now, we have a couple of guys who are coming in,” Trillo added.

“We have a player from Iran, (Sina) Vahedi, he’ll be playing, but we still have to decide on it.”

But still, having Brownlee is the best-case scenario for Meralco.