Brownlee blows into town

Naturalized player Justin Brownlee is back in the country to join Gilas Pilipinas’ short buildup for the first window of the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers later this month.

Brownlee arrived early Friday morning.

Pictures and video clips of his arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport were posted by the Ginebra ball-ballers Facebook page.

Brownlee will hook up with the Tim Cone-mentored Gilas for training next week despite uncertainties on his health status following a bout with pneumonia, which forced him to miss games in Meralco’s campaign in the East Asia Super League.

Gilas will visit Guam on 28 November to kick off the opening window. The Filipinos will fly back to Manila to host the same rival on 1 December at the Blue Eagle gym inside the Ateneo de Manila University.

“He’s here already because he also has commitment to play (for Gilas) for the FIBA Qualifiers. So, he will be joining the national team,” Bolts team manager Paolo Trillo said.

Meralco is hosting the Macau Black Bears today at the New Cebu Coliseum, again sans the 37-year-old workhorse.

“As far as how ready he is, we all learned also, if you remember, he was also dealing with pneumonia some weeks back. So, it’s a health issue, I guess,” Trillo added.

Aside from the FIBA World Cup qualifying squad, Brownlee is also committed to play for the Norman Black-coached Gilas squad participating in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand from 9 to 20 December.

Brownlee last played for the tricolor during Gilas’ seventh-place finish in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup last August, where he averaged 20.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.8 assists.

Trillo said they’ll give Brownlee more time to get his conditioning back with Gilas before his possible debut with the Bolts alongside reinforcements Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Ismael Romero and Asian import Mohammad Vahed.

“We don’t know how healthy he’ll be even just in time for the Qualifiers, we’re not really sure, but as he progresses, then we will see if he’s ready to be in game shape,” he said.

“Definitely, he’s not gonna reach our game within this weekend. We have one more game in December. We’ll see first how he fares with the national team and we’ll take it from there.”