National squad head coach Tim Cone has already accepted that he’ll be fielding an all-Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) team in Gilas Pilipinas’ title defense at the coming Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games next month.

With the Asiad not being sanctioned by FIBA, clubs of overseas-based Filipino players have the option not to release them for the 10 September to 20 October men’s basketball competition.

This means Japan B.League players like Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, Mike Phillips, Jamie Malonzo and Quentin Millora-Brown and Korean Basketball League imports Carl Tamayo and Kevin Quiambao won’t be available for Gilas’ bid to win back-to-back mints.

“None of the Japan or Korean players can play in the Asian Games. So, we just decided that we would pretty much bring an all-PBA contingent for the Asian Games along with Justin (Brownlee),” Cone said.

The PBA is currently on a nine-week pause of hostilities in the Season 50 Governors’ Cup to give way to Gilas’ major international stints, including the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifier fourth window hosting on 28 August against Jordan and on the 30^th against Iran.      

Gilas will begin its closed-door training on Monday.

Gilas also banked on PBA stars back in 2023 when the Philippines ended a 61-year Asiad gold medal drought in Hangzhou, China with a 70-60 win in the finals against Jordan.