Every Pinoy basketball fan is looking forward to Gilas Pilipinas successfully defending its men’s basketball gold at the Nagoya Asian Games which begin on 11 September.

But I’m beginning to wonder if the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) has done enough to make that happen.

Bennie Boatwright’s naturalization is now supposed to lapse into law on 29 August, reportedly, if President Marcos does not sign it. That should have been the moment the SBP was working toward all along.

Instead, Boatwright still is not in the Philippines.

And here is where the situation becomes a classic chicken-and-egg problem.

Boatwright apparently does not want to come here unless he is assured he will actually play in Nagoya. I can understand that from the player’s perspective.

But how can SBP give him that assurance when his Philippine citizenship — and consequently his passport and Asian Games eligibility — are not yet completed?

Boatwright needs to be here to take his oath, secure the necessary Bureau of Immigration documentation and apply for his Philippine passport with the Department of Foreign Affairs. Only then can SBP submit the document that Nagoya organizers are already requiring.

In fact, the SBP has said as far back as June that the organizers were already requiring passports from the final 12-man basketball roster and that they had an early deadline.

That should have set off alarm bells.

The Asian Games don’t begin until 11 September. But the operational deadline isn’t 11 September. It is the much earlier date by which SBP must submit Boatwright’s passport and complete his accreditation.

And SBP knew this months ago.

It knew Boatwright was being naturalized. It knew the Senate had approved his bill. It knew the presidential signature — or the 30-day lapse — was still needed. It knew the passport was going to be critical. And it knew the Philippines was preparing to defend the basketball gold it dramatically won in Hangzhou in 2023, ending a 61-year drought.

So why isn’t Boatwright already here? More so with the current Justin Brownlee injury situation.

I’m not suggesting SBP can physically force a player onto an airplane. But surely it could have put its foot down much earlier and made one thing crystal clear:

You need to be in Manila and ready to complete the process the moment the law takes effect.

That is what national team planning is supposed to be about.

Malacañang, to its credit, had publicly indicated that it was prepared to facilitate the naturalization process within the Asian Games timeline. SBP therefore had every reason to believe that once the legal hurdle was cleared, it could move quickly.

But expedited government action is useless if the athlete who needs the documents isn’t here to get them.

And that, to me, is the frustrating part.

This isn’t about finding some obscure replacement player at the last minute. Boatwright was specifically chosen by SBP for naturalization because the federation believed he could help Gilas defend its Asian Games crown. SBP even put him on the long list despite knowing his citizenship process was still unfinished.

Now, the federation appears caught between waiting for Boatwright and needing Boatwright to be here.

That is not a legal problem.Seems like a management problem to me.

For basketball-crazy Filipinos, the Asian Games men’s basketball gold is arguably the most emotionally important gold medal our delegation can win.

SBP should have treated defending it that way.

If Boatwright ultimately doesn’t make Nagoya, perhaps the naturalization process simply ran out of time.

But if he misses because nobody was willing — or able — to break this chicken-and-egg cycle early enough, then SBP needs to look in the mirror.

Because it seems someone has already dropped the ball with the game just about to begin.