The status of Cleveland Cavaliers guard Jordan Clarkson and whether or not he will participate in the 2018 Asian Games have been in question the past few days.
Despite the uncertainty, national team head coach Yeng Guiao and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) took a risk by allotting a slot for Clarkson in the 12-man lineup, which was revealed on Friday after the team's practice. But the decision did not pay off as ESPN learned from an NBA source that Clarkson won't be competing in the Asiad.
SBP president Al Panlilio, however, told EPSN5 that they have yet to receive anything official from the Cleveland Cavaliers, the NBA and the Indonesia Asian Games 2018 Organizing Committee (INASGOC) regarding Clarkson's status.
"The informal information I have is that the Cavs have released him and INASGOC seemed to have decided he is eligible but no formal correspondence from all parties. No formal message also from the NBA," Panlilio said in a message.
On when they expect to hear official word from the parties involved, Panlilio said: "We are following up with INASGOC but with the NBA we have no idea."
The SBP, together with the Philippine Olympic Committee and the Philippine government, made an appeal to the NBA to allow the Filipino-American to see action in the Asian Games.
"We will represent the country with or without Jordan Clarkson," Guiao mentioned after their tune-up game against TNT on Saturday. "Of course we would want to have him with us, but if he won't be able to join there's nothing we can do. We did our best to do that, but that's okay."
Apart from Clarkson, the 12-man lineup consists of Chris Tiu, Maverick Ahanmisi, Beau Belga, Raymond Almazan, Gabe Norwood, James Yap, Poy Erram, Christian Standhardinger, Paul Lee, Stanley Pringle, and Asi Taulava.
The men's basketball team is set to leave for Indonesia Sunday evening.
