November 14, 2025 | 3:19pm
CEBU CITY, Philippines – While Justin Brownlee has already arrived in the Philippines, the naturalized player will not be suiting up for the Meralco Bolts in their East Asia Super League (EASL) game on Saturday.
Brownlee, who was enlisted by Meralco as one of the team’s naturalized players, is yet to suit up for the squad due to pneumonia.
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) on Friday, said that the 37-year-old Brownlee has arrived the same day, “to start his preparations for the first window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers.”
At a press conference at the Citadines Hotel here, Meralco Bolts team manager Paolo Trillo also confirmed that the wingman has arrived in the Philippines.
“Yes, well, we learned that he arrived actually in Manila already. But he also has commitment to play for our FIBA qualifiers, so he will be joining the national team. He’ll be joining Gilas,” he told reporters.
“As far as how ready he is, we all learned also that he was dealing with pneumonia some weeks back. So it’s a health issue, I guess. We don’t know how healthy he’ll be, even just in time for the qualifiers. We’re not really sure,” he added.
Trillo, though, bared that Brownlee will not be able to suit up for this Saturday’s matchup with the Macau Black Bears.
“But as he progresses, then we’ll see if he’s ready to be in game shape. Definitely, he’s not going to reach our game this weekend,” he said.
The Bolts are currently holding a 1-2 win-loss record in Group B play of the EASL, while the Black Bears will be playing their first game of the season.
“We have one more game left in December. We’ll see first how he fares with the national team and take it from there.”
After Saturday’s game, which Trillo labeled as a must-win contest, the Bolts will only have one remaining game this year – against Macau once again – on December 6. That time, however, will be an away game for the Philippine representatives.