PBA board convenes Friday as Chot Reyes requests to inject TNT core to Gilas Pilipinas

The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) board of governors is set to convene in a special board meeting on Friday, February 4, after returning Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes informed the league of his plans for the national team.

PBA commissioner Willie Marcial said he will meet with team governors at around 1 p.m. after Reyes, who was reinstated last Monday after Tab Baldwin's exit, requested to inject players from his PBA team, the TNT Tropang Giga, into the national team set to compete in the 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers starting on February 24.

Marcial said Reyes' request has to get the approval of the board as it involves a PBA club.

"We have a board meeting tomorrow because of Chot's request to include TNT players to the national team for the tournament this month," Marcial told GMA News Online. "It has to be approved by the board before we can implement it."

Marcial stressed Reyes made no request of including players from other ball clubs as he does not want to disrupt the 2021 PBA Governors' Cup, which is just set to restart on February 11 following a month-long stoppage.

For the league's calendar not to get disturbed, Marcial said the PBA might be forced to squeeze TNT's games schedule where they will play four to five games before the qualifiers kick off.

"Coach Chot does not want to disrupt our schedule so they will have to play many games before the February window."

Marcial added that the board of governors will sit down in a meeting again in March to tackle other matters involving the national team such as the SEA Games, where the Philippines is the defending titleholder, as well as the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

"We are discussing things one at a time and we might have a meeting once more in March to tackle the next steps. We have to talk about the World Cup," Marcial added. — LA, GMA News