With Brownlee still unconfirmed, will Gilas Pilipinas play with just 11 players at Asian Games?

Gilas Pilipinas has 11 confirmed players for its lineup in the 2026 Asian Games in Japan, but the team has left one spot open for Justin Brownlee.

The current 11-man lineup includes Brandon Bates, Jerrick Ahanmisi, Justine Baltazar, Robert Bolick, RJ Abarrientos, Zav Lucero, Justin Arana, Don Trollano, Adrian Nocum, Sedrick Barefield, and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser.

Brownlee missed the recent window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers as he continues to recover from multiple injuries.

Should he miss the Asiad, however, the Philippine men’s national basketball team could play with only 11 players.

“We haven’t had a confirmation yet from Justin whether he’s going to be here or not. The door is still open for him,” Cone said in a press conference.

“He’s still working on clearances from doctors in the States. So as soon as that’s all cleared up, we’ll have a clearer picture as well. But at this point, no, we don’t have a 12th player in mind to come over.”

Cone said adding another player could create logistical issues for the team, which is why the 12th spot has been left open specifically for Brownlee.

With that, the Gilas Pilipinas coach said the team would be fine playing with only 11 players.

“If we look back at the OQT, the Olympic qualifying tournament, we lost Scottie [Thompson] soon before, right before the tournament and we ended up going with 11. We didn’t miss a beat there,” Cone recalled.

“I think we’ll be fine. These guys are all willing to play extended minutes. I think 11 is a really good number from a coaching standpoint in terms of not feeling like you have to force some guys who should be out there longer to play less because you want other guys to play, [for] other guys to get satisfied.

“It’s easier from a coaching standpoint, having oftentimes less players than it is, than having more.”

Gilas Pilipinas will open its title defense campaign on September 11 against Bahrain.

—JKC, GMA News