PBA Chairman Ricky Vargas revealed that two major players were offered to join Gilas Pilipinas’ training pool and potentially participate for the team, but they demanded a high price before joining the Asian Games team.

Vargas made the announcement at the PBA press conference on Monday at the league’s headquarters. 

Photo Courtesy: Ryan Baldemor

He narrated the time when he and Gilas team manager Alfrancis Chua were deciding which players to recruit in order to field a competitive team despite the absence of key players from the FIBA World Cup.

The PBA chairman recalled a chat with a player who, he said, sought a massive sum that was even more than the salaries of naturalized stars Justin Brownlee and Ange Kouame.

“I spoke to one player that we wanted to play for the team. He said ‘Yes, I love the country, I’ll play for the team’ and then he said ‘talk to my manager,’” said Vargas.

“And the manager came back and says ‘he will play as long as you pay him,’ and then I went to Alfrancis and to Tim (Cone). I said, ‘we’re willing to support you, we’re willing to bring this player in, we need this player badly, but this is the amount of money he wants.’”

“Tim and Alfrancis said ‘No, he’s asking for the moon and it’s going to destroy the team,” Vargas added. “The amount of money he’s asking for is even greater than what we paid for our naturalized player.”

He said another player had requested the same wage, which would be extremely costly to the squad. 

To protect the players’ privacy, Gilas officials opted not to reveal their identities. Furthermore, they are prouder to have athletes who are altruistic and willing to honor the country without first discussing money.

Indeed, these 12 selfless players were rewarded when they won the gold medal and restored Philippine basketball’s pride.

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