Justin Brownlee reportedly missed the Meralco Bolts' first few games in the East Asia Super League because of illness.
Justin Brownlee isn’t suiting up for Meralco in its 2025-26 East Asia Super League match in Cebu City on Saturday, November 15.
Bolts team manager Paolo Trillo confirmed this in a press conference Friday, November 14.
Brownlee arrived Friday but Trillo said he is in town to join Gilas Pilipinas in their preparations for back-to-back games in the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
“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 will be joining Gilas,” said Trillo, whose team is also donating P500,000 to the victims of Typhoon Tino in Cebu.
The beloved naturalized Filipino is supposed to team up with rival import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson in the EASL, but his battle against an illness in recent weeks prevented that from happening.
Unsure of Brownlee’s fitness right now, Trillo said the naturalized Filipino won’t be joining the team against the Macau Blackbears, a game which also serves as fund raiser to help aid Cebuanos in the aftermath of the typhoon’s wrath.
“As far as how ready he is, we all learned also na [he has] pneumonia some weeks back so it’s a health issue I guess. We don’t know how healthy he’ll be, even in time for the qualifiers we’re not sure,” he said.
“As he progresses, then we’ll see if he’s ready to be in game shape, definitely he’s not gonna reach our game this weekend.”
But will Brownlee be available for the December 6 match against the same team?
“We have one more game in December. We’ll see first how he fares with the national team and will take it from there,” Trillo said.
(With reports from Maureen Muarip, One Sports Digital)
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Like most sportswriters, Jan Ballesteros once dreamed of becoming a professional hooper. But he learned the hard way that it’s not for everyone.
He continues to be involved in the sport he loves, but this time as a member of the PBA Press Corps. Aside from primarily covering the PBA, he is also assigned to cover Gilas Pilipinas.