MANILA, Philippines — Gilas Pilipinas’ 2023 Asian Games finals victim Jordan is coming out with a stacked roster in its bid to unseat the Philippines’ from its regional basketball throne.
The Falcons are loading their roster with a pair of naturalized players in their bid to redeem themselves after falling short of their gold medal bid in the 2023 edition in Hangzhou, China.
Jordan has enlisted back athletic Dar Tucker and Perrin Buford in a pair of explosive reinforcements for the Asian Games where men’s basketball is set to start this coming Thursday, Sept. 10.
Tucker last played for Jordan during the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup where he averahed 20.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists.
On the other hand, the 6-6 Buford is a 6-6 well-traveled wingman, who earned the reputation of being a high-scorer after earning the Japan B.League scoring champion in 2024, and recently saw action for Pelita Jaya in the Indonesian Basketball League.
The two Jordanian reinforcements will be taking the spot of the 6-11 big man John Bohannon and three-time PBA Best Import and naturalized player Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who is still recovering from an Achilles heel injury he sustained last December while playing for the Meralco Bolts in the East Asia Super League home and away season.
Gilas just beat Jordan, 82-81 in overtime, thanks to Kevin Quiambao’s go-ahead three, and preserved by Kai Sotto’s game-clinching block over Abdullah Olajuwon over a week ago.
The Philippines though won’t have the luxury of having Sotto and some of the Asian quota imports like Quiambao, Dwight Ramos, and AJ Edu.
Coach Tim Cone will have to rely on a PBA-backed Gilas side, which is still working on team chemistry and is coming of back-to-back blowout losses to the Korean national team in Suwon over the weekend in a pair of tuneup games.
Jordan will also have the core of Ahmad Alhamarsheh, Mohammad Hussein, Ahmad Al Dwairi, Freddy Ibrahim, Amin Abu Hawwas, Rawhi Kilani,Malek Kanaan, and Yousef Abuwazaneh seeing action in the Asian Games under new head coach Luis Guil.
Jordan is in Group B, along with three-time Asian champion Iran, Chinese Taipei, and 2027 World Cup host Qatar.
