Gilas Pilipinas, the national team for the Philippines have been trying their best to add Los Angeles Lakers second-year player Jordan Clarkson to their team.

As we’ve previously wrote about, Clarkson is HAPA — his mother is Filipina and his father is African-American. Gilas would love to have the athletic two-guard on their roster for the upcoming 2015 Asia Basketball Championships. Director Sonny Barrios attained a Filipino passport for Clarkson back in 2004, before he turned 16, making him eligible to be a natural-born player for Gilas.

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Now it looks like the final roster of twelve for the Asia Championships doesn’t include Clarkson. This is an excerpt from a statement released by the National Team:

We did all that we could to have Jordan Clarkson join Gilas for the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship but we are saddened to report that we are not able to beat the deadline to secure the necessary clearances on time. Although we pushed the boundaries whenever possible, this process cannot be rushed if it were to be done properly. But we respectfully adhere to the schedules set by the Los Angeles Lakers whom SBP officials Ricky Vargas and Pato Gregorio met with to try to exhaust all possible options. SBP Executive Director Sonny Barrios was also in Geneva to personally attend to the guidelines set by FIBA which also required more time. The interest and passion of Jordan Clarkson himself with the full support of his family, to don the Gilas jersey serves as a reason for SBP to be hopeful. Though the doors on the 2015 FIBA Asia meet have been closed, the future of the national team program is encouraging with Clarkson’s desire to represent flag and country.

That “clearance” was FIBA requiring the federation to provide “supporting documentation” to convince the governing body that Clarkson could represent Philippines as natural-born player.

The roster for Gilas looks to inlcude Calvin Abueva, Andray Blatche, Jayson Castro, Dondon Hontiveros, Gabe Norwood, Ranidel de Ocampo, Marc Pingris, Terrence Romeo, Asi Taulava and Sonny Thoss.

Even with passpost and FIBA clearance, there were more steps after, Clarkson still would have had to get the blessing from Lakers Head Coach Byron Scott. Not only that, but having Clarkson was complicated. It was reported that the Lakers were requiring that Clarkson return by September 28, which means that the 23-year old would miss the elimination rounds of the tournament.

Gilas still have hope; they’ve included Clarkson on their 24-man roster. With his name on this official roster, any one of these players can be added to the final roster.

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