Troy Rosario fills in with Gilas Pilipinas in need of bigs

Troy Rosario during Gilas Pilipinas’ open practice at Filoil Center in San Juan.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines–Troy Rosario will have to wait before he can savor his latest PBA championship.

The Barangay Ginebra big man answered the call to represent Gilas Pilipinas in the third window of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers.

Gilas is sorely lacking frontline with Kai Sotto still out and Quentin Millora-Brown skipping the road games against New Zealand and Australia, prompting coach Tim Cone to call up one of his Ginebra players.

READ: PBA: Troy Rosario puts finals regrets to rest with Ginebra title

“For now, I have to postpone my plans because of the Gilas schedule,” Rosario said in Filipino.

Rosario is making his first Gilas stint since 2022 when he was still a fixture of the national team program then-handled by coach Chot Reyes.

But a Gilas return seemed like a foregone conclusion after Rosario signed as an unrestricted free agent with Ginebra in 2024.

He is coming off a solid performance in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals when Ginebra needed a full seven games to edge out his former team, TNT, for the title.

It was only Rosario’s second PBA championship, adding to his previous one with TNT back in the 2021 Philippine Cup.