Former UP Fighting Maroon and UAAP champion Quentin Millora-Brown wanted so badly to play for Gilas Pilipinas. Now, the road is clear for him to do so—as a local no less. This after FIBA reportedly reclassified the Fil-Am big man’s eligibility from naturalized to local in a stunning response to Millora-Brown’s appeal.
Millora-Brown’s name had previously been floated around as a possible addition to Gilas Pilipinas, with Kai Sotto still injured, Japeth Aguilar looking every bit the 38-year-old that he is, and June Mar Fajardo getting up there in years, too, and continuing to struggle in today’s faster-paced international game.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t be included for Gilas Pilipinas’ 2025 FIBA Asia Cup lineup as the sport’s international governing body ruled him as a naturalized player—in the same boat as Justin Brownlee and another national team veteran in Angelo Kouame.
Quentin Millora-Brown Handles Business Himself
But rather than accept that ruling, which is actually rather unfair given how Quentin Millora-Brown is a legitimate Filipino-American (his mother is a full-blooded Filipina), the 6-foot-10 big challenged it.
“They gave me the naturalized status, it’s been appealed, the lawyers told me we have a pretty strong position, so we’re hopeful that we’ll get FIBA to change their decision from naturalized to local,” Millora-Brown told One Sports after the Gilas send-off against the Macau Black Bears, for whom QMB played. “We’ll see what happens. Obviously, we don’t control what they say, but we’re hopeful.”
All that hope certainly paid off weeks later, but it only did because Millora-Brown acted on it. He actually did something to get the establishment—FIBA—to rectify a ruling that didn’t really make sense in the grand scheme of things. He and his lawyers put the full-court press on FIBA, so to speak, and it relented.
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) previously claimed it was working on securing Millora-Brown’s local status but couldn’t. But with QMB’s lawyers doing what the SBP couldn’t do, it is fair to wonder if the SBP actually tried as they said they did or if that was just all lip service.
Whatever the case may be, SBP president Al Panlilio and his minions might want to get in touch with the lawyers that got Quentin Millora-Brown reclassified as a local. When they do, they better take notes because QMB’s lawyers seem to know more about getting things done than the country’s basketball governing body, which couldn’t convince FIBA to let legitimate Fil-Foreigners like Stanley Pringle, Christian Standhardinger, and even Jordan Clarkson play as locals even with their Filipino lineage proven beyond doubt.
Maybe—just maybe—Quentin Millora-Brown and his team can do a better job than the SBP in this regard.
The Elephant in the Room: Tim Cone and His Stubbornness
With Quentin Millora-Brown now classified as a local, it’s safe to say he’d be included in the Gilas Pilipinas lineup as in right now, right? It’s a no-brainer if we’re being honest, especially after QMB contributed 6 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals in that Gilas-Macau send-off game in July. Even national coach Tim Cone agrees, saying he’d welcome the big man if he is indeed a local.
As of now, all signs point to Millora-Brown getting tapped for national team duties. Aguilar has put off retirement long enough, and QMB would certainly be an upgrade. He’d also fill in for Sotto in the short term and could be a pillar in the long term, forming a towering but athletic frontcourt with Kaiju and AJ Edu.
But the question is, will Cone actually give Millora-Brown minutes if and when he becomes part of Gilas? It’s a fair question to ask given Cone’s seeming reluctance to trust younger players—something Carl Tamayo and Kevin Quiambao should know firsthand. Cone’s pronouncement after Gilas’ crushing loss in the quarterfinals to Australia in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.
“We put this team together for the long term in trying to get them to grow together and get better. If we’re just going to go ahead and change personnel, we’re back to zero again,” he told reporters after the Australia game. “We’re going to use this and try to make some adjustments. The big missing piece for us is Kai Sotto. Hopefully we get Kai and that makes us a little more competitive…”
If anything, that sounds like a coach who’s change-averse, one who’s disinclined to make big changes for the sake of continuity—even if the status quo isn’t working anymore. But as the results of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup show, now is as good a time to break that status quo and change things up just in time for the World Cup Qualifiers that start in November. QMB could be a big change in this case, but only if Tim Cone lets him.
Quentin Millora-Brown did his part. Cone and the SBP should do theirs, too.
