Douthit, Blatche call for chance to play in PBA as locals

December 29 ------ Both naturalized Filipinos Marcus Douthit and Andray Blatche are calling for the Philippine Basketball Association to relax their rules on player eligibility regarding naturalized Filipinos. Last Sunday, the 35-year-old Blatche was keeping tabs on the TNT-Rain or Shine game. The 6-foot-11 stretch big man suddenly tweeted, “I wanna come play.” A couple of days later, the 41-year-old Douthit also tweeted the league’s official account, asking the same thing.

Unlike Blatche, the 6-foot-11 Douthit had played in the PBA albeit as an import. He played for Air21 in the 2012 PBA Commissioner’s Cup before suiting up for Blackwater in the 2015 PBA Commissioner’s Cup. Both Douthit and Blatche also played for Philippine touring team Mighty Sports as well.

The league had been studying whether it would allow naturalized Filipinos to play as locals early this year. Early this year, the league also relaxed its rules on Fil-foreign applicants for the PBA draft.

Source: tiebreakertimes.com