On Saturday, Lakers executives Mitch Kupchak and Jeanie Buss spoke with Philippines national team executives Ricky Vergas and Patrick Gregorio about Clarkson’s participation in the tournament.

“My dad told me to follow my heart”. “He shared the same sentiments about representing an entire country and supported my decision either way”, he said.

But Clarkson, who is heading into his sophomore year, would only be available to play in the elimination phase of the tournament due to a conflict with mandatory Lakers training camp, SBP confirmed in a statement earlier, meaning he would only play against lesser teams Hong Kong, Palestine and Kuwait in Group B, and not later match-ups with more formidable squads Iran and South Korea.

Clarkson would technically be available for the first few games, but the Lakers would require his presence shortly thereafter. “Upon my return from supporting Gilas in The Jones Cup, I had a great talk with my dad”, said Clarkson.

Any injury sustained by Clarkson would be catastrophic for a franchise that is just in the beginning stages of their rebuild.

Clarkson expressed his disappointment for failing to represent in the Philippines in its quest to make to the Rio games via the FIBA Asia Championship tournament. “I’m very disappointed I won’t be able to play with the Gilas National Team during the FIBA Asia Championships from September 23 to October 3”, Clarkson said in a statement released by the SBP Wednesday. The Philippines chances of qualifying for the 2016 Olympics take a major hit without Clarkson on the roster as he would have come in and easily been one of the best players on the team.

Jordan Clarkson was drafted by the Washington Wizards in the second-round with the 46th overall pick in the 2014 { NBA | NBA}Draft and was immediately traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.

“They asked to review the arrangement and wanted assurance that we secure Lakers permission to allow him to skip three days of training camp”, Vargas also said.

Named to the 12-man team were naturalized player Andray Blatche, Jayson Castro, Ranidel De Ocampo, Marc Pingris, Gabe Norwood, returnees Asi Taulava, Dondon Hontiveros and Sonny Thoss, and new additions Matt Ganuelas-Rosser, JC Intal, Terrence Romeo and Calvin Abueva.