“At this stage, and with the strict FIBA protocols, there is no opportunity to bring Lebron to Serbia for the experience of being a part of the traveling pool and learning more from his more experienced Gilas brothers,” said SBP Special Assistant to the President Ryan Gregorio.

Lopez played during their game against Indonesia for the third and final window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.

The 18-year old forward chipped in 8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 1 block in 10 minutes.

Lopez will be joining Javi Gomez de Liaño and Jaydee Tungcab as the final omissions from the 15-man Gilas pool.

With this, Carl Tamayo, Dwight Ramos, Angelo Kouame, Justine Baltazar, Kai Sotto, SJ Belangel, RJ Abarrientos, Isaac Go, William Navarro, Mike Nieto, Geo Chiu, and Jordan Heading are the final roster that will be representing the Philippines for the FIBA OQT.

Gilas Pilipinas will be facing No. 5 Serbia on June 30 and No. 19 Dominican Republic on July 1 respectively, with the top two teams advancing to the knockout round.