Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson has already expressed his intention to play for the Philippine men's basketball national team, giving the basketball-crazy an active NBA player - if everything works out - in their future campaigns.
But Clarkson is not the only NBA player with Asian-American heritage who can potentially suit up for international tournaments. His former Lakers teammate Jeremy Lin, whose parents are immigrants from Taiwan, can also play for Chinese Taipei, if he wants to. The question now is will Lin follow Clarkson's lead and spice up the competition for basketball supremacy in Asia?
The prospect of Clarkson and Lin backstopping their respective national teams is certainly intriguing. They would sure add a much needed star-power to a tournament that has been lacking NBA-level talent the past few years with former Memphis Grizzlies Hamed Haddadi and former lottery pick Yi Jianlian now playing professional basketball in China, but their presence would also help elevate the level of competition in a continent that is allotted one guaranteed slot for the Olympics.
Basketball at the Olympics has been dominated by Western countries with FIBA Americas sending two countries (actually three with the inclusion of the Olympic and World champion United States), FIBA Europe fielding two teams while FIBA Asia, FIBA Africa and FIBA Oceania each has one guaranteed berth. The three remaining spots are up for grabs at the 2016 FIBA World Qualifying tournament.
Lin, who signed a fresh two-year deal with the Charlotte Hornets, has been considered a national hero in Taiwan. He has raked endorsement money after endorsement money in the country since he became a worldwide sporting sensation due to his exploits in New York roughly three years ago. If he wants his name to wind up as a legend in Taiwan, he may need to pay them back by playing for the national team.
The prospect of seeing Taiwan and Philippines rekindling their rivalry with Clarkson and Lin going head to head is no doubt fascinating. But for this to become a reality, Lin has to step up to the challenge.