If it was up to Jeremy Sochan, it’s time for the Philippines to host the NBA global games again.
The San Antonio Spurs forward made the conclusion based on his first-hand experience as part of the Polish national team that hosted Gilas Pilipinas in a tune-up game for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament last year.
“Hopefully, I feel like this would be a perfect spot for, you know, an NBA game one day. We’ll see,” Sochan revealed in a media availability on Wednesday, May 7 in Taguig.
Poland went on to nail a narrow 82-80 win over Gilas Pilipinas in that exhibition game, but the San Antonio Spur described the Filipino crowd as "energetic" and "loud" inside the Arena Sosnowiec.
[ALSO READ: Gilas Pilipinas drop close call to Poland in final tuneup before FIBA OQT in Latvia]
“You know, we were playing, and all of a sudden, I’m warming up, I’m going onto the court, and, like, half the arena is, you know, from the Philippines,” the third-year player out of Baylor revealed.
“As the game went on, it was just the same thing. Like, they never stopped. And I think that’s something we need, you know, in general, in basketball,” he added .
It was way back October 10, 2013 when the country hosted its first ever NBA Global Games inside the Mall of Asia Arena.
Although it was just a preseason game, the Filipino crowd showed up to witness the then James Harden-and-Dwight Howard-bannered Houston Rockets dominate the Indiana Pacers led by former star Paul George, 116-96.
[ALSO READ: A look back at the Pacers-Rockets preseason game in the Philippines]
Last January, Sochan and his Spurs played two regular season games against the Indiana Pacers in France where his superstar teammate Victor Wembanyama was born.
The 22-year-old is in the country to take part in the 2025 NBA Rising Stars Invitational - Philippines Qualifiers. He also revealed he was caught by surprise from the outpouring support from his Filipino fans.
“I didn’t really know what to expect [visiting the Philippines]. One of my best friends, Carl, he’s half-Filipino, so he used to tell me a lot about the basketball culture here and how crazy it is. But I’d never really seen it in person, so I didn’t know,” Sochan admitted.
He continued: “So I think it’s a big part of the basketball culture. It’s super cool to see. I see a lot of stuff on Instagram. Even, like, I didn’t know that I had so many fans from the Philippines. So it’s been a blessing.”
