Jamaica Basketball Association (JaBA) President Paulton Gordon says he is delighted that NBA guard Norman Powell of the Los Angeles Clippers is set to represent Jamaica at the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament in August.

The announcement was made earlier this month by 31-year-old Powell via his social media platforms, sending a wave of excitement through the local basketball community. Gordon expressed both his enthusiasm and relief at finally being able to bring Powell into the fold to represent Jamaica at the FIBA qualifiers.

“We have been working behind the scenes for a couple of years to identify players who might be eligible to play for Jamaica and to navigate the eligibility process through FIBA,” said Gordon. “There are some rules that have prevented us from getting a lot of the NBA players who have Jamaican connections, but we are working on it.”

Gordon said that Powell, who is a seasoned NBA player with a strong competitive spirit, will be a key figure in the national team setup this summer.

“Norman has indicated over the last two years that he wanted to represent Jamaica, so we went through that process and we are considering Norman the anchor of that group that will be representing Jamaica in the summer.

“We are pretty upbeat about that and we think we can clear this initial hurdle from August 8-10 and then move on to the home-and-away segment of the qualifiers,” he said.

Powell, who is qualified to represent Jamaica through his Jamaican mother, is embracing the opportunity with enthusiasm.

“I am super excited to join Team Jamaica,” Powell said. “Coach [Rick] Turner and I have worked on this for a while and now it’s a reality. I am ready to grind and need everyone’s support to make it happen.”

Powell averaged 21.8 points this regular season for the Clippers.

Gordon noted that his organisation is also looking to bolster the squad with other eligible overseas-based players. Among those being targeted are Josh Minott of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who has previously represented Jamaica at the Under-17 level, and London Johnson, currently playing in the NBA G League (developmental competition).

“We are working behind the scenes to get these players to join Norman. There are quite a few Jamaican players playing in Europe who will also be joining our team and so I think we have a competitive squad to make a real push this summer,” he stated.

The venue for pre-qualifying tournament is yet to be announced by FIBA.

Chile, Paraguay, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Mexico are among the teams set to compete against the Jamaicans at the championship.

— Robert Bailey