HONOLULU – It was 2:30 a.m. and the Lakers would practice twice that day, but Jordan Clarkson was keeping an eye on a basketball game being played on the other side of the world.
China and the Philippines met in the final of the FIBA Asia Championship on Saturday with a bid to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on the line. Clarkson, whose mother is Filipino, has vowed to play in Brazil if the Philippines can qualify.
They didn’t Saturday, losing to China, 78-67.
It was something of a national controversy in September whether Clarkson would be able to participate in the tournament.