Gilas Pilipinas’ Andray Blatche in car crash but walks away from wreckage unharmed
Philippines team manager Butch Antonio says the former Brooklyn Nets star is fine after traffic collision which appeared to take place in the US
Gilas Pilipinas star Andray Blatche was involved a serious car accident on Monday, but appeared to have escaped without injury.
The former Brooklyn Nets star, who plays mainly in the Chinese Basketball Association, posted footage on Instagram of two wrecked cars which had seemingly been involved in a collision.
The video, which has had more than 10,000 views, also showed a metal street sign which had been knocked down.
“They tried to take me and @2voicz out,” Blatche wrote in the post, referencing a friend he had been travelling with.
“God got me, thank you God for letting me walk away,” wrote Blatche’s travel companion, a comedian in the Atlanta area, on his own Instagram post alongside a picture of the damaged cars.
Gilas team manager Butch Antonio said Blatche’s business manager, Maria Espaldon, had told him on a phone call that the 6ft 11 star was unharmed.
“It’s a simple case of vehicular accident,” Antonio told The Philippine Star. “Most important is that Andray is OK as I was told by Chao [Espaldon].”
It is uncertain where the crash happened. “Most probably it’s in Atlanta [Georgia, in the US]. Both Chao and Andray are based in Atlanta,” Antonio said.
A naturalised player for Gilas, Blatche is serving a three-game suspension for his role in the infamous brawl between the Philippines and Australia at their World Cup qualifier in July.
The 32-year-old sat out the September qualifiers against Iran and Qatar, and will miss the home tie against Kazakhstan in the next window, but could return on December 3 when Gilas host Iran.
The Philippines are third out of six teams in a hotly contested group F, behind Iran and Australia on 13 points. The three best teams from the two Asian qualifying groups, along with the best fourth-placed team, will qualify for the 2019 Basketball World Cup in China next August.
