MANILA – Justin Brownlee was nothing but grateful as he returned to the country after serving a three-month suspension due to an “anti-doping rule violation that occurred during the 19th Asian Games.”

Brownlee was one of the heroes in Gilas Pilipinas’ road to the gold medal in Hangzhou, China in September 2023, and Filipino basketball fans showered him with appreciation on Friday night.

He was cheered upon by fans of both Magnolia and San Miguel sides during the halftime of Game 4 of the 2023-24 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for the past few months and I’m happy to come back and be greeted with a lot of love,” Brownlee said as he faced reporters after a simple ceremony for him.

It was not an easy time for Brownlee, whose basketball career hit an unexpected road bump after a series of successes both with Barangay Ginebra and Gilas Pilipinas.

“Mentally, it was very tough. Not knowing the outcome of the situation was very stressful. There were a lot of days and nights just thinking about it and feeling sorry for myself,” the naturalized Filipino forward said.

“But at the end of the day, it was something where you get knocked down or you get set back, you just got to try to stay positive and move forward. Physically, I just tried to stay in the best shape that I can.”

The Barangay Ginebra resident import decided to serve the suspension voluntarily starting November 9 and lasted until February 8.

Eventually, he was cleared by FIBA to play for Gilas Pilipinas for the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers later this month.

In exchange for the eventual opportunity to represent the Philippines, his PBA team, Barangay Ginebra suffered a sweep to sister team San Miguel in the 2023-24 PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals.

Brownlee said it was difficult for him to watch Ginebra lose.

“Yes, it was very difficult. In the beginning, I felt like I let the team down.”

But the resident ‘NSD’ import affirmed that he would want to play for his PBA team again.

“I’m older now, I’m not a young guy. So every opportunity you get to play, especially for me playing for Ginebra, I’m at that age when you’ll never know,” said Brownlee.

“So every opportunity I get, I’m just trying to make the most out of it. I can’t wait to be out on that Ginebra jersey again,” he added.