Fonacier feels sorry for skipping FIBA World Cup

MANILA, Philippines -- It was tough for Larry Fonacier to let go of this once-in-a-lifetime chance to play in the FIBA World Cup. But ultimately, Fonacier put the country and his family first before his personal dream.

After playing a key role in Gilas' silver medal run in the FIBA Asia Men's Championship last year, Fonacier was forced to skip the World Cup and the Asian Games to focus on rehabilitating his various injuries.

"I've been experiencing, foot, knee and back pain this whole year. It got worse with the non stop schedule. I've talked to Dr. [Jose Raul "George"] Canlas about it and rest is really needed," Fonacier told Philstar.com shortly after Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes broke the bad news on Twitter on Thursday morning.

Read also: Fonacier begs off from Gilas pool for World Cup

Next PBA season will marked Fonacier's 10th year in the league or since surviving a career-threatening ACL injury before jumping to the pros.

"Since the end of my Alaska days to Talk n Text to the national team, that's almost 4 years of heavy basketball with so little time to rest. Training for Spain and Korea will probably make the problem worse," Fonacier explained.

Fonacier is more than willing to give his spot to the other players in the pool who can give their 100 percent to the national team.

FIBA Asia 13th man Beau Belga and latest additions Jared Dillinger, Jay Washington and FIBA Asia Cup hero Paul Lee will likely compete for Fonacier's spot.

"It would be unfair to the team and the country just to go and not be able to give 100 percent. I would like to apologize to those who may have been disappointed with the decision, and say thank you to all who understand and have supported me this whole time," Fonacier said.

The sweet-shooting Talk n Text guard will stay behind as the national pool will fly on Friday morning to the US to train with new naturalized center Andray Blatche in Miami, Florida. From there, the Gilas pool will go directly to Spain and France to play a series of tuneup games as final preparations for the FIBA World Cup before Reyes names his Final 12.