What NBA players would look like if they were ordinary Pinoys

by Pacifiqa Staff

(Facebook/ Jhulian Per Ceff Leal)

 

From youngsters who play at 6-feet rims to senior citizens who can still lace up their shoes, millions of Filipinos have longed to make it to the biggest and brightest stage in basketball. And we’ve taken great strides in recent years: Gilas made a lot of noise at the FIBA World Cup in Spain, NBA players frequently visit our shores, and some Filipinos have even come close to making it in the league.

Despite our best efforts, we’re still not quite there yet. In the meantime, our NBA aspirations have been limited to creating players of our own likeness in video games or photoshopping ourselves onto NBA teams. But what about the other way around? What if our NBA heroes were just average Filipinos? It’s not a thought that often gets mentioned, but that’s precisely what one basketball fan did.

Jhulian Per Ceff Leal took a bunch of NBA players and superimposed their faces on everyday scenes of Filipino life.

“(I did it) just for fun,” said Jhullian in an online exchange. “Our culture loves basketball.”

He chose players by only selecting the ones that made it to the NBA playoffs.

From MVP Steph Curry as a sabongero to Joakim Noah appropriately dressed in Chicago Bulls gear while selling taho, the photos are hilarious but also not completely outlandish. After all, if CP3 and DeAndre Jordan were Pinoys, they probably would be sipping some Red Horse and chowing on pulutan after that epic collapse against the Houston Rockets.

You can see the complete set of photos here.