T he death of young Filipino basketball player Rene Baterbonia at a training camp in June captivated social media users in the Philippines, including a TikTok post falsely claiming that an NBA coach had planned to recruit the 18-year-old for the 2026-27 season. AFP found that the clip had been digitally altered, while the original video was published before Baterbonia's death.
"OKC Thunder coach planned to recruit Rene Baterbonia after seeing his potential during his basketball games," the overlaid Tagalog-language text on a TikTok clip reads.
The post has racked up over 869,000 views since it was published on July 20. It claims Baterbonia "would've been the first pure Filipino to join the NBA".
The TikTok video shows Mark Daigneault, head coach of the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder (OKC Thunder), speaking at a press conference ( archived link).
Daigneault can be heard saying they planned to draft Baterbonia, an 18-year-old college student at Ateneo De Manila University, before he died (archived here and here).
#thunder #filipino
"OKC Thunder coach planned to recruit Rene Baterbonia after seeing his potential during his basketball games," the overlaid Tagalog-language text on a TikTok clip reads.
The post has racked up over 869,000 views since it was published on July 20. It claims Baterbonia "would've been the first pure Filipino to join the NBA".
The TikTok video shows Mark Daigneault, head coach of the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder (OKC Thunder), speaking at a press conference ( archived link).
Daigneault can be heard saying they planned to draft Baterbonia, an 18-year-old college student at Ateneo De Manila University, before he died (archived here and here).
#thunder #filipino
2 days ago
