Ex-NBA G-League Prospect Proves To Be Real Deal, Leaves Large Room For Improvement

Ex NBA G-League standout Kai Sotto’s debut on the international stage has long been awaited by people who have been intrigued by his potential.

Sotto has long been touted by his countrymen as their best shot at having a pure-blooded Filipino to represent the country in the NBA.

“The Kaiju,” the name they christened him with for his immense height and dominance in the paint, was not even supposed to be playing in the qualifiers for the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup.

He had already signed with the NBA G-League’s Ignite team but opted to leave the team and join his compatriots in representing the country in the qualifiers.

The 19-year-old Sotto has been on the radar of most basketball scouts for his notable performances in the 2016 FIBA Under-16 Asian Championship in Foshan, China.

Sotto carried the young Filipinos on his back en route to a win against Japan in the quarter-finals with 28 points, 21 rebounds and three blocks.

He also went for a double-double of 26 points and 21 rebounds to go along with six blocks in a semi-final loss to China.

Critics like to point out that his talent only comes from his height.

The lanky center averaged 9.3 points on 37.5% shooting from the field, seven rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 18.9 minutes over three games in the qualifiers.

On paper, this looks nothing like the Sotto that set the world ablaze in 2016. The lack of conditioning may have played a part in that happening.

After his debut in a winning effort against South Korea last Wednesday, June 16, head coach Tab Baldwin praised Sotto for his efforts but said that “he’s only good for three to four minutes and he gets tired.”

It also didn’t help that Sotto was up against the more physical and experienced 6-foot-6 Ra Gun-ah, who played as an import in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

“He was very disrupted by the physicality of Ratcliffe (Ra Gun-ah) and you know, what you saw was him making an adjustment and he started to deliver and dish back the physicality,” Baldwin said.

Sotto finished with 11 points and seven rebounds in his first outing and had 10 points with seven rebounds in their second meeting.

He was expected to dominate the matchup against Indonesia, but he matched up against another former PBA import in Lester Prosper.

Prosper gave Sotto a hard time scoring with his physicality inside the paint and made the young Filipino work hard for all of his seven points.

Prior to the matchup, Prosper had nothing but nice words for Sotto since the pair had worked together in Miami.

“Kai’s a quick learner. He wants to learn, he wants to improve and he came to the right place. He came down (in Miami) soaked everything up. Now, we’re here. And then he has to go to Australia after this. The sky’s the limit for Kai,” told Prosper.

Despite the lack of monster stat lines, Sotto has proven himself to be worthy of getting that G-League contract.

At just 19 years old, rarely any player is that polished when it comes to footwork and carving out space in the paint for an easy score. However, Sotto has shown flashes of advanced scoring ability on the international stage.

Sotto will now be setting his sights on the National Basketball League (NBL) in Australia after having signed a two-year deal with an option for a third, as reported by ESPN’s Olgun Uluc in April.

There’s no doubt that Sotto still has the NBA dream alive in the back of his mind. His short stint in the United States hastened his development, and the NBL will surely sharpen his skills even more.

Sotto knows he can make it to the NBA. He’s too good not to. It’s only a matter of when.