An 18-year-old Filipino basketball player who has a height of 7 foot and 2 inches, Kai Zachary Sotto, the first son of the former Philippine Basketball Association player, Ervin Sotto, was given an opportunity to have a draft entry in the 2024 NBA draft. Kai Zachary is one of the players in the Batang Gilas in the Philippines in which he showed off his talent and skills in basketball and got recruited by the different teams in Europe and the United States. Being recruited left and right, the family of Ervin Sotto has to decide on what Kai Zachary should choose for his career. At a young age, Kai Zachary has been the voice of the sports media predicting if he could be the next Yao Ming or Hamed Haddadi because of his towering height.
“My ultimate dream is to make it to the NBA and I also want to represent the Philippines on international tournaments.” – Kai Zachary Sotto
During his interviews, without any hesitations, Kai Zachary always mentions his dream to be drafted in the NBA. He is not ashamed to shout out his dream because he is doing everything he can to achieve it. Kai Zachary, as a full-blooded Filipino, wanted to show to everyone that the Philippines is a part of the basketball world. Since he is the first Filipino to have an opportunity to have a draft entry, he wanted to represent his country and try his best to prove that a “Pinoy” can also make it.
Kai Zachary chose to chase his dream and moved into Atlanta in April 2019 together with his supportive father. There, he is currently playing for The Skill Factory, an athletics skill and development organization based in Atlanta, and at the same time, he is working on his physical build and skills. He is trained by some of the professional basketball coaches and they love how Kai Zachary is responding to their training. His coaches really are molding Kai Sotto’s skills and physical body for him to handle the pace of the game in the National Basketball Association. Moving into his new city had him to catch a lot of adjustments like the culture, people, and the way they play basketball. He was happy that he was not alone in Atlanta, his family also moved together with him. You can see how Kai Zachary is bringing the Filipino culture on how he is attached to his family and relatives to the point that he wanted his cousins to be there.
“I didn’t really know a lot of things about college recruitment because in the Philippines I was still at the 10th grade.” Kai Zachary said in an interview.
He was not ready for his college but when he came to Atlanta, he got a little shocked because things are happening so fast but he is getting ready to face all the challenges that are yet to happen in his life. According to Jerimiah Buswell, Kai Zachary is slowly making his potential into a reality and that would make him a better NBA player in future.
“I think he took it to heart. You know, I think he saw kind of where he was and was able to size himself up a little bit. And now, he’s able to take a step forward because he’s grounded in reality”-Jerimiah Buswell
Kai Zachary mentioned in an interview in the Philippines (The Score) that his idol was Kristaps Porzingis. Kristaps Porzingis is a professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association and is the power forward or center of the Dallas Mavericks. Kai Zachary loves watching him play and he followed the journey of Kristaps Porzingis even before the moment he was drafted in the NBA. He added that he wanted to become Joel Emiid due to his image as the current “big man” of the NBA.
As he gets closer to his dreams, Kai Zachary Sotto finally signed with the National Basketball Association G League in May 2020. A year has passed that he traveled so far to achieve his NBA dream. This is his new contract in which he became the first Jr. NBA Philippines who graduated and joined the G League’s new professional pathway program. With this, he created a big step closer in achieving his dream. He was the fourth player to circumvent the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) through the decision of being a professional by signing directly with the G league. He was recruited together with the five-star high school recruits Jalen Green, Daishen Nix, and Isaiah Todd. Chris Ebersole, National Basketball Association’s senior director of the international elite basketball operations and who worked directly with Kai Zachary, complimented Kai Zachary as a tremendously skilled player with his age and size. Chris Ebersole can see Kai Zachary’s advanced footwork and ball skills. He is amazed with Kai’s defense in such a way that Kai Zachary is using his intelligence quotient, positioning himself properly during the game, and with the advantage of his height he has the capacity to block or change shots near the rim without falling for shot fakes.
https://clutchpoints.com/nba-news-filipino-phenom-kai-sotto-first-international-prospect-sign-new-g-league-pro-program/
On the other hand, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, the president of the G League since 2018, also goes with Chris Ebersole’s compliments on Kai Sotto but he was also praised with Kai’s character.
“We want to see NBA level talent, a player that we are projecting and expect will go forth in the NBA. Someone with work ethic, high character, and the desire to push and be challenged. There are a lot of talented players around the world. Not all of them would fit in this program because they may not be ready for the commitment of preparing for the NBA. It’s a combination of talent and being on a path to the NBA. A lot of players have the dream of playing in the NBA, but may not at this stage be on the cusp.” -Shareef Abdur-Rahim, G League’s president
Abdur-Rahim wanted to make sure that they can find players who are going to be in the National Basketball Association to have the right attitude and the right approach. With these standards, Abdur-Rahim thinks that Kai Zachary fits all of these standards.
The moment Kai Zachary will take the floor in the G League, he is going to be a young Filipino multi-millionaire. According to Evan Daniels of 24/7 Sports, an online media organization that focuses on the United States’ college sports, he will have an earning of USD 200,000. If it is converted in his country, Kai Zachary will get PHP 10 million. Kai Zachary can be followed through his social media accounts: instagram (kzsotto), twitter (kzsottolive), and website (https://kzsotto.com/).
As Kai Zachary is currently making himself physically strong and improving more with his skills, the Filipinos are already excited to see Kai Zachary achieving his dream. Compared to his last year’s performance, Kai Zachary improved a lot on the court not just with his skills but also with his body build. Coaches can see how Kai Zachary is really focused to achieve his NBA dream.
“What we see in Kai is the physical talent, his size, and ability to move, his skill with his size. We think Kai can be a little under the radar in the sense that he’s new to the United States and the popular media of evaluating players.” – Shareef Abdur-Rahim, G League’s president
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Ultimate Dream: 5 mins
Kai’s Idol 7:30
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