After all, Kai Sotto will not be rejoining Ignite in the NBA G League.
“Kai and the team both understood the challenges for him to rejoin Ignite given the current international travel constraints, quarantine times and health and safety protocols,” said NBA G League President Shareef Abdur-Rahim in a statement.
Sotto, who stands 7 feet 3 inches tall, moved to the Philippines early last month in order to play for Gilas Pilipinas in the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers.
However, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was delayed.
It’ll be interesting to see where Sotto goes from here in his quest to become the first full-blooded Filipino to play in the NBA.
Despite his trials, SBP bosses want Kai Sotto to be a member of the Gilas cadet pool. Kai Sotto is a strong candidate to join the Gilas Pilipinas pool for this year’s campaigns both at home and abroad.
The inclusion of the 7-foot-3 center in the national team pool has been discussed by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) president Al Panlilio as the federation lays out its plans for the rest of 2021.
“He’s part of the list so we just have to talk to him and reach out to him again,” the SBP executive said.
Sotto is already very much a part of Gilas’ development, according to Panlilio, and including him in the seniors’ team’s buildup this early will be a surprise for the SBP.
“We just have to talk to him and reach out to him again,” Panlilio said in a virtual conference on March 9. “We have not finalized our calendar yet. Once we do, we will have to share with him what the plan is and [talk to him] on what he is doing, align that with what is ours.”
“Like I said in the past, he is welcome to join us,” he added.
Isaac Go, Rey Suerte, Matt and Mike Nieto, and Allyn Bulanadi are among the Gilas cadets, as are upcoming draftees Jaydee Tungcab, Jodan Heading, Tzaddy Rangel, and Will Navarro.
According to Panlilio, the decision was taken so that the PBA season, which is set to begin on April 11, will not be disrupted.
“If you take a look at it, if you want to start training early this month and the PBA starts the conference in April and this will go all the way to July 4 (FIBA Olympic Qualifiers), it will derail the calendar of the PBA,” Panlilio said.
Aside from the nine players and Sotto, Panlilio said the 20-25-man training pool would also involve Ange Kouame, a naturalization prospect, and other collegiate players.
“If you put the name of Ange Kouame there, eventually also Kai Sotto and some of the college players… I think we can come up with 20, if not a list of 25 names that can enter the bubble as early as the end of the month to start that training,” Panlilio said in a press briefing.
Gilas Pilipinas has been invited to participate as a guest team in the upcoming PBA Philippine Cup, but the SBP president acknowledged that due to their scheduling, playing in the PBA could be difficult for Gilas.
They expect to hold a pocket tournament with two PBA teams and a foreign side, or compete with other teams overseas, as part of their preparations for the upcoming qualifiers.
“The intention of the program is to start to build up quite early, maybe starting by this month, and go off to international leagues for some competitions,” Panlilio said.
In the second week of June, the Philippines will host the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers’ final window.
The Gilas will also participate in the FIBA Olympic Qualifications, which will take place in Serbia from June 29 to July 4, in place of New Zealand, which withdrew from the tournament.