MANILA – Rising Filipino basketball star Kai Sotto is reportedly under the radar of the National Basketball Association (NBA) G-League’s select program where he could possibly team up with Filipino-American combo guard and potential NBA Rookie Draft No. 1 overall pick Jalen Green.
Multiple reports said the 7-foot-2 former Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eaglets center is one of the high school prospects linked to the G-League’s new developmental program.
Sotto, son of former Philippine Basketball Association player Ervin Sotto, will receive a six-figure contract if he decides to commit his services to the program, which focuses on on-court and life skills development of prospects. It will be based on Los Angeles, California.
According to ESPN’s report, meanwhile, the select program plans to combine the likes of the young Sotto and Green with veteran players who will serve as their mentors.
The team will be exposed to matches with existing G-League teams, NBA academies around the world and different national teams.
In order to be deemed eligible to enter the NBA Draft, players of the G-League select program will be required to play 20 games first.
To recall, it’s been a year since Kai Sotto decided to have his ballgame developed in the United States (US) in a higher bid to become the country’s first full-blooded Filipino NBA player.
Sotto – Asia’s top under-17 big man two years ago – is currently ranked as a four-star recruit in the US. He currently plays for Atlanta, Georgia-based squad The Skills Factory Prep School.
The 17-year-old is being recruited by several giant National Collegiate Athletic Association teams there and already made visits to Kentucky, Georgia Teach, DePaul, and Auburn.
Green, on the other hand, became the first NBA prospect to join G-League’s select program, shunning offers to play college ball for Auburn and Memphis.
The Filipino-American – five star recruit from Fresno, California – won gold medals representing the USA national team during the FIBA U17 and U19 World Championships in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Green also played for the FilAm Sports
team in the 2018 and 2019 Chooks-to-Go National Basketball Training Center
(NBTC) National Finals tournaments in the country.
He is currently the record holder of NBTC’s highest scoring player in a single
game by bombing 51 points against the National University Bullpups two years
ago./PN
