Adelaide 36ers coach CJ Bruton has confirmed that rising young Filipino talent Kai Sotto will return to play with the 36ers for the 2022-23 season.
Despite the Filipino sensation having a strong finish to the NBL season, including scoring double-figures in his last two games and scoring a career-high 21 points against Brisbane in April, thirty teams passed on Sotto in the annual draft.
Already an emerging figure within the Philippine national team program, Sotto was hoping to become the first Filipino homegrown talent to be drafted into the NBA. During his time in the NBL, he averaged 11.6 points on 52.6 per cent shooting along with 4.2 boards and 1.2 blocks while hitting double-digit scoring in three of those contests.
“I can’t really explain the feeling but it’s not a good feeling. I really worked hard and did my best to get here, but it’s what happened. God has better plans for me and I won’t stop” Sotto said in his interview on PlayItRight TV moments after the NBA Draft.
Sotto chose to not take part in the 2022 NBA Summer League, instead focusing on a return to the 36ers, where he hopes he can reach the NBA via an alternate route, as seen recently through the journey of Melbourne United’s Jack White, who signed an NBA deal with the Denver Nuggets directly from the NBL last month.
“Obviously it’s unfortunate for him not to get picked up but there are many ways to get to the NBA, take a look at Jack White right now. There are different ways to get there, there’s not only one way. Clearly, everyone wants that (NBA Draft) moment but Kai is still focused on making the NBA” said Bruton on the Aussie Hoopla podcast.
Bruton also noted he thought Sotto was still a year or two away from being ready to enter the NBA draft, but after Sotto entered his name into the draft to test NBA interest, complications relating to his participation with the NBA G-League Ignite Team resulted in him being unable to exit and retain his draft eligibility.
“He put his name in there then couldn’t get it out. Having his name attached to the G-League Ignite team meant things didn’t play in his favour, things that I’m not sure even he was aware of the (restrictions) while he was here” said Bruton.
Sotto’s decision to join the 2022 NBA Draft was a result of being an auto-eligible draftee by virtue of being a 19-year-old talent one year removed from playing high school basketball.
Sotto still has two more years (with the second a team option) left on the original three-year deal that he signed with the 36ers last year. Sotto currently plays in the NBL under the league’s Special Restricted Player rule, which allows NBL teams to sign Asian players as local talent in order to continue to build on strong relationships within the FIBA Asian region.