Kai Sotto Thread

[Metta]

At this point, the stars pretty much have to align to see Kai in the NBA. It's not impossible, but it would have to take a confluence of a lot of things... his drastic improvement, a team need, willing nba coaches, injury avoidance, etc.

For perspective, Arvydas Sabonis entered the nba at 30/31 yrs old. Also at that time, he was already ravaged by injuries that he was legally allowed to have a handicapped/disabled ID. But he still went on to play multiple productive years. That's a different era though where bigs didn't need to be mobile.

Also, if Kai does go against all odds and make it to the nba, will our fans be fine with him just being a benchwarmer? He can't be a project player anymore the older he gets, teams will expect him to contribute right away and not wait for him to develop. This happened to several top Euro players who didn't make a dent in the nba going in at an older age.

[CoJ]

At this point, the stars pretty much have to align to see Kai in the NBA. It's not impossible, but it would have to take a confluence of a lot of things... his drastic improvement, a team need, willing nba coaches, injury avoidance, etc.

For perspective, Arvydas Sabonis entered the nba at 30/31 yrs old. Also at that time, he was already ravaged by injuries that he was legally allowed to have a handicapped/disabled ID. But he still went on to play multiple productive years. That's a different era though where bigs didn't need to be mobile.

Also, if Kai does go against all odds and make it to the nba, will our fans be fine with him just being a benchwarmer? He can't be a project player anymore the older he gets, teams will expect him to contribute right away and not wait for him to develop. This happened to several top Euro players who didn't make a dent in the nba going in at an older age.

But sabonis was a international legend who asdrafted a decade earlier, Kai on the other hand, is a meme for mainstream western fans. He needs to play in a competitive league for hin to get noticed. Not sure if the NBA scouts thibks highly of Asian Basketball.


Odds are against Kai, i do hope that he will have a significant leap as his nba window is closing

[lem0nadi]

But sabonis was a international legend who asdrafted a decade earlier, Kai on the other hand, is a meme for mainstream western fans. He needs to play in a competitive league for hin to get noticed. Not sure if the NBA scouts thibks highly of Asian Basketball.


Odds are against Kai, i do hope that he will have a significant leap as his nba window is closing

Kawamura paved the way already by doing the BLeague to NBA transition, I know he did get also scouted in the Olympics but those games are not enough so them scouts pretty much saw him played in the BLeague. Kai just needs to dominate the BLeague for him to get a chance. He also with big agency with Wasserman so the only thing to do is for him to showcase his game.



EDIT: I just remembered the announcement of Yokohama that Kawamura will be signing an Exhibit 10 contract with Memphis Grizzlies was way earlier before the Olympics even started, so pretty much BLeague is getting recognition from the NBA scouts already.

[hmbopbaduwap]

Pre Season highlights: 20 pts. 9 reb. 2 ast 2 blks. vs. Utsunomiya Brex.

[paolylo]

Kawamura paved the way already by doing the BLeague to NBA transition, I know he did get also scouted in the Olympics but those games are not enough so them scouts pretty much saw him played in the BLeague. Kai just needs to dominate the BLeague for him to get a chance. He also with big agency with Wasserman so the only thing to do is for him to showcase his game.



EDIT: I just remembered the announcement of Yokohama that Kawamura will be signing an Exhibit 10 contract with Memphis Grizzlies was way earlier before the Olympics even started, so pretty much BLeague is getting recognition from the NBA scouts already.

Kawamura's contemporaries, apart from Sotto who's obviously the face of that generation, are Forthsky Padrigao, Terrence Fortea, and maybe even Gerry Abadiano... it could be the same argument comparing Jason Tatum to Paul Desiderio. Obviously a player has to be extremely talented to hang at higher levels, but what happens to a player after turning 18 years old here?

Kawamura was already in the B.League while playing college basketball because of that sporting club culture as opposed to those "franchise teams" where a player has to go through layers of bullshit before playing pro ball. All he had to do to commit full time was to leave school. That's development. If your U16 player is good enough to play U18, put him in the roster. If your U18 player is good enough to play pro, give him a chance. If a pro player shows massive potential at a very young age, put him on the national team.

As far back, I could only name: Kirby, Jayson Castro, Japeth, Kiefer, Ray Ray, Kobe, Kai, "Lebron" Lopez, Andy Gemao, and maybe Kiefer Alas who had/has that early pro potential. At the end of the day... our national U16/U18 programs are still trash, majority of elite college players would rather stay in school for 5 years than turn pro, and there are no guarantees if a young pro player here will be good enough if he played outside the country. It's a small pond of huge fishes that'll die if they don't have enough space to grow more.

[ccharmed]

Look at the future from kai's point of view. He can make good money in japan for at least four more years. Then, he can move on to the pba where he can have fajardo's high pay and extra benefits for at least ten more years. I doubt the pba will have a good local 7footer who can make kai look bad when he is 25-37 years old. He will literally be the biggest fish in the small pond called the pba.

Posters can post whatever they want, but kai is on track to post a lot more money even than the celebrated, very successful fajardo.

[sroth3839]

Look at the future from kai's point of view. He can make good money in japan for at least four more years. Then, he can move on to the pba where he can have fajardo's high pay and extra benefits for at least ten more years. I doubt the pba will have a good local 7footer who can make kai look bad when he is 25-37 years old. He will literally be the biggest fish in the small pond called the pba.

Posters can post whatever they want, but kai is on track to post a lot more money even than the celebrated, very successful fajardo.

At the end of the day, the NBA will always be a very difficult league to get into.

Kai did everything he could. Like did our last seven footers ever make an impact at 22 years old?

EJ Feihl

Greg Slaughter

Neither have made a lasting impression.

Kai set the benchmark and any future seven-footer in this country can only follow suit.

[Metta]

At the end of the day, the NBA will always be a very difficult league to get into.

Kai did everything he could. Like did our last seven footers ever make an impact at 22 years old?

EJ Feihl

Greg Slaughter

Neither have made a lasting impression.

Kai set the benchmark and any future seven-footer in this country can only follow suit.

Considering that compared to those who make it to the nba, Kai is a bit late in terms of starting serious training (Those who make it play a sport way before 10 while he started at around 14).

Feihl, Slaughter and all our other stiffs started even much, much later. Some even past 18 when their bodies and brain wiring are done developing.

It's like learning a language, when you're past a certain age, you can never really master a new one.

[CoJ]

Look at the future from kai's point of view. He can make good money in japan for at least four more years. Then, he can move on to the pba where he can have fajardo's high pay and extra benefits for at least ten more years. I doubt the pba will have a good local 7footer who can make kai look bad when he is 25-37 years old. He will literally be the biggest fish in the small pond called the pba.

Posters can post whatever they want, but kai is on track to post a lot more money even than the celebrated, very successful fajardo.

Yup, unless he goes the Kobe route and get tired of playing basketball altogether

he might not make it to the nba but he’ll get good money in asia. If the family is serious about the nba dream they should have started early and spend so much money so Kai to get into the AAU circuit or those prep schools for teens

[thatweirdguy]

Yup, unless he goes the Kobe route and get tired of playing basketball altogether

he might not make it to the nba but he’ll get good money in asia. If the family is serious about the nba dream they should have started early and spend so much money so Kai to get into the AAU circuit or those prep schools for teens

Would he had a better chance if just stayed in the NBL? Or actually played with IGNITE even if he had gotten limited minutes? Or played D1 basketball? Or spend the offseason really getting into basketball shape. Feels like his management took a lot of shortcuts along the way.

[CoJ]

Would he had a better chance if just stayed in the NBL? Or actually played with IGNITE even if he had gotten limited minutes? Or played D1 basketball? Or spend the offseason really getting into basketball shape. Feels like his management took a lot of shortcuts along the way.

Best chance was ignite since he’s within the nba radar but it is a downgrade in terms of pay

Family went for the money which i respect, nba is no guarantee and they have a small window to earn

too bad kai was a year early before NIL was implemented, though i doubt they will still pursue the ncaa route since they are keen on getting the bag as early as possible

[lem0nadi]

His best chance was getting into Division 1 College Basketball. With the Ignite team, if he doesn't manage to showcase his skills during the short season (which is likely to happen), he won't have another opportunity to impress the scouts—unless he spends another year with Ignite. This would be his last chance, as he finished high school in the U.S. and went pro immediately after.

If he were playing in the U.S. NCAA Division 1, he could take full advantage of his college eligibility. He could also declare for the draft to test team interest, and if none were forthcoming, he could simply return to his college team—similar to the route Zach Edey took.


It was unbelievable how his agent completely missed the opportunity for him to play at Kentucky, the most successful program in U.S. NCAA history. He also had offers from Auburn and Georgia Tech.

Even if he wasn’t used immediately, he would’ve surely gotten a chance over the course of those four playing years.

Back then, he was heavily recruited. With the right training on a college team, he could have easily become part of the rotation—maybe even earned a starting role.

Plus, his playstyle was perfect for college basketball.

With the right decision, he could already be playing in the NBA right now.

[paolylo]

Best chance was ignite since he’s within the nba radar but it is a downgrade in terms of pay

Family went for the money which i respect, nba is no guarantee and they have a small window to earn

too bad kai was a year early before NIL was implemented, though i doubt they will still pursue the ncaa route since they are keen on getting the bag as early as possible

Hindsight is 20/20 but then again his game was trash when he was in the G-League compared to the improvement in 2024. There were no guarantees that scouts would even give him a look had it gone another way and based on those Ignite scrimmages, chances are we'd have seen 15 games of whatever he did in the Summer League a few years later: garbage time ginulat ang mundo then still go undrafted considering he wasn't showing much in Australia after. The G-League level is still much higher than 2021 Korea and Indonesia. It's just that everyone gave him too much credit for highlights against Serbia and the DR in the OQT without ever talking about how he got bullied in the paint. That 2021 version of Kai isn't even significantly better than a Jakrawan (Thai big who's in New Taipei now).

[Metta]

Kai of about 3 years ago wasn't physically ready for high level competition. His lack of strength and stamina was taken advantage of by opponents. And he wasn't skilled or quick enough to play finesse. His body language also implied a player who didn't realize what he was lacking.

It's only recently that he has started maturing physically and mentally.

I always advocate for playing up levels. In hindsight, there could've been a better route, but it's the path he took and there's no use second guessing. Even AJ did what seemed like a good move going to a program where he realistically had a good chance of getting major minutes, but other unexpected things happened. There are no guaranties.

What's important is Kai seems to gone over a hump and is healthy. Let's all hope it stays that way. People have no idea the type of pressure that was placed on him as a teenager. It's like the fate of his family and his nation was placed on his shoulders. I give props to him for handling that relatively well.

[JAMSKIE]

Kai of about 3 years ago wasn't physically ready for high level competition. His lack of strength and stamina was taken advantage of by opponents. And he wasn't skilled or quick enough to play finesse. His body language also implied a player who didn't realize what he was lacking.

It's only recently that he has started maturing physically and mentally.

I always advocate for playing up levels. In hindsight, there could've been a better route, but it's the path he took and there's no use second guessing. Even AJ did what seemed like a good move going to a program where he realistically had a good chance of getting major minutes, but other unexpected things happened. There are no guaranties.

What's important is Kai seems to gone over a hump and is healthy. Let's all hope it stays that way. People have no idea the type of pressure that was placed on him as a teenager. It's like the fate of his family and his nation was placed on his shoulders. I give props to him for handling that relatively well.

Agree bro.

This is what I said about 2 or 3 years ago: That as Kai matures age wise, his muscle & bone mass will improve significantly which will make him stronger & improves his ability to absorb physical contact. These aspects will have a significant positive effect on Kai's overall game - offensively, defensively, rebounding, etc.

I say a 22-year old Kai Sotto is a better version of a 19-year old Kai Sotto not just because of the skills & basketball I. Q. that he has developed in that span of time but mainly becoz of the physical development of his body. We are talking about human physiology here.