MANILA, Philippines — Filipino basketball fans need not worry when it comes to being updated with the latest news of Kai Sotto's journey towards his NBA dream.
This was the promise of NBA Asia Managing Director Scott Levy, who assured hoops fans that Sotto and Filipino-American Jalen Green's stint in the NBA G League will be easily accessed by their homegrown fans.
"To have a local hero like Kai Sotto, somebody that has come up through the Jr. NBA program, through local programs in his youth in the Philippines, to see that he can reach that level and hopefully ultimately reach the NBA, it's going to be very exciting," said Levy during a Zoom call last week.
"We're going to do everything we can to make sure that his games are featured in the Philippines," he added.
Sotto, along with Green and other top prospects out of high school, will banner the NBA G League's new professional pathway program.
His squad Ignite, to be coached by NBA Champion Brian Shaw, will focus on player development while also exposing them to top-tier basketball against fellow G League teams and national squads.
Sotto passed up on playing in the US NCAA to directly work with the NBA G League.
While the new NBA G League season has yet to be set, Sotto and the rest of Ignite will be tested in a "bubble tournament" in November or December against undrafted players and other prospects.
The tournament will be in preparation for the squad's official debut in the next G League season.
Ignite already begun their training camp in Walnut Creek, California last month amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.