After injury setback, Kai Sotto keen to resume NBA workouts
BOSTON – Kai Sotto is set to resume his bid to become the first homegrown Filipino player in the NBA after an ankle injury derailed his scheduled workouts this past week.
With one day left before the June 13 (Tuesday Manila time) deadline for international players with no US collegiate experience, it is increasingly likely that Sotto will keep his name in the NBA Draft.
An NBA source bared that Sotto’s camp has expressed interest in resuming his workouts next week. However, according to a source familiar with the situation, Sotto has yet to fully recover from the injury he sustained during his workout with the Atlanta Hawks last week.
“He is still not 100 percent [healthy],” the source told Philstar.com. “We need him to be 100 percent [healthy] before he can do anything.”
Sotto is racing against time to improve his draft stock and make a good impression with the NBA Draft just 11 days away.
Sotto’s camp has remained tight-lipped about his client’s scheduled workouts. But so far, Sotto has been confirmed by multiple league sources to have attended five workouts, including the New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls and Hawks.
During his first NBA workout, Sotto met the Knicks’ Filipino physical therapist and wellness lead Erwin Benedict Valencia.
Before Sotto started the pre-draft process, his agent Joel Bell told Philstar.com that he had already secured a commitment from an NBA team to draft Sotto. But Bell added that they would make a business decision that ultimately rests on Sotto and his family.
“If we don’t like where we think he would go, then he’ll possibly pull out of the draft, but that remains to be seen,” Bell said in April.
“We will play this out and decide at the appropriate time if it’s the place and the draft position he wants to go or if he wants to wait another year. He’s in a great situation. I mean, he can’t lose. He’s got nothing but great options right now.”
After his first set of NBA workouts, Sotto has yet to crack any major publication’s NBA mock drafts. Only Fastbreak Fan Nation’s Brett Siegel has projected Sotto to be selected in the draft. Fan Nation is part of the Sports Illustrated network.
In his first NBA mock draft edition, Seigel predicted Sotto to land at No. 49 with the Sacramento Kings. In his second edition, Sotto slid to No. 56 with the Cavaliers, one of the teams who worked him out.
In the Sports Illustrated’s official NBA mock draft by Jeremy Woo, their resident NBA Draft writer since 2014, Sotto’s name is nowhere to be found.
According to an NBA scout who requested not to be named, Sotto is a long-term project.
“He has the same length and body type as Chet (Holmgren), and there’s a reason why Chet is a projected top-3 pick while Kai is not,” the NBA scout told Philstar.com. “Don’t get me wrong. Kai has a promising skill set to become a stretch five but hasn’t shown enough, unlike Chet, who already has advanced skills and the mobility to play in the NBA right away.”
“At best, [Sotto] is a long-term project for a team that will be patient to invest in him and develop him. He will likely spend more time in the G League or be sent back to NBL for one or two more seasons.”
CBS Sports ranks Sotto at no. 15 among all centers that applied for this year’s NBA Draft. Meanwhile, NBA Draft Room pegs Sotto as the 16th-best center.
The NBA Draft is on June 23 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
If Sotto decides to remain in the draft and is not selected, he will become an unrestricted free agent. Any team can pick him up and sign him.
Second-round draft picks and undrafted players can sign contracts that can be anything from one year to four years, either fully guaranteed, partially guaranteed, or non-guaranteed.
Sotto can also sign an Exhibit 10 contract (NBA Training camp invite) or a two-way contract (G League). NBA teams have two slots for two-way contracts on top of their 15-man active roster. Last season, two-way players were allowed to play with their team in the NBA for 50 regular-season games but were later expanded to unlimited games, excluding playoffs, when COVID-19 ravaged the league.
If worse comes to worst, Sotto’s last option is to return to NBL.
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Alder Almo is a former senior sportswriter for Philstar.com and NBA.com Philippines. He is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and writes for the New York-based sports website empiresportsmedia.com.
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