MANILA, Philippines – After personally seeing a glimpse of Kai Sotto’s potential and ability at a young age, Jordan Clarkson is putting premium confidence and trust on his Gilas Pilipinas teammate to also make it to the NBA someday.
Clarkson said the 7-foot-3; 20-year-old Filipino tower has what it takes to make it to the big stage as long as he keeps his foot on the pedal with non-stop learning and relentless development amidst all the setbacks.
“For Kai, just stay with it — not to get down or give up. I think he has a bright future. He's young and he's just learning,” said the Filipino-American pride after Gilas’ 84-46 win over Saudi Arabia in the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
Clarkson, the 6-foot-4 guard from Utah Jazz, turned in 23 markers, five rebounds and six assists while Sotto had a 16-13 line plus four blocks to banner Gilas’ 38-point win.
That’s only the second match together of Clarkson and Sotto after their first team-up against Lebanon but the duo already formed a lethal connection with a series of alley-oop plays for Gilas.
In a short time, Clarkson was amazed by Sotto’s versatility at his ceiling that may be his weapon moving forward after going undrafted in this year’s NBA Rookie Draft.
“He's very skilled. He can catch the ball, he can space the floor, he can put the ball on the ground and make plays, he can shoot it as well and space the floor,” added Clarkson, the 2021 NBA Sixth Man of the Year.
With a looming second season for the Adelaide 36ers in the Australia National Basketball League (NBL) later this year, there’s no way to go but only up for Sotto.
“The sky's the limit for him. I didn't make it to the league (NBA) until I was 22 years old so he has time to go over. I'm proud of Kai. He’s taking steps in the right direction so I'm happy for him and can't wait to see him continue to grow,” Clarkson beamed.