The Philippine Star

Sotto big boost to G-League

- By DANTE NAVARRO

Kai Sotto hooking up with the G-League won’t only enhance the young, talented Filipino’s NBA dream but also the NBA developmen­tal league program as a whole.

In a statement, G-League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim said signing up Sotto with the Select Team is part of the league’s continuing program to include promising internatio­nal players.

“We’re excited to have Kai and we hope he will be an inspiratio­n for younger players to aspire to be in the NBA,” said Abdur-Rahim.

Aware of how big basketball is in the Philippine­s, the top G-League official believes Sotto’s presence in the league will further boost the league’s popularity, saying: “It’s exciting for us that folks in the Philippine­s will follow us and follow Kai.”

The G-League stint of the 7-foot-2, 18-year-old is expected to spark the influx of internatio­nal talents in the developmen­tal league.

“We think Kai is a great first internatio­nal player for our program. Hopefully, this is just the start of attracting other internatio­nal players,” said AbdurRahim.

Sotto decided to skip college ball to join Fil-Am swingman Jalen Green and two other high school talents in Southern California in the program aimed at providing an avenue for top prospects who choose to skip college and take a year before they enter the NBA draft.

Saying he still has so much to learn, Sotto joined The Skill Factory, a prep program based in Georgia, USA last year.

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