The 20-year-old big man from the Philippines was not successful in his pursuit to become part of an NBA team during the 2022 NBA draft. But, his dream to become the first Filipino homegrown NBA player is not yet over. According to reports, there is still a great chance for Sotto to share the court with NBA players in an actual NBA game. That is through the upcoming 2022-2023 Pre-Season games.
Related: Why Kai Sotto Went Undrafted in the 2022 NBA Draft
According to the National Basketball League’s (NBL) commissioner, Jeremy Loeliger, the NBL will be invited to at least two NBA pre-season games this October. He also noted that there is no specific squad yet on which NBL team is going to take part in the NBA pre-season.
“We will be playing at least two games, but we are still in discussions with a few further teams, so it could be more. The specifics of teams and match-ups are still being worked through,” Loeliger said.
This will be the first time that the NBL will be playing against NBA teams since 2019. Due to the pandemic, international pre-season games were held off. Now, teams will continue to test international players in their homeland to show who has the best athletes. In line with that, the Warriors will face off Wizards in Saitama, Japan. These two teams in the Western Conference will battle it out on foreign land in two pre-season games (September 30 and October 2).
In one of our previous articles, we assumed that Kai Sotto will be returning to the Adelaide 36ers in the NBL
There is no official announcement from Sotto’s camp yet if the 7-foot-3 center is returning to the NBL to exercise his contract. Although, rumors are spreading that he is expected to suit up for the Adelaide 36ers after going undrafted in the 2022 NBA draft. He still has 2 more years in his contract with the third year being a player option. We also know that he and his team are opting out of the Summer League and they are also not planning on letting Kai be a part of Gilas Pilipinas (Philippines’ National Team) in the FIBA Asia World Cup Qualifiers.
Related: BREAKING NEWS: Kai Sotto Will be Back to NBL
However, if Kai chooses to be a 36er again, he can get a chance to improve his level of play. Now that Cam Bairstow and Isaac Humphries are out of the equation, he surely can get more minutes. If Adelaide gets picked to play in the pre-season, he can properly shine in an actual NBA game. That way, he can put his skill to the test against the NBA’s best players.
We just have to wait for an official statement from Joel Bell (Kai’s agent) regarding his status. There are eight teams in the NBL and at least two pre-season games are expected. Due to that, there is a 25% chance that we’ll get to see Kai share the floor with some of the best players in the league.
Can Kai Sotto finally show the NBA what he has got? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below. For more content, stay with us, here at Spiel Times.
Related: NBA Update: What’s Next For Kai Sotto?
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Fake fake fake
Hello there, Art! We are sorry that you feel this article is fake news. But, this is true. If you look it up, the NBL commissioner did say there will be at least 2 games in which an NBL team will face another team in the NBA during the preseason. Because there is no exact NBL squad announced as of the moment, the Adelaide 36ers could still be part of that agreement. Again, we mentioned that there is a 25% chance that Kai and the 36ers may play in that duration.