Have you ever heard of the legend of Kai Sotto?
Kai Sotto is a 7'3 19-year-old young man from Las Pinas, Philippines. He had a remarkable career during high school averaging about 25 points, 14 rebounds, and 3 blocks per game.
Sotto joined the NBA G-League team, Ignite in 2020, as a way to get himself ready for the NBA and American style of basketball. He had aims to declare for the 2021 NBA Draft, but due to NBA guidelines, was not allowed to. According to NBA guidelines, Sotto would have to have been 1 year removed from the graduation of his high school class, which he was not at the time. As a result, he would be eligible to declare for the draft in 2022.
Kai Sotto has a lot of potential coming into the NBA. He is expected to grow an extra 3 inches. He is also taller than the vast majority of NBA players, even at his position of Center. If he ends up growing to 7'6, he would be taller than the current tallest player in the NBA, Tacko Fall.
Sotto has the ability to be an issue for defenders in the paint, as well as being dominant when it comes to getting offensive and defensive rebounds. The only thing left that he needs to work on is be a better and more comfortable perimeter and mid-range shooter. That is an extremely important attribute, even for Centers in today's NBA. Big men like Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, and Bam Adebayo are highly versatile, being able to dominate in the paint, shoot mid-ranges, and even shoot 3 pointers. Of course, they are also adept two-way players, being able to be issues for opposing teams at defense.
Regardless, Kai Sotto is still young, again at only 19 years of age. He has a lot of time to vastly improve his game before the 2022 NBA Draft. That way, when he does come into the league and whichever team picks him up, he will be sure to make a tremendous impact.
