Seeing Kai Sotto continuously pursuing his aspirations to play in the National Basketball Association is good news for Philippine basketball.
It means that the dream of having the first full-blooded Filipino to play in the big league is still very much alive and we couldn’t wait for it to develop.
Sotto had attended workouts for the Utah Jazz, the same team where fellow Gilas Pilipinas stalwart Jordan Clarkson plays. Aside from that, he continuously shops around for squads who will give him an opportunity to play in the NBA.
His stock dropped the moment he was left out in the NBA Rookie Draft last year and the Summer League, which could have been his best meal ticket into one of the biggest sports entertainment in the world.
We could only cheer for Kai, the same way we did for Ray Parks a few years ago when he tried out for the Dallas Mavericks in a bid to crack a roster spot.
But in Sotto’s pursuit of his big dreams lies an ultimate sacrifice — his availability for flag and country.
While we support Sotto’s NBA chase, he also has a commitment to fulfill as part of the Gilas Pilipinas pool that will train for the coming FIBA Basketball World Cup that the country will host.
A total of 60 games in the World Cup, including the playoffs and finals matches, will be played at the Smart Araneta Coliseum and Mall of Asia Arena while the rest of the games will be taken care of Jakarta and Okinawa.
Outside of this big task of hosting this humongous event also means a big sacrifice every integral part of the World Cup needs to make.
The Philippine Basketball Association, for one, took the first step of putting up this big sacrifice of not just making every player available for Gilas, but shortening its season.
No regular games would be played until 15 October when Gilas Pilipinas had already wrapped up not just its World Cup campaign, but also its Asian Games journey.
Such sacrifice also means financial losses as the league will shorten the season — from the usual three-conference format to only two.
Players from the PBA, including those coming off from injuries like June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar and Roger Pogoy, will push their aching bodies one more time for flag and country while the mainstays of the previous window events such as Scottie Thompson and Jamie Malonzo are expected to return as well,
This early, AJ Edu, flew all the way from a training in Brisbane, Australia to get himself ready for the restart of Gilas’ training while Japan-based Kiefer Ravena is already in town and awaits a call-up.
Even Clarkson, himself, had already committed to play for Gilas in the World Cup and will join the team six weeks before the start of the event.
Clarkson might be able to catch up with the squad when it is already in the middle of its European training in the Baltic region, Latvia or Estonia, but either way, hearing him committing to the national team had given us a sense of assurance.
It’s time for Sotto to give himself a timeline — whether he’s in or out.
Everyone is anticipating to see the tallest Filipino lineup ever assembled with young players like Sotto and Edu joining veterans Fajardo and Aguilar in manning the painted area for Gilas Pilipinas.
