Profile | Kai Sotto: biography, height, father, NBA Draft, NBL move, and Filipino national team stardom
- From skipping division I college for the G League, to swapping for Australia’s NBL, Sotto’s NBA dream has never changed
- How the 19-year-old giant went from playing barefoot in the streets to playing in Olympic qualifiers
Coming off a near-flawless senior national team debut at the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers in June, Filipino basketball prodigy Kai Sotto is ready to make an even bigger name for himself.
At just 19, the towering centre has long been considered Asia’s next big NBA hope. Sotto simultaneously carries the dreams of 108 million Filipino people waiting for their first full-blooded basketball player in the world’s top league.
Though his last two years have been heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, Sotto appears to be back on track after signing with an Australian National Basketball League (NBL) team and will be re-eligible for the 2022 NBA Draft.
Here’s what you need to know about the 2.2-metre son of a former Philippine Basketball Association star, who is nicknamed after a terrifying Japanese monster.
Biography
Kai Zachary Sotto was born on May 11, 2002 in Las Pinas, Philippines. He started playing at the age of four – learning the ropes from his now-retired pro hooper father Ervin – before making a name in Ateneo de Manila Junior High School’s famed Blue Eaglets team.