Going in the second round or going undrafted is filled with uncertainty but it also gives players plenty of flexibility. If Kai does decide to stay in the draft, he’ll either get drafted in the first round where he gets to sign a two-year NBA rookie contract with a team option for a third and fourth year or in the second round where he has to negotiate with the team that drafts him on the terms and length of his deal. It’s the deadline for players to pull out of the NBA Draft and explore other options. For a prospect like Kai, any news we hear of him visiting a team’s facility-like recently with the New York Knicks and the Orlando Magic-is good news. Teams will have him, and maybe with a group of other prospects, go through private workouts so they can have their own assessment of a player going into draft night. Now, the teams that have invited Kai, that I’ve spoken to-and I spoke to them during the year, of course-are very enthusiastic about Kai, his potential, what he accomplished this year.”Ī lot of Kai’s time between now and the NBA Draft will be spent on a plane and in different NBA teams’ training facilities. “And that’s what a lot of people don’t understand about how this stuff works. “So, if you’re a team that thinks a player is pretty good but you’re not positive other teams realize it, the last thing you’re gonna do is vote for him ‘cause you don’t really want him in a display case,” Bell said.
Not getting invited doesn’t mean no team wants him there nor does that mean he won’t get drafted. If enough teams wanted to see him there, Kai would have gotten an invite. Getting invited to the combine in Chicago itself requires a certain number of NBA teams to request for Kai to go there. With that said, the Draft Combine is less of an issue for Kai. WATCH: Kai Sotto shares pre-NBA Draft updates We’re not sure that’s the right place for him and that’s gonna be a decision Kai and his family, his advisers make at the right time.” “And we actually already have commitments from at least one team that said if he stays in the draft, we’ll draft him we have that already. That’s why we have so many teams that wanna bring him in for workouts,” Bell said. “Teams that scouted Australia this year, which surprisingly, given the history of Australia sending players to the NBA, is not as extensive as one might imagine, were very enthusiastic about Kai. Kai certainly draws interest with his 7-foot-3 frame and high basketball IQ. Not all NBA teams have scouts looking at the NBL, but some teams have been savvy with picking and rolling the dice on international prospects. This year is no different as Kai is joined by French big man Ousmane Dieng as prospects to come out of the Australian league, though Dieng is strongly projected to go in the lottery. Over the years, guys like LaMelo Ball and Josh Giddey have used the NBL as a stepping stone to the NBA. It hasn’t been exactly easy to track Kai’s basketball journey but he certainly drew eyeballs by playing in Australia’s NBL. What does it mean to have a promise from an NBA team? Was it a bad thing that he wasn’t invited to the NBA Combine? What options does Kai really have?Īccording to Kai’s agent Joel Bell, Kai has drawn a commitment from an NBA team. The major confusion of a lot of Pinoy fans about the draft and about reading where Kai may go in it comes from the process itself. He’s probably getting picked in the second round, if at all. No matter how much we believe in him, Kai’s path to the NBA won’t be as glitzy as other prospects slated to go early in the draft like Chet Holmgren or Jaden Ivey. We've seen him grow both literally and as a person over the last decade - from a fresh-faced kid in Ateneo High School to a grown adult import in Australia with tattoos. As Filipinos, we’ve been invested in Kai’s journey ever since he made headlines as the 7-foot teenage son of a former PBA player.
That will most likely be Kai Sotto’s starting point in the NBA. We celebrate and speculate about the lottery picks, but we rarely ever get the perspective of the late first-rounders, second-rounders, or even those who go undrafted. The NBA Draft does a lot of great things but it doesn't really highlight the incredible undertaking it is for the majority of NBA aspirants to make it in. It's a monumental achievement for a player to make an NBA roster.
In the MLB, that number is at around 840 while the NFL may have around 1700 players in a season, give or take. There are only 450 roster spots at any given time during the NBA season.
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