By WAYLON GALVEZ
Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) President Al Panlilio assured that the federation will always welcome Kai Sotto and that Gilas Pilipinas will always be a platform for the young player to showcase his talents in various international competitions.
Panlilio issued a statement Wednesday as news broke out Tuesday night regarding the mutual agreement reached by the NBA G-League and Sotto that the 7-foot-3 Sotto will no longer join his team, Ignite, which is currently in a bubble tournament in Orlando.
“We welcomed him with open arms because he’ll always have a home with us at the SBP,” said Panlilio.
Sotto has been included to the Ignite squad, composed of top high school players in the US that skipped college and now plays in the G-League as a path towards their dream of playing in the NBA.
With the promise of fulfilling his commitment to don the national colors, Sotto flew back to the country to join Gilas Pilipinas for the third and final window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.
But the price of Sotto’s flight to Manila proved too costly.
The wild turn of events went on spiral trend when FIBA initially decided to move the Clark bubble to Doha, Qatar only to have it back to the country due to the rising cases of COVID-19 in the ultra-modern city.
“Although we are saddened with the recent announcement that he will no longer be rejoining Ignite in the NBA G-League, we still wish Kai all the best and we will support him in any way we can,” said Panlilio.
