Kai Sotto

Kai Zachary Perlado Sotto was born in May of 2002 in Las Pinas, Philippines. He has two siblings. His father, Ervin Sotto, and his godfather, Ranidel de Ocampo, played pro basketball in the Philippine Basketball Association. Sotto began playing the sport at four years old. While in high school at Ateneo de Manila in Quezon City, Philippines, Sotto led his team to a 2018 UAAP Basketball Championship title in the juniors division. The following year, he averaged 25.1 points, 13.9 rebounds and 2.6 blocks and was named UAAP juniors MVP. Sotto left for the United States as a junior in high school to advance his basketball career. He went to the Miami School in Hamilton, Ohio. In 2019, he joined The Skill Factory - a prep program in Atlanta, Georgia. In January of 2020, he was named MVP of the King Invitational tournament, where in three games, he averaged 27 points, 10.6 rebounds, 4.3 blocks and 3.0 assists. Sotto was considered a consensus four-star recruit. However, he decided to forgo his college eligibility and join the NBA G League Ignite. Sotto never ended up playing for the Ignite, as he opted to play for the Philippine national team at the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers. However, he still remained ineligible to play NCAA basketball, so he moved on to the Adelaide 36ers of the Australian National Basketball League. Sotto appeared in 23 games during the 2021-22 season, where he averaged 7.6 points and 4.5 rebounds over 15 minutes per contest. Sotto also made junior national team and senior national team appearances for the Philippines. Most notably, he was named to the All-Tournament First Team in the 2018 U16 Asia Championship, where Sotto averaged 16.8 points, 13.5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 1.2 assists per game. His measurements at the 2020 BWB were recorded at 7-foot-1.5 in shoes and 227 pounds. He had a 7-foot-3 wingspan and a 30-inch maximum vertical leap. Sotto went unselected in the 2022 NBA Draft.