CHICAGO - The lack of playing time was the flashpoint that led to the abrupt but amicable divorce between Kai Sotto and the G League Ignite last February.
Ten months later, as he continues to pursue that NBA dream we all pray for him to achieve, Sotto is in Australia now plying his trade with the Adelaide 36ers out there in a faraway continent.
The team personnel, the zip code, and the scenery have all changed drastically.
But the plot seems eerily familiar: Kai Sotto isn't playing much.
After his rousing NBL debut last November 14 - a scintillating 17-minute preseason highlighted by 7 points, 5 rebounds, an assist and a block - Kai has been shelved in the 36ers' next preseason games.
Per my SPIN.ph colleague Randolph Leongson, Adelaide head coach CJ Bruton is "managing the minutes of Sotto as he wants the Filipino teen to be at 100 percent when the season starts."
What?
Kai has just turned in one game and 1,020 seconds of action, what's there to manage?
The term "managing" suggests some form of participation. It's like a budget, you must have something to work with. It's not "managing" when the player doesn't play at all.
NO SPECIFIC INJURY WAS NOTED, THANK GOD FOR THAT. HOWEVER, SOME "SORENESS" WAS ALLUDED TO AS A REASON FOR "RESTING" KAI.
I've been around a lot of kids chasing their hoop dreams in the NBA draft combine here in Chicago over the years and I don't think 19-year olds ever get tired and sore.
So I'm thinking Kai Sotto is likely being held off because his strength and conditioning, two areas of concern that surfaced during his brief tenure with the G League, isn't where the 36ers had hoped it would be by now.
Given the notoriety of the NBL as a highly physical league where grown men prowl, maybe the Adelaide coaching staff doesn't want Kai out there yet until he packs more pounds and muscle to his frame.
Curiously, the official website of the Adelaide 36ers does not show Kai's weight,
Seeking answers, I called Sotto's US-based agent, Joel Bell, who also has NBA players as clients. But multiple attempts to reach him via his cell phone went to voicemail and my messages have remained unreplied.
"It's going to be a fantastic situation," Bell said last April, soon after Sotto's flight to Australia was announced.
Seventeen minutes in three games and a pair of DNPs (Did Not Play) later I wonder if "fantastic" is still in the equation.
COACH BRUTON SPOKE EFFUSIVELY ABOUT KAI'S WORK ETHIC, HOW HE WAS "RAISED RIGHT" AND ALL THAT MUSHY STUFF.
But excuse me, sir, the tributes mean so little without actual playing time, which is what's needed for Kai's handlers to gauge his readiness for the NBA.
So I'm really, really hoping that Kai gets those precious minutes and at least has a chance to show the strides he's made over the last 10 months.
But there seems to be no rush for that. Remember, this Adelaide deal is for three years.
Dreams take time. And it's looking a lot like this one will, too.
"I don't think he will be playing very much between now and the start of the season," coach Bruton said.
Meanwhile, time is ticking. It never stops.
And the NBA waits.
For no one.
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