EXACTLY why is Kai Sotto not playing for Gilas Pilipinas? Will someone explain this please?
According to reports, Sotto — more than once called the country’s best basketball player— has declined the invitation to lead the Philippine team battling for a spot at the FIBA 2027 World Cup in the second window of the Asian qualifiers.
One reason advanced by handlers is that the prized player is trying to avoid another injury that could jeopardize his constitution and, by extension, his career. Sounds almost rational. How then explain why this 7-foot-3 heck of a player, recently recovered from an ACL injury, is playing for a Japanese team?
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Are his handlers saying he’s there to simply to jog around? Toss some balls at warmups? Join timeout huddles? Or maybe wave to the ladies in the crowd and then take his place on the bench while teammates dive for loose balls and fight for rebounds?
It can’t be anything like that. Kai Sotto plays with his B-League team, Koshigaya Alphas, like there’s no tomorrow. He plays as fiercely as he did today as he did before the injury. He’s no side attraction; he’s the star performer.
Besides, one cannot imagine the Japanese coaching and medical staff being so foolish as to let him play if there were a serious threat of more injury. They lose Sotto, they lose games, they lose the chance to win the title.
Only recently, the high-flying Kai, 23, joined the 1,000-point club, posted double-doubles, and has been reported as a continuing, dominant force in the league. In other words, this is not a guy playing it safe to preserve his constitution!
Clearly, he would be a fantastic addition to Gilas.
Yet, when you hear his handlers boost Kai’s choice to be excluded from his country’s team, you’re almost going to think that his next pivot under the basket could be his last.
“Kai is focused on getting stronger and playing well for the Koshigaya Alphas,” says our columnist Homer Sayson, quoting Sotto’s management team.
Sayson adds that Kai chooses to play for a Japanese team and not for the national team because “Japan is where the infrastructure of his medical care is situated, making a potential mishap much easier to manage.”
If that is the point of Kai’s handlers, then they’re directly insulting our doctors and orthopedic surgeons. And even if the handlers actually believe this, how long does a trip from the Philippines to Japan take anyway? Last I flew, it was a mere five hours!
But Sayson, in the same column, may have also divulged the real reason. Money! Or, perchance, the lack of it.
Sayson says: “Beginning in 2024, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas ( SBP) adopted a new ‘philosophy’ where ‘the whole team will be treated equally.’
“Same pay for every player in the roster.
“The SBP should not be vilified for embracing equality, but exceptions need to be made for Sotto, the best and the only irreplaceable player in the roster.”
Whatever happened to pride of country?
We can agree that players should be compensated in direct proportion to their ability, which means that those with extraordinary skills should be paid well above lesser mortals. That may apply if you are playing for a commercial team and not for your national team. The equality bit can be overused.
Think of Luka Doncic playing for Slovenia during the European Cup. Victor Wembanyama playing for France in the Olympics. The 12 NBA superstars battling it out also in the Olympics.
Did these players play coy and tap into the injury excuse? Certainly, in the event of an injury, they had bigger salaries to jeopardize than their Asian counterparts, but did they even make payment an issue? Wasn’t it the thing for the 12 NBA pros to be carrying the American flag?
In our case, whatever happened to pride of country?
I would have liked to ask Sotto this. And Quentin Millora-Brown, too, although QMB, perhaps after a thump on the head with, I don’t know, has suddenly said yes to a stint with Gilas, after initially rejecting an offer to play there.
I remember the time when our players fought tooth and nail to make it to the national team. Tryouts were held for weeks, and Filipino fans seriously waited for the names that would make it. And you could tell, the chosen were beside themselves with pride and joy for the chance to wear the tricolor.
Just ask Robert Jaworski, Atoy Co, Philip Cezar, and Ramon Fernandez, and all the others who competed to get in.
Are those days gone? Is green the only attractive color now?
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