CHICAGO - Against odds as tall as Kai Sotto's 7-foot-3 frame. a basketball-crazed nation yearned to see the kid rise above adversity and ride into the Las Vegas sunset in a blaze of glory.
Instead, we saw his NBA Summer League journey collapse in a heap of sorry.
READ: Kai Sotto leaves final Magic game early due to back pain
Sorry for the scarce, nearly non-existent playing time.
Sorry for the injury, a nagging back that turned on him again, this time in the biggest stage he had ever stood, one where dominance was required to fuel the flame of an NBA dream that fades with each passing year.
What wasn't sorry, though, was the hard-nosed effort the kid put together in practice and during games, a blue-collar work ethic that coach Dylan Murphy repeatedly highlighted in his post-game media availability sessions.
Unlike many of his haters, who have devoted an unbelievable amount of time and effort to bash him on social media, most of us are not sorry for supporting Sotto's trailblazing attempt to land the first full-blooded and homegrown Filipino in the intergalactic NBA.
In my five days of covering the Orlando Magic in the Summer League, I stuck with Kai like the Vegas desert humidity and spoke to him as often as the league's media availability protocols would allow. And here's what I found out.
A PRIVATE KID LIVING A VERY PUBLIC LIFE
Kai Sotto is a genuinely nice young man who just wants to hoop and not be bothered by the media and fans who have chronicled his journey through the lens of a very public microscope.
Behind the scenes, I saw how his teammates loved the gentle giant, flooding him with high-fives and enveloping him in a flurry of stiff, warm bro hugs.
Kai spoke to every microphone, accommodated photo requests from star-struck fans, some waving his jersey or a Filipino flag. Even through the indignity of a slew of DNPs and the discomfort of a nagging low back pain, he handled his business like a pro. He faced each challenge like a man.
Easy to root for, 21-year old Kai Sotto is even easier to like.
The stunning turn of events in Las Vegas had ripple effects that reached all the way back to the Philippines.
HAZY FUTURE
With the injury, Kai's availability to join Gilas for the FIBA World Cup 2023 is now murky as black coffee.
"Mahirap sabihin kasi, yun nga, simula last year tuloy-tuloy na, wala pa akong break para alagaan ang katawan ko," he told SPIN.ph contributor Michael Raymond Sales in the post-game presser.
After a whirlwind few months which saw him bounce from the NBL in Australia to the Hiroshima Dragonflies in Japan, to mini camps in Utah, Dallas and New York, Kai eventually landed with the Orlando Magic's Summer League roster.
His body must be screaming and his voice echoed it with the sound of a player on the throes of being burnt out.
When I asked his management firm, East-West Private, if Kai was flying home or staying here in the US to address the back problem, the reply was a terse "not sure."
Multiple calls to Gilas coach Chot Reyes went unanswered.
Wasserman Sports was similarly muted.
One mission in Las Vegas fell short and another one in the World Cup is about to implode. Just sad all around.
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