ONE former national coach didn't mince any words when asked what he thinks would happen if Kai Sotto decides to play in the PBA.
"He'll be the greatest PBA player ever," he said.
That may be too early to say, but it's not a stretch either, considering Asia's oldest pro league has not seen anyone like Sotto in its first half century. No big man, really, comes close to the package of size and skills he can bring to the table.
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But before we even debate on whether the 7-foot-3 center can surpass the nine MVPs of June Mar Fajardo, the more relevant question that needs to be asked is on whether Sotto will ever consider playing in the PBA.
Since he left Ateneo High School to join the NBA G League Ignite team in 2020, Sotto has made it clear that his dream is to make it to the NBA, and that all the paths he has taken since - from Australia's NBL to NBA Summer League to the Japan B.League to Gilas Pilipinas - are all aimed at hopefully bringing him close to that goal.
The PBA, really, was no more than an afterthought.
However, that question becomes relevant again amid news that his management team's gamble of trying to bring Sotto to Division I of the US NCAA and play for Texas A&M has been sidetracked by an addendum in the college league's eligibility rules.
The development puts Sotto in an uncertain position, considering all other Asian overseas options are either closing or closed this late in the day.
With less than three weeks before the start of the revamped Japan B.League season, the Asian Quota import spots in the 26 Premier teams are mostly filled. That includes 10 manned by Filipinos, including comebacking Thirdy Ravena, Jamie Malonzo and Matthew Wright and newly signed Mike Phillips.
Korea's KBL and Chinese Taipei's pro league can be options, but their teams offer compensation widely known to be lower than B.League teams. European leagues can be considered as well as a return to the NBL Down Under or the NBA's G League, but Sotto's camp has been mum on the next move as the clock ticks.
Will the PBA be an option?
In terms of compensation, PBA teams offer salaries that are way lower than those of Japan B.League teams while the highest known salary of a PBA player, which is in the US$25,000 (P1.6 million) a month range, is still lower than the wages received by Filipino imports in Korea and Taipei.
That means for any PBA team to keep the Sotto camp interested and listening in any contract talks, it will have to break the bank.
How wide is the disparity? Sources said Sotto's last salary in the B.League was three times the highest known salary given to a PBA player, which leaves any league team that picks Sotto in the draft with a lot of ground to cover.
The good news is, two of the three teams with a shot at the No. 1 pick in the next PBA draft - Barangay Ginebra (which owns the Terrafirma rights) and NLEX (which got Blackwater's pick in a previous trade) - belong to organizations that have the capacity to put up that kind of money, if they wish so.
Also, Ginebra coach Tim Cone has forged a relationship with Sotto from Gilas' recent campaign in the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers while NLEX's Jimmy Alapag is someone that the 24-year-old can certainly play for.
However, the former national coach have serious concerns about Sotto's motivation should he end up in the PBA, noting that Kai will be a 'very unhappy man' should he end in the last place he wants to be in pursuit of his NBA dream.
So you think the PBA can be an option for Kai right now?
Tell us your thoughts in the comments section.
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