THE red carpet has been rolled out for Kai Sotto in Australia.
Before he suits up for Adelaide in the National Basketball League, a Filipino community in the coastal city has thrown a party celebrating the arrival of Sotto in The Land Down Under.
The 36ers posted a photo of the 7-foot-3 center spending time with fellow Filipinos over the weekend.
“A massive thank you to the Filipino Communities Council of Australia for welcoming Kai on the weekend!” the team said, referring to the revelry hosted by the Filipino Communities Council of Australia.
“Kai enjoyed meeting and spending time with the community & we can’t wait to see everyone again as we get closer to #NBL22!”
Sotto, 19, was signed up by the ball club last April after a botched try to play for Ignite in the NBA G League.
Adelaide tapped CJ Bruton its new coach, replacing Conner Henry.
The NBL’s new season gets going on Nov. 18.
The 36ers are coming off a seventh-place finish with a 13-23 card last year behind star Josh Giddey, who was chosen sixth overall by Oklahoma City in the NBA draft July.
In his Gilas debut at home soil, Sotto proved he was no patsy in the third window of the Asia Cup qualifiers in Clark where Gilas completed an emphatic 3-0 sweep and 6-0 record overall.
He was also part of the all-amateur Philippine five that saw action in the Olympic qualifying tournament in Belgrade, Serbia.
The son of former pro Ervin, Sotto graduated from high school at Miami School in Hamilton, Ohio last April.
A former UAAP juniors’ MVP with Ateneo High School and a former Gilas Youth mainstay now proving his worth with the senior’s squad, Sotto left the country in 2019 to train at the Atlanta-based The Skills Factory.
