Gilas Pilipinas had kicked off its three-month training for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup but its biggest star, Kai Sotto, has yet to confirm his attendance.
Gilas is facing a backbreaking schedule. The Gilas pool will train at the Inspire Sports Academy in Laguna starting Monday, before leaving for Estonia on Friday.
From Estonia, Gilas will take a 390-kilometer land trip to Lithuania to open another camp and play a series of friendly matches against the national teams of Estonia, Latvia and Finland, as well as several Lithuanian club teams.
After their 16-day European trip, Gilas will return home on 10 July and will leave for China on 31 July for a pocket tournament against Iran, Lebanon, and Senegal from 2 to 6 August.
As soon as they get back to Manila, the Filipino cagers will play another series of friendly matches, this time against teams that are looking to warm up ahead of the prestigious 32-nation Cup that tips off on 25 August at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.
Despite this heavy schedule, Sotto has yet to come up with a firm and solid commitment. He has yet to say whether he’s in or out.
After all, he is trekking a personal journey to become the first full-blooded Filipino to play in the National Basketball Association.
After going undrafted last year, Sotto is on a mission.
He moved from the National Basketball League in Australia to the B. League in Japan for additional minutes and maximum exposure.
As soon as his B. League campaign was over, he flew to the United States to display his talents by participating in training camps — first with the Utah Jazz, then with the Dallas Mavericks, and soon with the New York Knicks.
We have no idea how he fared in those workouts but no less than Mavericks owner Mark Cuban reportedly lauded Sotto, saying that “he played really well” in his brief training with incoming rookies, free agents, and journeymen.
Cuban’s words may be flattering but they don’t automatically translate to an NBA contract.
Before Sotto can make it in the NBA, he has to impress coaches, scouts, and talent evaluators by standing tall against the best players in the world.
He has to show that he has what it takes to shine against elite competition and not just “play really well” against some skinny kids in the B. League or unknown journeymen who are trying to land 10-day contracts in the NBA.
And that high-level competition can only be found in the World Cup — the best basketball league outside the Summer Olympics.
The World Cup will serve as a major tryout for Sotto. It will offer a golden ticket to stardom.
In fact, countless international players landed handsome NBA contracts after doing well representing their countries both in the World Cup and the Olympics.
Manu Ginobili wouldn’t have emerged to become a four-time NBA champion and two-time NBA All-Star if San Antonio Spurs head coach Greg Popovich hadn’t spotted his potential while leading Argentina to a silver medal in the 2002 FIBA World Cup in Indianapolis.
Jonas Valanciunas was regarded as the most important youth player in the world after leading Lithuania to a gold medal in the 2011 FIBA World Cup U19 in Latvia. His efforts paid off when the Toronto Raptors tapped him as the fifth overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft.
Milos Teodosic of Serbia, Bojan Bogdanovic of Croatia, and Zhou Qi of China also used the World Cup and the Olympics as stepping stones to the NBA.
The Los Angeles Clippers awarded Teodosic an NBA contract in 2017 after seeing his maturity, character, and decision-making when he led Serbia to the silver medal in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016.
Bogdanovic, for his part, was offered a three-year, $10 million contract by the Brooklyn Nets in 2014 after they saw him dominate for Croatia in the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain, while Zhou had a brief stint with the Houston Rockets following a strong performance in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
There are countless routes going to the NBA.
Sotto had already tried — and failed — the conventional route of going through the NBA draft.
So this time, he should take a different path, one that was taken by some of the greatest ballers in the international arena like Ginobili, Valanciunas, Teodosic, Bogdanovic and Zhou.
The World Cup is not just a mere tournament. It is a major tryout, a spectacle that the entire basketball world will be definitely watching.
It offers a golden ticket, a once-in-a-lifetime shot at global stardom.