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Kai Sotto, Jalen Green sets to debut in NBA G League

NBA G League chose Ignite Team, made up of elite high school prospects including Filipino teen tower Kai Sotto and Fil-Am Jalen Green to join the bubble tournament this November.

/ 23 September 2020

The select team which is not even affiliated to any NBA team is said to be an alternative pathway as en route for NBA.

The tourney was said to be the first time that the select team will be tested ahead of the NBA draft which will happen at the end of the 2020-2021 season.

Shams Charania of The Athletic revealed in his twitter account that the league is focusing on staging a bubble tourney which is looking forward to featuring the Ignite team.

“The NBA G League is seriously discussing tournament featuring the elite Ignite team—led by Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga—and other teams (undrafted players, etc.) in a bubble environment in November/December. Decisions are still fluid,” he tweeted.

Ignite is coached by Brian Shaw, a former NBA player, three-time NBA champion, as well as an assistant coach of the Lakers where they bagged two championships.

Kai Sotto, standing 7-foot-2 was the first to become the first-full blood Filipino to make it to the league.

He was titled as the best player during the FIBA-U16 Asian Championships and ranked by ESPN as the No. 4 player in Georgia in the Class of 2020.

However, despite of names and titles, Sotto shared that being an Asian requires him to show everything he got.

“…they don’t really give you the respect right away, you have to earn it…every time I play I just have to earn everybody’s respect and play my hardest,” Sotto said.

On the other hand, just like Sotto, Jalen Green decided to let go of not playing in the collegiate division to pursue his NBA dream.

Green bagged two gold medals for Team USA in the FIBA Under-19 World Cup 2019 and FIBA Under-17 World Cup in 2018.

Ignite’s squad also includes India’s Pincepal Singh, Congolese forward Jonathan Kuminga, US forward Isaiah Todd, and US guard Daishen Nix.