Kai Sotto is Out with a Torn ACL
KAI SOTTO – The professional basketball player confirmed that he tore his ACL during Koshigaya’s match against Mikawa in the Japan B. League last weekend. The 7-foot-3 athlete shared the news on his social media on Wednesday, describing it as a challenging moment in his basketball career. “The worst way to start the year, and perhaps the darkest day of my career, was being told I tore my ACL,” Sotto expressed.
Due to this injury, Sotto is expected to miss the upcoming games of Gilas Pilipinas in the final window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers, where they will face Chinese Taipei and New Zealand. Additionally, he will not participate in the B. League Asia Rising Star Games on January 18, as he has been added to Koshigaya’s injury list.
Despite this setback, Sotto remains hopeful, thanking everyone for their support and expressing faith in God’s plan for him. In light of Sotto’s absence, Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone mentioned in an earlier interview that they will stick with the current pool of players for the upcoming games and are not planning to expand the roster.
Meanwhile, Kai Sotto is a professional basketball player who plays the center position. Standing at 7 feet 3 inches (2.21 m), he currently plays for the Koshigaya Alphas in Japan’s B.League. Sotto is the son of former Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) player Ervin Sotto and began his basketball career in the Philippines before moving to the United States to further his career.
He played high school basketball for the Ateneo Blue Eaglets in the Philippines, where he won a juniors’ division championship and MVP award. Sotto later joined The Skill Factory in Atlanta, Georgia, and was recruited by several NCAA Division I schools. He opted to forgo college eligibility and joined the NBA G League Ignite in 2020 but left due to travel restrictions and commitments with the Philippine national team.
Sotto began his professional career with the Adelaide 36ers in Australia’s National Basketball League (NBL) and later joined the Hiroshima Dragonflies and Yokohama B-Corsairs in Japan. He has also represented the Philippines in various international tournaments. Despite declaring for the 2022 NBA draft, Sotto went undrafted and continues to play internationally while aspiring to join the NBA.