Will Kai join Jalen in G League?

Will Kai Sotto join Fil-American Jalen Green on the Southern California-based “Select Team” in the NBA G League under a special one-year development program that will allow elite senior high school prospects to play only 10-12 games against G League teams that do not count in the team standings?

Will Sotto jump to the G League with $500,000 in his pocket as well?

Probably not as the 7-2 mastodon out of Ateneo de Manila is not listed in ESPN’s top prep rankings for Class 2020 while Green, a 6-5 shooting guard out of Merced, California, is ranked No. 1 overall after guiding Prolific Prep (Napa, California) to the Grind Session Championship crown and averaging 31.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and five assists a game for the 31-3 school.

Green, whose Filipino mom Bree Purganan was once a guard at Mercer College while also moonlighting in track and soccer, was also voted as Sports Illustrated’s Prep All-American Player of the Year.

It used to be only $125,000 for a five-month season when the NBA G League professional pathway program was first instituted in 2018.

However, the National Basketball League in Australia also came up with a similar program for US prep seniors who do not want to play one year of NCAA ball with six-figure payments, the G League decided to double its cempensation for such players starting this year after top college prospects LaMelo Ball and RJ Hampton decided to stay away from college ball and instead suited up in Down Under this past campaign, with Ball earning enough to buy the team (Illawarra Hawks) that he played for early this month.

More than the money, players on the NBA G League “Select Team” will enjoy a special 1-on-1 training outside of the team structure and be given full scholarship in case they decide to return to school for their college studies in the future.