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Kai Sotto finally saw action for the Orlando Magic in the NBA Summer League on Thursday night at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Coming on as a substitute, the 7-foot-3 Filipino center made the most of his Summer League debut, tallying six points, four rebounds, one assist, and three blocks. Among the major highlights of his performance were a putback jam in the dying moment of the game — although the Portland Trail Blazers were already beating the Orlando Magic then — and a block on 2022 seventh-overall pick Shaedon Sharpe.
Asked about how he felt after finally playing in the Summer League after three straight DNPs, Kai Sotto said, “I feel like it's a good first game just to go out there and compete.”
Kai Sotto speaks to the media. pic.twitter.com/Ebcg0Yrqdi
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) July 14, 2023
Despite the 88-71 defeat to Portland, Kai Sotto, who became an instant defensive anchor in just 13 and a half minutes of play, believes that Orlando did a good job defensively but could not convert it to offense.
“It's not good that we didn't win, but we learned a lot from this game. I think we're pretty good defensively. We just got to work on getting better looks and making shots next game, so we just got to bounce back,” he further said.
When asked about comparing the NBA Summer League to his other professional stints, the former Adelaide 36er and current Hiroshima Butterfly said, “I think the game in the Summer League is just more fast-paced.”
The 22-year-old Sotto then explained, “There's a lot of young players who are trying to prove that they can play in an NBA game and environment… Everybody's pretty skilled and hungry to show that they're worthy of roster spots.”
