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Take it from someone who followed the same path – Jordan Clarkson’s advice to Kai Sotto is plain and simple.
“The best advice I have given you is to stay in the gym, keep working out,” he said in a press release on Saturday (Manila time).
Sotto is currently with Ignite, preparing for the NBA G League season.
For Clarkson, that exposure against world-class competition could only make the 7-foot-2 center a better player and a better person overall, as he seeks to become the first homegrown Filipino to be drafted into the NBA.
“When you’re surrounded by NBA pros, guys and coaches, just having that and being close to those experiences will make it better,” the Utah Jazz guard said.
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Clarkson was once in Sotto’s shoes.
After being selected 46th in the 2014 NBA Draft, Clarkson received multiple assignments for the Los Angeles D-Fenders in the then NBA D-League and played five games in which he recorded 22.6 points, 7.8 assists and 5.0 rebounds.
That performance earned him a call-up for the Los Angeles Lakers, where he started 38 games in his rookie season and averaged 11.9 points, 3.5 dimes and 3.2 rebounds – enough to earn him a spot on the NBA’s first rookie team in his class. .
After six years, Clarkson is still in the NBA, reaching the Finals once in 2018 with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
As inspiring as his rise may have been, the 28-year-old is hopeful that Sotto will seize the opportunities he has been afforded at Ignite.
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“It will be great for them, especially at a young age. I think those guys who have those experiences, revealing experiences that a lot of kids don’t have, it will be good for them.” he said, with the select team having NBA veterans like Amir Johnson and Bobby Brown on its roster.
“So with that underneath, I just tell them to put your nose down and keep grinding and setting the time because everything will work out at the end of the day.”
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