MANILA – Kai Sotto did not leave the bench the entire game as Orlando Magic suffered an 89-78 defeat to Detroit Pistons in the 2023 NBA Summer League on Saturday night (Sunday in the Philippines) at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
The 7-foot-3 Sotto, who was hyped by the Magic in their social media pages the whole week, was curiously benched by the Orlando coaching staff despite the Filipino cager being the tallest player in the roster.
The Magic instead went with the much smaller bigs Ron Baker II, who registered eight points and two rebounds, and former Gilas Pilipinas naturalization prospect DJ Wilson, who ended with four points and three rebounds.
Jalen Duren led the way for the Pistons with 17 points and eight rebounds, while one-time NBA champion James Wiseman contributed double-double 16 points and 12 rebounds in the victory.
Kevon Harris top-scored for the Magic with 21 points, Anthony Black chipped in 17 markers, while Caleb Houstan contributed 12 markers in the defeat.
Sotto’s next opportunity to play will be on Monday night (Tuesday morning in the Philippines) against Indiana Pacers in a game that will be televised live at NBA TV Philippines.
Meanwhile, Ron Harper Jr.’s decent showing of 10 points, six rebounds, four assists, one steal and a block was not enough as Toronto Raptors suffered an 83-74 defeat to Chicago Bulls.
The Filipino-American forward immediately made his mark with five early points in the first quarter before he slowed down with just two in the second frame and a triple in the final quarter.
Harper, son of former Chicago Bulls legend Ron Harper Sr., is set to return for his sophomore season with the Raptors after being extended a two-way qualifying offer recently.
Meanwhile, Filipino-American big man Kamaka Hepa failed to make an impact after not being inserted by the New Orleans Pelicans in their 102-88 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves./PN
