Center Kai Sotto will be flying back to the United States on Sunday, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) said, giving him a chance to rejoin NBA G League team Ignite just before the end of the league's regular season.
"[On] Feb. 14, Kai [will be] flying back to the U.S.," SBP Special Assistant to the President Ryan Gregorio told ESPN5.com in a short message.
This confirms SBP Director of Operations Butch Antonio's pronouncements on Saturday morning over Radyo Singko's Power & Play that Sotto had been preparing for an immediate pullout.
"We're working with him and his group in the US to make sure that there is time for him to join his team Ignite," said Antonio.
"We have to remember that even before all of these things happened, when he was planning to join the NBA and when he planned his foreign trip, especially when he first went to America, he made it clear that every time that if the country needs him, he won't refuse to represent the country with the national team," he added.
The 7'3" center arrived in the Philippines last Feb. 2 to join Gilas Pilipinas for its FIBA Asia Cup qualifying games in Doha, Qatar that was scheduled to start on Feb. 18 but will not push through anymore due to the country's order to cancel all events there.
Instead, the Philippines will host the final window as originally proposed, but the uncertainty of the schedule forced Sotto to fly back to the United States. Gregorio mentioned that the SBP is waiting for the new schedule as of writing time.
"We are waiting for the FIBA Window 3 schedule. [There is] no definite date yet," explained Gregorio.
Sotto will have to quarantine upon arrival in the United States before entering the bubble at Walt Disney World in Florida. The Ignite currently share the top of the standings with four other squads, with a 2-0 record behind the stellar play of Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga.