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Josh Ball

Rising China basketball star Cui Yongxi said he was “a little excited” after signing a two-way contract with the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets on Friday.
The 21-year-old from Nanning, who played three games as a reserve for Portland in the NBA Summer League, was a free agent after going unselected in the NBA draft.
However, it was his performances with the Trail Blazers that reportedly convinced the Nets to offer him an opportunity to become just the seventh player from China to appear at the game’s highest level.
While he is expected to spend most of this time in the Nets’ G-League development team, the deal allows him to be called up during the regular season if necessary.
Making it into the big leagues would end a run of eight years without a mainland Chinese player in the NBA, with Zhou Qi the last to make it after being drafted by the Houston Rockets in 2016.

Cui told state media the move was “just the beginning of my preparation to fight in this league, and there is still a long way to go”.
“I have to start from the development league and then improve my skills and experience,” Cui said. “Only then can I slowly move to the NBA bench and maybe [get] NBA rotation. I don’t know how far I will go, but first of all, I have to take each step well, I think that is the key.”
A rising star at home, Cui has spent the past two seasons with the Guangzhou Loong Lions in the Chinese Basketball Association, leading the team last year in points, rebounds and steals last while earning CBA Domestic First Team honours.
In 99 career games, he has averaged 14.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.7 steals, with 45.3 per cent shooting accuracy from the floor and 36.2 per cent from three-point range.
Cui though is only just becoming the most famous athlete in his family, with father Cui Mingguang well-known in the folk basketball circles of Maoming, Guangdong, when he was young.
The older Cui, who stands 1.77 metres tall in contrast to his son’s 1.99m, became an internet celebrity on the mainland because at the age of 48 he could still dunk.
“I started playing because of my father, who is well-known as the best grass roots baller in our province,” Cui told the Fiba.basketball website in 2020. “I’ve watched him play since I was young.
“However, I didn’t fall in love with the game until the 4th grade in elementary school when I saw Kobe making a buzzer-beater. It was in 2009, the Lakers played against the Heat, and the last shot of Kobe shocked me.”

And the younger Cui, who took part in the NBA Elite Programme-China Training Camp in 2018, a global camp in Canberra in 2019, and was part of Basketball Without Borders Global Camp in Chicago during the 2020 NBA All-Star Weekend, said his sister was “more talented” than he was.
“Her dribbling is much better than I was when I was a child,” Cui Yongxi said. “She is also tall, a head taller than many of her peers. I think she really deserves to be trained well.”
The newest member of the Nets organisation has risen quickly since making his CBA debut for Guangdong as a 19-year-old. He quickly became a starter in the 2022 season, was brought into the national team, won the rising stars game MVP award at the 2022-23 CBA All-Star weekend, and was named rookie of the year at the end of the season.
With Fiba World Cup and Asian Games appearances under his belt, Hong Kong fans may recognise him from matches he played in the city last year, including in an Asian qualifier against Iran at Tseun Wan Sports Centre.
Cui is following in the footsteps of some of China’s most illustrious ballers, among them former Dallas Mavericks fan favourite Wang Zhizhi, the first Chinese player to compete in the NBA, and the country’s most famous basketball export, Yao Ming.
Wang was drafted in the second round by the Mavericks in 1999 and finally made his debut on April 19, 2001, when he entered a game against the Atlanta Hawks with 26.8 seconds left in the first half. Dallas won 108-94, with Wang scoring the two points that put them over the century mark.
Yao, meanwhile, was first overall pick in the 2002 draft, and spent nine years in Houston, where among a host of accolades he was an eight-time NBA All-Star and had his No 11 jersey retired by the franchise.
Cui will be the second player from Guangdong to join the Nets, after Yi Jianlian, who was with the franchise in their previous guise as the New Jersey Nets, between 2008 and 2010. Yi was drafted in 2007, the same year as Sun Yue, who went on to win an NBA Championship with the LA Lakers in 2009.
If the recently naturalised Kyle Anderson, who is now with the Golden State Warriors, is not counted, Zhou was the last Chinese player to make the NBA, appearing sporadically for the Rockets between 2017 and 2019.


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NBA (National Basketball Association)

China’s rising star Cui Yongxi joins Brooklyn Nets on 2-way deal, eyes NBA shot

China’s Cui Yongxi scores during a Fiba Basketball World Cup Asia qualifier against Iran at Tseun Wan Sports Centre, in Hong Kong. Photo: Dickson Lee

China’s Sun Yue won an NBA Championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009. Photo: AP

Los Angeles Clippers’ centre Wang Zhizhi (left) chats to Houston Rockets’ centre Yao Ming during a game in November 2002, in LA. Photo: AFP

Hong Kong side sign up Latvian Olympic gold medallist to boost city’s 3x3 basketball hopes

Agnis Cavars (left) in action for Latvia at the Universality Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Hong Kong in April. Photo: 3x3 HKG

Latvia’s Olympic gold medallist Agnis Cavars said Hong Kong is one of his favourite places in Asia. Photo: 3x3 HKG

Agnis Cavars (right) and Jelena Ostapenko were the flag bearers for Latvia at the Tokyo Olympics. Photo: Latvia Olympic Committee

NBA stars wow Hong Kong crowd with dunks, dribbles and deep threes at Yao Ming charity game

NBA star Kyle Kuzma takes a selfie with a fan at the 12th Yao Foundation Charity Game at Asia World-Expo. Photo: Eugene Lee

NBA star Paul George attempts a slam dunk. Photo: Eugene Lee

NBA star James Harden interacts with junior players during the third period. Photo: Eugene Lee

Sport

Basketball

China

Cui could be just seventh player from Chinese mainland to appear in game’s top league, following likes of Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi, Sun Yue


Cui could be just seventh player from Chinese mainland to appear in game’s top league, following likes of Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi, Sun Yue.


CBA (Chinese Basketball Association)