Today In NBA History: The Second Chinese Player Debuts
Can anyone tell me who the first Chinese player to play in the NBA was?
His name was Wang Zhizhi, and was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2001-2002 season.
But this post isn't about Mr. Zhizhi, it's about the man who followed his path, Mengke Bateer.
On February 27th, Bateer became the second player from China to play in the NBA. He joined the Denver Nuggets for their final 25 games, as Denver had just depleted themselves at the center position by trading Raef LaFrentz.
Bateer did something that Zhizhi never did though...started. That's right, Bateer started 10 games for the Nuggets, making him the first Chinese player to ever start an NBA game.
From Denver, Bateer bounced around, landing in San Antonio after, where he was part of the 2002-2003 squad that won an NBA Championship, then went to Toronto, where he ended his NBA career.
Bateer continued to play in the Chinese Basketball Association, as well as the National Basketball League.
When most people thing of Chinese players in the NBA, they think of Yao Ming, Zhou Qi, Yi Jianlian and maybe Sun Yue , and while Ming was the most prolific and successful of those players to date, we cannot forget the path forged by the like of Zhizhi and Bateer.
As always, #TTP
With the size of the country you can only think the number of Chinese players in the NBA will continue to grow.