While international basketball appears to have improved by leaps and bounds – the last seven NBA Most Valuable Player awards have been won by non-US players – Asian men’s basketball has yet to make that breakthrough.
At the 2023 FIBA World Cup, no Asian nation made it past the opening group stage. And at last year’s Paris Olympics, Japan, the only Asian nation to qualify, failed to progress to the knockout rounds.
Asked what it would take for Asian basketball to catch up with the rest of the world, Yao said that it boils down to “better competition”.
“The only way (to) get improvement … is through better competition. Better competition will help them find out their own weaknesses and their strengths, and then we need a coach and teammates to help fix it and get to the next level,” said Yao, who was China Basketball Association president from 2017 to 2024.
“We need more competition to help us to see the world.”
One player who could make a breakthrough in the NBA is 20-year-old Yang Hansen, who is just the third Chinese player ever chosen in the first round.
In a stunning turn of events on NBA Draft Night on Thursday, Yang was picked 16th overall by the Portland Trail Blazers, after being previously tipped by some to be drafted only in the second round.
Yao, the No 1 selection in 2002, and Yi Jianlian – who was sixth overall in 2007 – are the only other Chinese players chosen in the first round of the draft.
“He is a very talented kid, he’s a very nice kid. I spoke to him about maybe three weeks ago, four weeks ago … and wished him good luck,” said Yao.
“He deserves the best, with all the effort he put into it … The draft is just one step in his long career, so keep going.”
