Incredible Stories of 2 Asian NBA Players

In all honesty, with the help of racism, Asain people are not and were never known as the most athletic or superstar players in the NBA. In the league, there are 0.2% of Asians. As an Asian my self, I am appalled. This also applies to all professional sports as well. Asain people are more recognized as intelligent beings coming from the hardest college, most likely to become a doctor. That is the harsh reality for Asians. However, there are 2 specific Asain NBA players that have proved society wrong, showing that they are worth it in the league. Each has played in different eras if the NBA, one of them being the Hall of Famer Yao Ming. The second one is currently in the league, but not as great as he once was in his glory days, Jeremy Lin. Each of them has a fascinating story and they both have represented Asians in the NBA for a very long time.

Yao Ming

Jeremey Lin

Starting off with Jeremy Lin's story. Jeremy has fought through the cultural biases throughout his basketball career. This has caused him to struggle to prove himself worthy on the court, even in college (Harvard). He was overlooked because he was Asian. It made no sense how he was not given a fair chance considering the fact that he carried his High School, Palo Alto into a 31-1 record, bringing them into the state finals, going up against Mater Dei. It was there when he brought the team to victory. Jeremey then became a NorCal Division II player of the year. Despite all this, he was still not offered a scholarship by any Division 1 college. He was given the opportunity to play for Harvard. There he showed off his talent, with a notable performance of 30 points against the Uconn Huskies, where future all-star Kemba Walker played.

Palo Alta vs Mater Dei (2006)

         Lin at Harvard University

After college, he came into the NBA summer league undrafted, eventually receiving a contract from the Golden State Warriors. This made him the first Chinese-American player to ever make it to the NBA. He was then sent into the D-League because he appeared overmatched. His career in the NBA got off to a rocky start. After given the 2nd Chance he was then cut from the Houston Rockets. This was the worst fit for him because as a point guard, he was on a team with 6 point guard already. Finally, the New York Knicks saw potential in him, so they picked him. New York is where the turning point in  Lin's career occurred. He reached an era in his career, which people liked to call, Linsanity. He started off in New York as a bench warmer, only playing when the stars got hurt. One game, when the Knicks faced off against the New Jersey Nets, he was given possibly his last chance to show that he deserves way more recognition and proving cultural biases wrong. With a do or die attitude, he went all out. Finally, he showed to the world that Asians have also got what it takes as well. He remembers crying in the shower afterward. Thus, his Linsanity phase was born as he continued to go off. He continued to go through hate and discrimination, but he also continued to show he could not be stopped as well.

This next story is what I find to be the most interesting one. This next one is about Chinese Hall of Famer, Yao Ming. The basis of this story is his height, standing at 7'6, he was always well-known for his insane height in the league. The truth is, he probably was not supposed to be this tall or this talented. In the 1950's, the Chinese government wanted to be great and powerful in all of the sports.





They craved dominance in all of the sports, and one of their strengths and notable sports happened to be basketball. Their needs of dominance may not have been so forgiving and nice. That is because they did not fool around. They kept the mentality that they must do absolutely whatever it takes to be dominant, no matter how unforgiving. They took their strategies to the extreme as they scouted the nation for young children that had any potential. They would then force any liked child to leave their home and dedicate their life to the sport that China chose for them. This is already beyond messed up\. Even after Chinese athletes' professional careers were over, they were still forced to dedicate their lives to the sport and get their marriages approved by the government, in order to produce babies who would then be able to play a sport and so on. Moving on to Yao Ming himself. He was born as a very big baby. Right away China so the potential in him due to his height. They followed his childhood every step. Right away, he was of course forced to dedicate his life to basketball. He and his parents did not want this, as his parents wanted him to go to school full time and Yao wanted to be an archeologist when he grew up. Sadly China does give a damn. When players for a sport were gathered, they were put through hell during training and practices. They were tortured and to keep going until they could not breathe. Practices practically lasted the whole day. Players would often collapse on the floor. Players would often get beaten up when they make mistakes and even if a player is sick, they did not care. This created Yao into a superior basketball player despite hating the sport.



He continued to grow and develop as an athlete. China wanted Yao to grow even taller so they made drinks for him to take. Yao was put through basketball hell throughout his entire life. Thus, I believe that China created Yao Ming.

These stories are quite fascinating in their own way and definitely put Asian players up there, whether from struggles with biases to the Chinese government.