There’s a 6-foot-5 player who’s challenging the monsters of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The main character is Japanese guard Yuki Kawamura (23, Memphis). The 10-centimeter shorter Kawamura is living up to Allen Iverson’s (retired) dictum that “basketball is played with the heart, not the stature.” The 6-foot-9 guard is a true testament to the NBA’s legendary 6-foot-5.
Kawamura, the ace of Japan’s national basketball team, headed to the United States last month. He left his Japanese B-League club Yokohama to sign an “Exhibit 10” contract with the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies. This contract, which is a lower level than a “two-way” contract, allows players to enter training camp with the lowest salary. Kawamura will train with the 카지노사이트 모음 Memphis organization and must show promise to make the roster.
Kawamura has been making his presence felt against NBA teams during the preseason. He’s been able to spearhead the team’s offense against opponents more than six feet taller than him, most notably in a 25-minute scrimmage against the Indiana Pacers on Thursday (local time), where he scored 10 points and dished out seven assists, including three three-pointers. It was a glimpse of what he could do in the regular season as the backup guard to the team’s ace, JaMarcus Morant.
Kawamura has already shown promise on the international stage, most notably in a 29-point, seven-rebound, six-assist performance in a group game against France at the Paris Olympics this summer. His diminutive stature allowed him to weave in and out of the French offense, leading both teams in scoring. He attacked a legion of big men, including Victor Wembanyama (223.5 centimeters), the “Rookie of the Year,” and Rudy Gobert (216 centimeters), the “Eiffel Tower,” one of the NBA’s best defenders. If the short guard Kawamura becomes a part of the NBA, a league filled with players over 2 meters tall, it will mark another milestone in world sports.