+27! Explosive debut in official match! China's top rising basketball star

Is it true that without Yang Hansen, China's men's basketball team has no NBA players? Not exactly, as Cui Yongxi still holds a two-way contract with the Brooklyn Nets for the 2024-25 season.

This guy missed the fourth window of the World Cup qualifiers due to injury, but in the current Asian Games, he stepped in for He Xining, who was dealing with back problems.In his first game, coming off the bench for 18 minutes, he shot 6-of-4 from the field (including 2-of-3 from three-point range) to efficiently post 12 points and 3 rebounds, helping the team secure a 99-61 win against Kazakhstan.

To some extent, Cui Yongxi is the answer for China's small forward position—he's solid on both ends and has some ball-handling ability. However, considering he's just recovered from a serious left knee ACL tear, both the national team and his club, Guangdong, are taking a cautious approach with his minutes.

By the way, Guangdong's new head coach for the upcoming season is not Du Feng, but foreign coach Yakovlevich. It will be interesting to see how he develops Cui Yongxi. Last season in the CBA regular season, Cui averaged 7.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in 17.3 minutes per game, shooting 39.8% from the field and 34.6% from three. In the playoffs, he averaged 2.8 points and 2.3 rebounds in 15 minutes per game, shooting 33.3% from the field and 20% from three.

Back to the national team. In the game against Kazakhstan, aside from the sick Wang Junjie and Zhao Jiayi, every player saw action and got decent playing time. Six players scored in double figures. Pang Zhenglini started at point guard, making 7-of-15 shots for a team-high 17 points plus 4 assists, dismantling the opponent's defense with his lightning-fast style.

Data for the Kazakhstan men's basketball team is as follows:

He can play in World Cup qualifiers, Asian Games, and maybe even the World Cup next year. At age 27, as the third overall pick in the 2025 CBA draft, his national team resume is already quite extensive.

It's worth noting that the Chinese roster also includes a rookie, 19-year-old super prospect Li Yuezhou from Zhejiang. The game against Kazakhstan was his official national team debut—the young player that Guo Shiqiang truly wants to develop.He played a generous 25 minutes, shot 4-of-7 from the field, and collected 9 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks, with a plus-minus of +27.

Li Yuezhou stands 1.88m tall with a 1.91m wingspan. Last year, at the U18 National Games, he averaged an eye-popping 42.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game, including two 50+ point performances, shooting 52.3% from the field.

China's next two group stage games are against Bahrain (September 12, 3:00 PM) and the Philippines (September 14, 12:00 PM). They have a strong chance of advancing to the knockout stage with an undefeated record.