Yuki Kawamura
According to Japanese media reports, the Yokohama Bee Buccaneers announced on the 7th that the Japanese national team candidate Yuki Kawamura (23) has agreed to sign the No. 10 export contract with the NBA Grizzlies, although it is not a formal contract, Yuki Kawamura said that he will work harder in the future to make his dream come true.
According to reports, the agreement is scheduled to be concluded in September. Once signed, he will travel to the United States for training camp and seek to sign a contract for the new NBA season starting in October.
At the same time, Yoshihiro Tominaga, a member of the Japanese national team who graduated from the University of Nebraska this spring, also announced on the 5th that he had agreed to sign a No. 10 export contract with the NBA Pacers.
Among the Japanese players, Yudai Baba signed with the Mavericks in '19 and Yuta Watanabe signed with the Raptors in '20. Watanabe then signed a two-way contract and was offered an NBA contract at the end of the season.
Exit 10 contracts one of the NBA-mandated contracts. The contract will have a minimum annual salary and is not guaranteed, but clubs can switch to a two-way contract before the season starts, allowing them to travel between the lower leagues of the NBA and Japanese G League teams for a period of time. If the contract is terminated before the start of the season, the player can still sign with a G League team under the protection of the signing club. A relatively new system, launched in 2017, with two-way contracts.
The following Japanese netizens commented:
Kawamura, who has always claimed to challenge the NBA, has taken a big step forward. After the national team event in Paris, he will begin comprehensive preparations for the Grizzlies' training camp
I want you to do your best! But I pray I don't lose myself by pushing myself too hard. Only the NBA is more athletic than other American sports...... Even if you can't play consistently, there will be a lot of players who will be unbeatable when they come to Japan's B-League. There are many players who are 2 meters tall and have taller jumps and agility than Mr. Kawamura. However, as a member of the Japanese national team, I think the experience of competing with these players will definitely be a plus, so I will pay close attention to it.
I don't know how far he can go, but Kawamura has reached a level where B League alone is not enough. I guess I had no choice but to go to the United States. I want to see how much it can grow, and I think it will help Japanese basketball grow in the future.
If you want to succeed in the NBA, not only ability is important, but also physical strength is important, the regular season alone has to play 82 games a year, the schedule is tight, including travel time, almost 3 days to play two games, and even every game, there is a kind of physical conflict that is not in Asia, so that Yao Ming, who has succeeded in the NBA, once said that the NBA game is the battlefield. Kawamura has no complaints about his abilities, but it will be interesting to see how he adapts to his height and stamina. Another successful example is Isaiah Thomas who made it on 175cm, so I hope he will do his best to get this contract first!
Even though the B-League has been going from strength to strength, the NBA is still the pinnacle of basketball, and I think that's the number one dream we should pursue. The height difference is hard, but as long as you're playing basketball at that height, it doesn't matter where you play. In the B-League, he has already shown a game where there is no difference in height. Next, I want to see him develop on the NBA stage