In the early morning of October 20, Beijing time, the Memphis Grizzlies officially announced that the team officially signed a two-way contract with Yuki Kawamura. Yuki Kawamura, who is officially 1.73 meters tall, became the shortest active player in the NBA. Grizzlies core Morant, one of Kawamura's biggest supporters, today he pushed Kawamura to congratulate.
Previously, the Grizzlies had three two-way contracts: Spencer, Jay Kuff and Pippen Jr. With Rose leaving the team and announcing his retirement, the Grizzlies vacated a spot on a full-time contract. On October 16 of this year, the Grizzlies signed a four-year contract with Pippen Jr. The Grizzlies vacated a two-way contract spot, and Kawamura's Exhibit 10 contract was upgraded to a two-way contract.
NBA reporter Kelly Iko revealed that after the Grizzlies' first preseason game, Morant looked for photographers everywhere to help Kawamura meet with the media and give interviews. The NBA is not about fighting and killing, but about human sophistication. As a role player, it's not only about playing well, but also about building relationships with your teammates and the coaching staff.
Yuki Kawamura was able to stay in the NBA mainly because of his good performance in the preseason. He played in five preseason games for the Grizzlies and dished out a team-high 21 assists. Kawamura played an average of 15.2 minutes per game in the preseason, scoring 3.4 points, 0.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 0.4 steals and 0.6 turnovers while shooting 21.1%, 25% and 83.3% from three.
Against the Bulls on Oct. 13, Yuki Kawamura dished out eight assists. Against the Pacers on Oct. 15, he added seven assists. Two games in a row, a total of 15 assists, and top-notch organization. Unfortunately, the projection was so bad, in the first three preseason games, Yuki Kawamura shot a total of 1 of 11. Height is a hard injury, and it's hard to get an easy shot in the NBA.
In the 2023 Basketball World Cup, Yuki Kawamura averaged 13.6 points, 2 rebounds, 7.6 assists and 2.8 turnovers per game, with three shooting percentages: 42.9%, 33.3%, and 78.6%. In the 2024 Paris Olympics, he averaged 20.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 7.7 assists, 1 steal and 3 turnovers per game, and his three-point shooting percentages were 33.9%, 40.6%, and 100%. Ranked third in the scoring list.
Next, let's talk about the Nets and Choi Yong-hee. Today, the Nets officially announced that the team officially cut Kylian Hayes and Amari Bailey, who will join the Long Island Nets, an affiliated team of the Brooklyn Nets, to play in the Development League. That's right, Pele is the defender who plays very lonely, and wants to dump the blame on Xiao Cui when the 24-second offense is about to arrive.
Killian Hayes and Amari Bailey are both on Exhibit 10 contracts, and they can get up to $77,500 after being cut, with an annual salary of about $580,000 on two-way contracts. Also today, the Nets converted Tyrese Martin's Exhibit 10 contract to a two-way contract. In this year's preseason, Martin averaged 4.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1 assist per game.
The Nets currently have three two-way contracts full: Jalen Martin, Choi Yong-hee and Tyrese Martin. In this year's preseason, Xiao Cui only played 2 games, averaging 6.5 minutes per game, 3 points and 1.5 rebounds, and shooting percentages from three: 28.6%, 33.3%, and 50%. At present, Xiao Cui should be safe, but he is going to the development alliance to level up.
The coach found the Long Island Nets' schedule, and the first game will start on Nov. 8 local time, with just over two weeks to go. After all, there are only a few pre-season games, and there will be more challenges ahead. Keep up the good work, young man!