{"id":93987,"date":"2024-09-02T16:16:56","date_gmt":"2024-09-02T20:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=93987"},"modified":"2024-09-03T00:45:34","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T04:45:34","slug":"nets-top-chinese-prospect-yongxi-jacky-cui-inks-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/02\/nets-top-chinese-prospect-yongxi-jacky-cui-inks-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Chinese Prospect Inking Deal With Nets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just ahead of training camp, the Brooklyn Nets are signing 2024 NBA Draft<\/a> prospect Yongxi Cui<\/a> (also known as Jacky Cui) to a two-way contract<\/a>, per Nets Daily\u2019s Lucas Kaplan.<\/p>\n

Top Chinese Prospect Yongxi \u2018Jacky\u2019 Cui Inking Deal With Nets<\/h2>\n

Cui, who went undrafted, averaged 15.8 points per game on .461-.365-.783 shooting splits in 2023-24 while playing for the CBA\u2019s Guangzhou Loong Lions. At 21 years old, Cui isn\u2019t going to be the youngest rookie. Nonetheless, he\u2019s a very solid 3-point threat with a real chance to have a long career.<\/p>\n

Cui\u2019s long-term success and ceiling likely hinges upon how he plays defensively. Calculated with quick hands, he has the potential to be a reliable team defender. Even more comforting is his mentality. In an interview with HoopsHype\u2019s Cyro Asseo de Choch, he was asked what he believes his best skill is<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cui\u2019s response was perfect:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy strongest skill is defense because, in my life, I can\u2019t let everyone beat me. I go into a focused, mental state. So, I can\u2019t let a player beat me every time and score on me. Defense is my job.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Later, he was asked why he wants to be an elite defender:<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the court, everyone’s goal is to score. It’s like you can’t do anything else. But defense is often seen as a dirty word; many players don’t want to focus on it. However, if you re able to play good defense, especially on the NBA stage, it must be something special for you.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If the 6-foot-5 wing can convince the Nets to promote him to the 15-man roster, he\u2019ll be the only Chinese player on a standard NBA contract. He\u2019ll be the first since Zhou Qi, who last played in 2018-19. With that being said, Qi played just two seasons in the NBA; Cui should hope to last much longer.<\/p>\n

(Note: Golden State Warriors forward Kyle Anderson has dual citizenship (American and Chinese) and his maternal great-grandfather was Chinese. While he was born in New York, raised in New Jersey, and is primarily of Jamaican and African-American descent, he\u2019s technically a Chinese-American player.)<\/em><\/p>\n

No Better Opportunity?<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s worth mentioning that Nets owner Joe Tsai is Taiwanese. His intentions from innocuous, he\u2019s openly stated that he wants to help Chinese players<\/a> make it to the NBA. So, on a team that\u2019s rebuilding and with an owner who\u2019s personally invested, Cui may not have a better shot.<\/p>\n

For the millions of fans in China, today is a special occasion. If all goes according to Cui\u2019s plan, there\u2019ll be an even bigger celebration down the line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just ahead of training camp, the Brooklyn Nets are signing 2024 NBA Draft prospect Yongxi Cui (also known as Jacky Cui) to a two-way contract, per Nets Daily\u2019s Lucas Kaplan. Top Chinese Prospect Yongxi \u2018Jacky\u2019 Cui Inking Deal With Nets Cui, who went undrafted, averaged 15.8 points per game on .461-.365-.783 shooting splits in 2023-24 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":94037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1608,62,556],"tags":[49562,98,49561],"class_list":["post-93987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nets","category-basketball","category-nba","category-nba-draft","tag-jacky-cui","tag-nba-draft","tag-yongxi-cui"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}