Yongxi ‘Jacky’ Cui Breaks Down the Challenges Facing Chinese Prospects

The new Nets two-way player spoke candidly on media day about his country’s relationship with basketball and his NBA experience so far.

Sep 30, 2024; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Brooklyn Nets forward Yongxi Cui (8) looks on during media day at Brooklyn Nets Media Day at HSS Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — Yongxi “Jacky” Cui is living a dream in Brooklyn, and the Nets’ new signing could set a trail for a new influx of Chinese talent into the NBA.

Cui, who went undrafted in June, is in his first year of a two-year, two-way contract. He played in Summer League with the Portland Trail Blazers, averaging three points in 7.2 minutes over a three-game stretch. The Chinese prospect reflected on his NBA experience until now at Nets media day on Monday.

“I joined the G League Elite [Camp], and I lost a chance for the main [draft] combine,” Cui recalled. “But I think I played very good … in the draft workout.”

Although he is on a two-way deal, Cui is currently China’s closest player to an NBA court. He shed light on some of the obstacles his younger countrymen encounter.

“In China right now, you have too many students who want to play the basketball, but you start on the homework, at the school,” Cui said. “Your family … they think about, ‘You don’t have [a] future if you play basketball.’ But I think the road I went, I played basketball with the studying.” 

Cui has a chance of becoming just the seventh player from the Chinese mainland to appear in an NBA game. In Nets lore specifically, he would join the company of former sixth overall pick Yi Jianlian.

“If you want to play the professional [path], you do it the good way, you try to get out, you try to find the NCAA, and step by step, you will make it,” Cui added. 

He was previously part of the NBA Academy in Canberra, Australia before going pro with the Chinese league’s Guangzhou Loong Lions. Last season, Cui averaged 15.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 56 games with Guangzhou, per RealGM.

The 21-year-old also stressed the importance of building good habits for the younger generation of Chinese prospects, much like Cui himself is attempting to do in the NBA. On Monday, the Guangxi native mentioned Ben Simmons and Cam Thomas as players close to the “top” of the NBA from whom he can learn.

“I don't have a lot because my family is not that rich, but my dad is like a street basketball player,” Cui said. “So I work[ed] from young when I play[ed] basketball until I got this.”

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