Wizards' Rui Hachimura becomes first Japanese player ever taken in NBA draft's first round
In addition to an imposing presence on their frontcourt, the Washington Wizards made a bit of history with their ninth overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft on Thursday.
With his selection at No. 9, Gonzaga forward Rui Hachimura became the first Japanese player to ever be selected in the first round of the NBA draft, and the first Japanese player to be selected at any point in the draft in nearly four decades.
The 6-foot-8 forward was born in Japan’s Toyama Prefecture to a Japanese mother and a father from West Africa’s Benin. After playing high school basketball in Japan, Hachimura went overseas to play for Gonzaga, where he developed into an All-American and conference player of the year.
Hachimura was definitely aware of his own historical significance, wearing a Japanese flag pin at the draft and addressing the camera in Japanese at Maria Taylor’s behest.
Rui Hachimura is the first Japanese-born player to be drafted in the first round of the #NBADraft!
This one's for you, Japan 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/Tu6K2Syujf— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) June 21, 2019
Hachimura joins a Wizards team in flux between John Wall’s Achilles rupture and the possibility of Bradley Beal being traded, but he should provide some immediate impact to the Wizards’ frontcourt.
Adding some intrigue to the pick is that the Wizards — who do not have a general manager right now — not only never met with Hachimura, they didn’t speak to anyone on Gonzaga about him. Call that a bold leap for a team that might need to be rebuilding soon.
Rui Hachimura told me that he didn't meet with the Wizards before he was selected ninth. He didn't speak to anyone from the team, either. This was just as surprising to him as anyone else.
— Ben Mehic (@BenMehicNBA) June 21, 2019
Rui Hachimura isn’t the first Japanese player in the NBA draft
Funnily enough, Hachimura isn’t the first Japanese player to ever be selected in the NBA draft, as ESPN’s broadcast reported. Another player came before him, and the whole situation sounds like quite something.
In the eighth round of the 1981 NBA draft, the Golden State Warriors selected Yasutaka Okayama, a 7-foot-8, 330-pound center, with the 171st overall pick. Okayama was a junior varsity player at the University of Portland, and is still the tallest player in NBA draft history.
Okayama never played for the Warriors, opting to instead play in the Japan Basketball League and for Japan’s national team.
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