CHICAGO - It's that rare occurrence that fuels the ambition of every 5-foot-nothing Filipino who is dreaming of dribbling all the way to the summit of pro basketball.
Yuki Kawamura, a 5-foot-8, 159-pound point guard, is now officially an NBA player after the Memphis Grizzlies gave the Japanese star a roster spot via a two-way contract.
Already a huge hit in the Japan B.League, where he won Rookie of the Year and MVP honors in the 2022-23 season, Kawamura inserted himself into international stardom by leading Japan in the 2023 Fiba World Cup and the 2024 Summer Olympics.
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His watershed moment came in Paris last July when he stood tall in his country's 94-90 overtime loss to powerhouse France, finishing with 29 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
"Yuki gives hope to every kid that has a dream to go play at the highest level. Height is not an obstacle, what matters most is heart, passion, and love for the game," said Tony Ronzone of Wasserman Sports, the agency that represents Kawamura.
BORN TO BE A STAR.
Besides all of that, Yuki also has moxie and a relentless, indefatigable motor. Smart as a neuro-scientist, the 23-year old is a natural showman with an eagerness to please that is enchanting.
Per a medium.com data, only 1 out of every 1,111 hoops prospects end up in the NBA, an ultra slim .09 percent success rate.
And while two-way contracts don't pay millions, they're not chomp change, either.
According to the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) two-way contracts for the 2024-25 season are paid half the equivalent of the league minimum salary of $1,157,153 for one year.
Which means Yuki will collect $578,576 this upcoming season unless his deal is converted into a standard NBA contract.
Enrichment, however, is a secondary motive. Reaching the NBA mountaintop is a sterling achievement and a form of gravitas money can never buy.
IS KAI SOTTO NEXT?
Hard to tell, but optimism springs from the many parallels to Yuki's and the Filipino's journeys.
They both played in Japan and were teammates at Yokohama. At age 22, Kai is just a year younger. And they are clients under the same Wasserman umbrella.
There are so many hurdles in the NBA path, but the 7-foot-3, 230-pound Sotto is damn sure doing his part.
Through four games in the young 2024-25 B.League season, Kai is averaging 11.5 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1 block per at an increased workload of 29.5 minutes a contest.
Flipping dreams into reality is hard and fate is fickle. And that is why nothing is promised in life.
But if Yuki Kawamura was able to cash in on that one-in-a-million jackpot, maybe Kai Sotto can, too.
He's already put in the time and the hard work, all he needs now is a little nudge from the basketball gods.
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