'Intern' puts in the work for Team China

A cool "summer internship "has propelled Wang Junjie to the forefront of Chinese basketball, with the young prospect's breakout Asia Cup campaign bringing new vitality to the rebuild of the men's program.

A little-known, soon-to-be-junior at the University of San Francisco before the summer, Wang had no clue where his international debut with Team China at the FIBA Asia Cup in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, would take him — certainly there was no inkling that he'd end up as one of the tournament's poster boys after helping China achieve a runner-up finish, its best result in a decade.

Boasting a combination of size, touch and mobility, the 20-year-old forward put up an impressive performance, scoring 13 points, shooting 56.1 percent from the field, to go with 4.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 23.5 minutes per game as he stood tall for Team China in the absence of higher-profile teammates Yang Hansen, Portland Trail Blazers' star rookie, and NBA prospect Cui Yongxi and former Houston Rocket Zhou Qi.

After overpowering all its opponents on its way to the final, Team China was narrowly edged out 90-89 by world No 7 Australia in the gold-medal game on Aug 17, settling for silver in its first final at the continental showpiece since its 2015 title run.

Despite the agonizing near miss, the emergence of the bold and fearless next generation, underscored by Wang's unexpected rise, has breathed new life into the struggling team at international level.

More importantly, the intriguing background of Wang, known as Barry in the United States, who developed his game in China's school system all the way to joining the NCAA D1 program, has offered a fresh take on talent cultivation for Chinese basketball.

Dubbed as the "strongest intern "on Team China's summer assignment, Wang shrugged off the hype around his overnight breakout, stressing that it all came down to the hard work that nobody sees.

"Life is like a book. Some chapters are long, some short, filled with stories — many of them painful, unseen by others," Wang, who was selected into the tournament's All-Star Five, told The Paper in a recent interview.

"But what people end up seeing is only the polished version of me under the spotlight."

Born in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, Wang started basketball training at four years old and soon flourished in the country's budding school system, overseen by his father, a PE teacher, as he helped Hailiang Junior High School claim the national U15 championship in 2020 and was named the final MVP for scoring 31 points and 19 rebounds.