In 1999, while training with the National Team, he was invited to play in a pre-draft tournament held in Phoenix, where he suffered from jet lag and did not impress. He also made a short appearance in the Treviso Pre-Draft Camp in Italy.

In October 2001, Mengke Bateer was invited by the Denver Nuggets in their preseason training camp. He was cut after 2 preseason games, but in April he would be invited again after the Nuggets was in desperate need of a big man after trading away Raef LaFrentz. Bateer arrived in Denver promptly and played the remaining 25 games, averaging 5.5 points while battling foul problems. Because of the shortage of the big men on the Nuggets team, Bateer was almost immediately placed as a starter. He ended up starting 10 out of the remaining 25 games with Denver. He was the first Chinese player to ever start an NBA game. Another Chinese player in the league at the time, Dallas Mavericks player Wang Zhizhi, was not in the starting line-up of an NBA team until he was playing for the Clippers a year later.

In the summer of 2002, Bateer was traded to Detroit for Don Reid. After an impressive showing against Team USA in the World Championship in Indiana where he scored 19 (and led China in scoring 5 out of 7 games in the tournament, sharing time with recently drafted Yao Ming), American assistant coach Greg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs decided to take a chance at the big man, trading a second round pick to Detroit to acquire Bateer.

He was the second man from China to play professional basketball in the American National Basketball Association. Bateer was a member of the San Antonio Spurs 2002-2003 championship team, and has also played for the Denver Nuggets and Toronto Raptors. He was the first Chinese to ever start an NBA game when he started for the then short-handed Denver Nuggets, however, his playing time was very limited.

After being waived by the New York Knicks in September 2004, he played for the Huntsville Flight of the National Basketball Development League for a while. He rejoined the Beijing Ducks of the Chinese Basketball Association in mid-February 2005, a couple of weeks before the end of the 2004¨C2005 regular season, and was named MVP of the 2005 CBA All-star Game (played at the end of the regular season, before the playoffs). He continued to play for the team in the 2005¨C2006 season.

At 6' 11" and over 300 lbs, he was considered one of the stronger centers in the NBA. He is also an accomplished passer, and dished out 6 assists in one NBA game. It is his lack of speed that greatly limits his chances in the fast-tempoed NBA.

The trio of 7' 1" Wang Zhizhi, 7' 6" Yao Ming and Mengke Bateer were known as the "Walking Great Wall" of the Chinese national basketball team.

After carrying his Beijing Ducks team to a franchise-best CBA North Division title while averaging 25 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists, Mengke Bateer failed to receive the CBA MVP due to an archaic rule forbidding suspended players from any awards. In mid-season, Mengke Bateer received the heaviest fine in CBA history for arguing with a referee and sat out two games as a result. At the end, nobody received the CBA MVP trophy and the CBA stated they would consider changing the rule.