Kyle Anderson is an American-Chinese professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NBA. He was brought up by an American father and a Jamaican mother in New York. Anderson has one-eighth Chinese ancestry considering his maternal grandmother had been raised in Jamaica to a Jamaican mother and a Chinese father.
Anderson’s relationship with his maternal great-grandfather authorizes him to play for China’s national basketball team. He received Chinese citizenship in July 2023 and declared he would be representing China at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Furthermore, he is the first player who gleaned naturalization to play for China in the World Cup.
🇨🇳Kyle Anderson on his Weibo:
“Hello, fans in China. This is Li Kaier. I’m so happy to announce that I would be representing China in the World Cup.”
“(I’m) Really proud and honored to wear the Team China jersey.”#NBA #Timberwolves @el_baloncesto @hoopnut @AIIThingsWolves pic.twitter.com/2LOEVDOtIh
— CGTN Sports Scene (@CGTNSportsScene) July 24, 2023
Anderson’s ancestry is blended American, Chinese, and Jamaican. He described himself as Chinese-American and expressed pride in his Chinese ancestry. At the junior level, he competed for the United States internationally, but at the upper levels, he decided to play for China.
Standing 6 foot 9 tall and weighing 225 pounds, Anderson plays as a forward. He is renowned for his broader wingspan and versatility in several positions. He possesses an effortless shooting stroke and is a skilled passer and rebounder.
Kyle Anderson is playing for China at the 2023 FIBA World Cup
The following month, in the Philippines, Kyle Anderson will be donning the China uniform for the 2023 FIBA World Cup. The alias Li Kaier was assigned to Anderson when he transformed into a naturalized Chinese citizen. He will lend the national team a versatile presence, which is attempting to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Anderson’s naturalization was publicly disclosed on Monday by the Chinese Basketball Associate. Yao Ming, president of the CBA, visited the Minnesota Timberwolves forward and his mother. Considering Anderson’s great-grandfather was from Shenzhen, he seized citizenship.
“Hello, fans in China,” Anderson said on Weibo. “This is Li Kaier. I’m so happy to announce that I will be representing China in the World Cup. Really proud and honored to wear the Team China jersey“, he added.
The Chinese roster will include other players with NBA expertise besides Kyle Anderson. From 2017 to 2019, Zhou Qi participated in 19 games regarding the Houston Rockets. The Memphis Grizzlies selected Wang Zhelin in the second round of the 2016 NBA Draft, but he never participated professionally.
China expects to finish with a dominant mark among Asian nations at the 2023 FIBA World Cup despite not being the odds-on favorite for victory. The team with the best performance advances outright to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
China was tied for the leading spot with Iran at the 2019 World Cup they hosted, but Iran won due to a greater point differential. While China was unable to advance past the FIBA Olympic qualification round, Iran was successful in securing their Olympic spot.
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