Brooklyn Nets sign Yongxi ‘Jacky’ Cui to two-way deal in international signing binge
The Nets signed four players Friday, three of them international, the biggest being Yongxi “Jacky” Cui, a 6’8” shooting guard from Nanning, China who was given a two-way deal. The Brooklyn Nets have officially signed Yongxi “Jacky” Cui, China’s top young NBA prospect, to a two-way contract. Shams Charania was first with the news...
The Brooklyn Nets are signing Yongxi "Jacky" Cui – an undrafted forward out of China – to a two-way NBA contract, sources tell @TheAthletic. pic.twitter.com/jBQJmJHUSU— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 20, 2024
The Nets issued their own confirmation...
Welcome to Brooklyn, Yongxi! pic.twitter.com/IkpnBa0SlI— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) September 20, 2024
The Nets Weibo site showed Cui signing his contract, accompanied by a quote, translated as “The road ahead is still long, let’s go on it together!”
Later in an interview with Chinese media, Cui expressed excitement but also some humility.
“My mindset is in a good place. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to play here, but I believe the longer I stay, the more I can improve and help both myself and the Chinese national team,” said Cui.
“I have to start from the development league and then improve my skills and experience,” Cui said of the G League. “Only then can I slowly move to the NBA bench and maybe [get] NBA rotation. I don’t know how far I will go, but first of all, I have to take each step well, I think that is the key.”
Cui also that he received advice from former Net Jeremy Lin during his summer workouts in the U.S. He said Lin told him that as an Asian player in the NBA, it’s important to stay mentally tough and assertive, especially during practices.
The signing was one of three international signings, four total, reported on Friday morning. Earlier, Mike Scotto of Hoopshype reported the Nets had signed Patrick Gardner, the 6’11” Egyptian national team center, to an Exhibit 10 contract, his second deal with the organization following a stint with Long Island last season. Gardner is a Long Island native.
Then after the Cui announcement, the Nets confirmed that the long rumored signing of Killian Hayes, the 6’5” French point guard who played four seasons with Detroit. Gardner is expected to be waived and reassigned to Long Island while Hayes, the overall No. 7 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft will compete for a roster spot.
In addition, the Nets signed Tyrese Martin who played well for the Nets summer league team in Las Vegas in July, averaging 10.4 points per game and hitting 44% from deep. Like Hayes and Amari Bailey, officially signed to an Exhibit 10 Saturday, the 6’6” Martin is also expected in Brooklyn’s camp. With Cui’s signing, the Nets still have one two-way opening which they are expected to fill before the opening of training camp October 1.
NetsDaily first reported the team’s intention to sign Cui three weeks ago and even before that, back on Draft Night suggested Cui might be an “intriguing” signing.
The 21-year-old Cui — pronounced “tsway” — is a 6’8” wing who wants to play a 3&D role in the NBA, taking particular pride in his defense.
Cui has had one of the more interesting development paths in the 2024 rookie class. He first popped up on NBA scouts’ radars after he attended the NBA Global Academy in Australia, then made an impression at the G League Combine.
The sharp-shooter put up two strong seasons with the Guangzhou Loong Lions in the CBA, averaging 15.6 PPG in the 2023-24 season. Cui earned CBA Domestic First Team honors and led the Loong Lions in points (883), rebounds (328), steals (89) and minutes (1,934), while ranking in the top five in 3-pointers made (97 – second), assists (173 – second), free-throws made (144 – third) and blocks (21 – fourth). The Nanning, China, native has represented his country in several international competitions, including the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
After going undrafted this past June, Cui latched on with the Portland Trail Blazers’ Summer League roster. He played sparingly, but managed some highlight plays nonetheless..
INSTANT IMPACT pic.twitter.com/TvxPXVtQ9U— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) July 16, 2024
Although he didn’t play much, Cui told Chinese media that the Nets were impressed by his time on the court in Las Vegas.
Cui, with a 6’9” wingspan and a 34” max vertical, has length and a sweet stroke: at the G League’s pre-draft workout camp, he made 23-of-25 shots in the 3-point shooting drill. Just a drill? Absolutely. Impressive? That too.
The youngest member of the Chinese national team, Cui could have played in the NCAA — he had offers. Instead, he chose the Chinese Basketball Association. Here’s some highlights from last season…
First suggestion that Cui was headed to the NBA began appearing in the Chinese media at the end of August.
Jacky Cui(崔永熙) | THE NEXT LEVEL #nba @BrooklynNetsWill be received NETS TWO-WAY #china #usa #tiktok #NBAHandlesWeek pic.twitter.com/wdiDprjeBo— MSTHoops (@MonkeySmallTalk) August 30, 2024
As you’d expect of one of — if not the — top young Chinese prospects, Cui has a strong cohort of fans from his native country. Per sources, a huge contingent of Chinese media mainly focused on Cui attended Portland’s practices and contests at Las Vegas Summer League. (More than a decade ago, Yi Jianlian attracted a similar contingent of Chinese media when he played for the New Jersey Nets.)
That’s likely to continue in Brooklyn where Joe and Clara Wu Tsai have owned the Nets and Liberty since 2019 and have been upfront about bringing in Chinese players. The Liberty has had 6’9” Han Xu under contract for the last four years. She took off this WNBA season to focus on Olympics. Joe Tsai spoke to NetsDaily back in March 2019 about the possibility of Brooklyn rostering a Chinese player:
“I’ve been on record saying if there’s good Chinese players, I would do anything to help them come — if they want to come play in the NBA, I would do anything to help them do that.”
“I would be very pleased if we had someone from China. China is a large country with a large population, a strong passion for basketball, and also with the authorities very focused on developing sports. I think it’s just a matter of time.”
In a recent video, Tsai told Chinese fans that he would not bring in a Chinese player unless they are ready...
“If I bring in a Chinese player, it is meaningless if he doesn’t have the ability to play,” Tsai said via a machine translation. “If he can’t play, I will be criticized. If he can play, it will be meaningful.”
Cui would be the Nets’ first Chinese player since the Tsais bought the team although Chinese-American Jeremy Lin, a friend of Joe Tsai, was on the Nets roster when he bought a minority stake in the team back in 2017.
Indeed, it can be argued that in Cui and Han, the Tsais’ could have the two best young Chinese men’s and women’s hoop prospects on their rosters. Joe Tsai has also spoken in recent months of using basketball, China’s most popular sport, and specifically the NBA, to help improve U.S.-Chinese relations.
Of course, Brooklyn wouldn’t be interested in rostering Cui if he couldn’t play. According to NBA International’s Chris Ebersole, he can. Other than showcasing real shot-making potential, Cui’s best skill, says Ebersole, may be his defense As Hoopshype quoted Ebersole in June: “He’s got really good feet and plays super hard. Those ingredients, for both on-ball defense and off-ball positioning, serve him well.
The Nets worked out Cui prior to the NBA Draft but they had no picks and he went undrafted.
A Cui signing will no doubt further cement the Brooklyn Nets’ popularity with NBA fans in China, as we recently covered:
The Nets have three times as many followers on Weibo, the big Chinese social media site, as they do Twitter worldwide: 7.2 million on Weibo to just over two million on the site now known as X. And that’s just the beginning.
Late last year, Mailman, a Shanghai-based sports consultancy, issued its annual “Red Card” survey of how the NBA is doing in China. It’s a compendium and analysis of which teams and players have captured the Chinese fan’s hearts. The headline for the Nets was that because of all that seeding of fertile ground, the Brooklyn Nets are now the third most popular team in a country of 1.4 billion, 300 million of whom play basketball. They’re behind only the traditional leaders, the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers.
On Friday morning — Friday evening, China time — Nets fans gathered at Hupu.com, a big online sports community, as well as the Nets own Weibo site to celebrate.
Nets fans now rooting for a rebuilding team are unlikely to care much about of that aspect of any signing but adding an international prospect like Cui would indicate once again that the organization is tapping into a wide variety of resources to find NBA talent.
With the signings, the Nets now have 14 players 25 years old or younger on standard, partially-guaranteed, two-way and Exhibit 10 deals.
Money not main drive, to play in NBA is, says Brooklyn Nets’ newly-signed Cui - Cao Yibo & Wang Jingyu - Xinhua
China’s rising star Cui Yongxi joins Brooklyn Nets on 2-way deal, eyes NBA shot - Josh Ball - South China Morning Post
Nets bolster training camp roster with Chinese prospect Yongxi Cui, former lottery pick Killian Hayes, others ($) - C.J. Holmes - New York Daily News
Nets sign Chinese star to two-way contract - Erik Slater - Clutch Points
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