Yuki Kawamura is determined to achieve his dream of joining the NBA: “I want to take basketball seriously” | Basketball King

Yuki Kawamura and Yuki Togashi smiling and talking[Photo]= Basketball King

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On August 28th, Yuki Kawamura, a member of the Japanese men’s national basketball team who will be competing in the US, participated in the cross-cultural event “UNAVERAGE FES.” held at BUNTAI in Yokohama. After the event, he responded to media interviews.

Kawamura joined the event midway through, as it was the first event produced by his teammate on the Japanese national team, Yuki Togashi (Chiba Jets). He participated in a basketball event with many Olympians and general visitors, and at the end of the event, he suddenly had a three-point match with Togashi. After a fierce battle that went into overtime, he defeated his “senior” and was showered with cheers from the fans in attendance.

After the event, Kawamura reflected, “It was very refreshing because I don’t often have the opportunity to interact with athletes and artists from other sports, and I’m grateful to (Togashi) Yuki for giving me this opportunity. If it’s held again next year, I’d like to attend if my schedule allows, so I’m looking forward to it.”

The event also featured gold medallists from the Paris 2024 Olympics, including Japan’s men’s gymnastics representative Kazuma Kaya and women’s wrestler Akari Fujinami. Japan’s men’s basketball team was eliminated from the qualifying group, failing to reach the top eight as they had aimed for, but Kawamura said, “Although the result was disappointing, I believe Japan was on the right path, and I believe that this accumulated effort will pay off in the results at the next Los Angeles Olympics.”

Just before the Olympics, he signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the NBA Memphis Grizzlies and will be heading to the US in September. He will be taking on the world’s biggest stage with the aim of signing this contract. When asked about his future goals, he said, “My goal is to go to the US and become an NBA player. It’s not easy, but it’s going to be a battle with myself as I step up little by little. In the end, there’s the NBA, but to get there, I think it’s important to face myself and continue to grow day by day, so I want to make today’s me better than yesterday’s me, and I want to seriously face basketball and the things that come with basketball.”