Japan has ambitious plans to become a basketball powerhouse but a row involving star player Rui Hachimura and disagreements over the domestic league’s direction mean success is anything but a slam dunk.
Once a minnow on the world stage, Japan qualified for last year’s Paris Olympics and took eventual silver medallists France to overtime in the group phase, helped by a handful of NBA-based players including Los Angeles Lakers forward Hachimura.
At home, the domestic B League is enjoying record attendances and revenue, with new arenas being built and ambitions to become the second-best league in the world behind the NBA.
Chairman Shinji Shimada says the B. League’s “mix of sport and live entertainment” offers Japanese fans something different.
“Lots of people watch a B. League game for the first time and say it’s more interesting than football or baseball, and they want to come back,” he told AFP in the B League’s plush office in central Tokyo.
Chiba Jets’ Yuta Watanabe walks across the court after his side’s B League game against Sendai 89ers. Photo: AFP
Shimada said the B League was already catching up on a business scale with leagues in Europe and China, and was taking steps to close the gap on the court too.