{"id":174312,"date":"2025-07-16T10:07:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T10:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/174312\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T10:07:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T10:07:11","slug":"heart-over-height-yuki-kawamura-searches-for-nba-spot-during-chicago-bulls-summer-stint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/174312\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Heart over height\u2019: Yuki Kawamura searches for NBA spot during Chicago Bulls summer stint"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Yuki Kawamura came to Las Vegas with a simple goal: get a contract.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The second-year point guard understands the challenge. Last season, Kawamura was the shortest player in the NBA at 5-foot-8 (1.72 metres). No matter. He won a training camp contract, then a two-way deal with the Memphis Grizzlies. His playing time was not much \u2013 93 minutes in total \u2013 but it was enough to showcase his abilities as a playmaker at the highest level.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">This year is no different. Kawamura knows he can make an impact in this league. And he will take any opportunity to prove that point, again and again.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cI believe I still can play in the NBA,\u201d Kawamura said after his first NBA Summer League game with the Chicago Bulls. \u201cI want to get a contract \u2013 two-way, whatever. I just want to get a contract.\u201d<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Summer league games are not typical NBA games. They move too quickly for fans of specific teams to pack the stands. So Friday\u2019s match-up between the Bulls and the Toronto Raptors was not punctuated with much in the way of applause or cheers \u2013 until Kawamura came on the court.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Japan\u2019s Yuki Kawamura puts up a shot against Finland during their World Cup game in 2023. Photo: Kyodo\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/744d8f06-7a22-4ebc-b553-bb209d027a4b_2430a250.jpg\" title=\"Japan\u2019s Yuki Kawamura puts up a shot against Finland during their World Cup game in 2023. Photo: Kyodo\"\/>Japan\u2019s Yuki Kawamura puts up a shot against Finland during their World Cup game in 2023. Photo: Kyodo<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">When the guard entered the game midway through the first quarter, a row of fans decked out in hachimakis (helmet-scars) and Japan basketball gear sprang to their feet, lofting posters and blown-up photos of Kawamura\u2019s headshot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yuki Kawamura came to Las Vegas with a simple goal: get a contract. The second-year point guard understands&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3771],"tags":[4102,4300,7,27988,920,919,329,3824,963,5597,4298,32082,6299,965,32083,6073,150,973,177,6,1012,476,6277],"class_list":{"0":"post-174312","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bulls","8":"tag-ayo-dosunmu","9":"tag-b-league","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-billy-donovan-iii","12":"tag-bulls","13":"tag-chicago","14":"tag-chicago-bulls","15":"tag-chicagobulls","16":"tag-coby-white","17":"tag-g-league","18":"tag-japan","19":"tag-japanese-basketball","20":"tag-jevon-carter","21":"tag-josh-giddey","22":"tag-kawamura","23":"tag-las-vegas","24":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","25":"tag-matas-buzelis","26":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","27":"tag-nba","28":"tag-rui-hachimura","29":"tag-toronto-raptors","30":"tag-tre-jones"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114862361397582270","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}