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The story
The NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers officially announced on the 12th (13th Japan time) that they have waived Yuki Kawamura (25), who had been on an Exhibit 10 contract with the team. Kawamura took part in Summer League as a member of the Indiana Pacers, averaging 17.5 minutes, 8.2 points, and 4.8 assists over 5 games with a 34.4% field-goal percentage, and reflected afterward, “Honestly, my play was terrible.” Following the announcement, 5ch users split over whether his 172cm height is simply the limit for competing in the NBA, or whether the real issue is his ability itself, with the discussion expanding into comparisons with Yuta Tabuse and debates over which sports best suit Japanese physiques.
Sports Nippon via Yahoo! News, Oct 13 (Tue) 12:32
Yuki Kawamura (25), who was on an Exhibit 10 contract with the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, has been waived. The team made the official announcement on the 12th (13th Japan time).
Aiming to land a full NBA contract in his make-or-break third year, Kawamura joined the Indiana Pacers for Summer League. Over 5 games he averaged 17.5 minutes, 8.2 points, and 4.8 assists, with a field-goal percentage of 34.4%. “Honestly, my play was terrible,” he said, unable to hide his frustration.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Well, that's just how it is (´・ω・｀)
Even if he's fighting hard on offense, his defense is fatal.
who's got time for a Japanese guy who's short AND mediocre? That's basically the story.
Being shorter than Fujima (the diminutive ace point guard from the basketball manga Dear Boys) is fatal.
If he had a 3-point percentage on par with Hachimura's, maybe.
As it is, he's no threat from outside,
and he's a hole on defense.
His game is fun to watch,
but the verdict is he's not worth burning a precious roster spot on.
It's simply a lack of skill.
Going straight from the B.League to the NBA
is too big a leap in level.
Isn't there a league in between?
There's already a pro league called EuroLeague, but now they're trying to build a whole new 'NBA Europe' on top of it — it's a mess.
Going straight from the B.League to the NBA
is too big a leap in level.
Isn't there a league in between?
There is, but Japanese players count as foreign imports (non-EU slots) there, so they'd have to compete for those spots against Americans who couldn't make the NBA — apparently that's just as rough.
Just hurry home already.
Basketball is pretty popular in Japan too, one of the top sports for school clubs, but American football basically doesn't exist here.
As a kicker, maybe there's a slim chance.
It's the other way around — a Galápagos sport like American football (isolated, barely played outside its home country) should be the one bowing its head. It's got zero recognition outside the US.
Tabuse got cut before the season even started, right?
I don't think he played a single official game.
In the 2004-05 season
he played 4 games for the Suns and scored 7 points,
with 1 three-pointer.
Cut in December.
His shots just weren't falling.
Tabuse kept popping up in the news back then — guess those weren't actually first-team regular season games after all…
• AI Overview
The average height for a point guard (PG) in the NBA is roughly 188–191cm (around 188cm or so).
Average height by position (for reference)
• Point Guard (PG): approx. 188–191cm
• Shooting Guard (SG): approx. 193–196cm
• Small Forward (SF): approx. 198–201cm
• Power Forward (PF): approx. 203cm
• Center (C): approx. 208–211cm
Yeah… this just ain't gonna work.
He's shorter than me, lol
They should just make a league for guys under 190cm.
Like an 'NBA Mini' lol
In that category Japan might actually crack the world's top 8 lol
Even at 90%, the defense problem makes it a non-starter.
Soccer, where you can still thrive at 170cm, is a much better fit.
✗ 'Not suited for Japanese people'
✓ 'Not suited for people under 190cm'
True, but it's popular so everyone plays it anyway.
Okinawa's the same — basketball's popular there too, but since people are shorter, they can't win nationally.
I sometimes wonder why parents even let their kids pursue it at that height.
It's Kawamura, no contest — they're not even on the same level.
The insane mindset of trying to squeeze Japanese players out of a roster spot even in Shimada's B.Premier (Shinji Shimada, the B.League chairman).
Japan's middle-aged and older crowd is only ever enthusiastic about lording it over the current generation of players.
Player development is at zero — or honestly negative — since the sport went pro, youth development has only gotten worse, yet nobody ever takes responsibility or pushes for reform.
And on top of that, the only reason the B.League has done well
is thanks to fans obsessing over good-looking Japanese players' faces —
the suits running things had nothing to do with it.
Seriously, there isn't a single competent person among the suits running Japan's sports organizations.
Same with the J.League — when Hara and Murai (former J.League executives) got cocky and expanded the foreign-player quota,
it triggered a mass exodus of Japanese players and the league fell apart.
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
Kawamura’s contract this time was an “Exhibit 10” — a non-guaranteed deal for players invited to training camp, not the same as making the NBA’s official roster. The path of Summer League → camp invite → waived is a common route for unknown young players and fringe prospects, and it carries far less weight than being cut during the regular season. The thread split between those who see his 172cm height as the main physical barrier, and those who acknowledge his offensive flair while pointing to defense and overall consistency as the real issues — with the gap to the NBA’s average point guard height (188–191cm) cited again and again. Comparisons were also drawn to Yuta Tabuse’s 2004-05 stint with the Suns (4 games played, cut that December), though it’s worth noting that the league’s competitive landscape and contract structures differ between then and now. On the whole, rather than a thread aimed at mockery, this is a discussion engaging with how hard it is for Japanese players to break into the NBA, viewed through height, player development, and comparisons with other sports.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisports Sokuhou+) thread “[NBA] Yuki Kawamura cut by the Clippers… team makes official announcement, his hard push for a crucial third NBA season falls short“.
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