Yao ming may have been this year's No. 1 NBA draft pick, making him the man who could someday fill Shaq's immense shoes. But before Yao mania there was Wang Zhizhi, the first Chinese basketball player to play in the NBA. Wang was Yao's mightiest rival back in China, and continues to one-up him in at least one vital way. In the NBA, badness is synonymous with coolness, and 25-year-old Wang is the baddest Chinese athlete in history. Last summer, he quasi-defected from his home country. His three-year, $6 million contract with the Los Angeles Clippers may seem puny compared with Yao's $18.03 million for four years, but Yao will be forking over a big chunk to his old bosses back in the mainland. And while Wang is settling into a new bachelor pad in L.A., Yao is living in the U.S. with his mommy. How cool is that?
Wang was hardly a born rebel. As a teen he joined the People's Liberation Army team, and with the rank of lieutenant he led the squad to six straight championships in the Chinese hoops league. Last year the brass at the quaintly named August 1 Rockets allowed Wang to make his grab at overseas stardom, and he signed a two-year, $800,000 contract with the Dallas Mavericks. The Shanghai Sharks, a semi-private club, insisted on keeping Yao to lead them to the championship earlier this year. So Wang headed Stateside 18 months before his taller—and more skilled—compatriot.
At first, Wang played the role of subservient subject going abroad not for his own sake alone but also for the glory of the motherland. The Mavs verbally assured Beijing that Wang would return whenever the country needed him for international competitions. But as the 2001-02 season progressed and the 2.16-m center netted a respectable half-dozen points a game, Wang became increasingly comfortable with life in America. He chowed down fillets at Dallas steak houses and reveled in the freedom of having his own apartment. (In China, Wang lived mostly in a dormitory.) In the mainland, meanwhile, the national squad was not performing well in its bid for the world championships, and sports officials were considering recalling Wang. But the Mavs were in a run for the play-offs—and Wang was in no mood to go home. For weeks, Beijing dithered on whether to summon the increasingly agitated Wang. "All this uncertainty is making it tough for Wang to focus on his game," said his adviser Simon Chan at the time. In the end, China didn't demand Wang to get on a plane, but they had made a point: he lived an ocean away, but Wang was at Beijing's beck and call.
Or so they thought. After the Mavericks were eliminated from the playoffs in May, China summoned their native son to train with the national team for the upcoming worlds. After a frantic few days, the Mavericks announced they couldn't find Wang: China's tallest soldier had gone AWOL. A couple of weeks later, Wang turned up in Los Angeles and announced he was joining the NBA's summer league, where he hoped to show off his skills and land a more lucrative contract. China's sports czars went ballistic, hinting they might even hold a court-martial. Wang ignored their threats and entreaties, although he did attempt a halfhearted reconciliation later in the summer. Last month he signed with the Clippers. A few days later, he was officially booted off the Chinese national team for "indifference to the interests of the nation." The mainland's state media is running a vigorous smear campaign against him—labeling Wang an "ungrateful traitor"—and that hurts in more than one way: Wang has almost certainly kissed off potentially millions of dollars in endorsement fees—only the most foolhardy Chinese company would put his image on a billboard now.
Yao has taken Wang's experience as a cautionary tale. Both Yao and his new bosses at the Rockets have formally agreed that he, unlike Wang, would return for national duty whenever needed. "They don't want Yao Ming turning into another Wang Zhizhi," says Chinese basketball commentator Xu Jicheng. As for Wang himself, he remains unapologetic. "I know I've done the best thing for me," he said after his first appearance with the Clippers. Wang has left Dallas, but he's still a true maverick.
