Kyle Anderson is officially set to go hooping for China.
On Sunday, the Chinese Basketball Federation announced that Anderson has officially obtained his Chinese citizenship – clearing the pathway for himself to finally play for China’s national basketball team in this year’s FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Anderson posed for a picture with his mom, Suzanne, and Chinese basketball icon Yao Ming following the massive completion of the cager’s naturalization process.
China has been pursuing Anderson’s international play since last year. The Minnesota Timberwolves forward traces his Chinese roots from his maternal grandmother who was born in Jamaica to a Chinese father and Jamaican mother.
This made Anderson a one-eight Chinese, but Ming still clarified that the veteran certainly fits their naturalization criteria given also his “cultural identity.”
Back in 2018, Anderson opted to reunite with his remote Chinese family. There, he was given the Chinese name “Li Kaier.”
Boasting his elite IQ, versatility, and skillful playmaking, Anderson would instantly improve China’s basketball pedigree with the World Cup set to commence from Aug. 25 to Sept. 10.
Team Dragon can’t ask for a much better additional enforcer as they will play Serbia, Puerto Rico, and South Sudan in the group phase. The landing of Anderson also improves their bid to seal a potential Olympic slot should they finish at the Top 1 in the Asia rankings of the world championships.
Anderson, 29, finished his ninth campaign in the NBA with the Timberwolves upon averaging 9.4 points, 5.3 boards, 4.9 assists, and 1.1 steals for 69 games of play last 2022-23 regular season.
He helped Minnesota to lock the final postseason spot of the Western Conference, but they were eliminated by the eventual NBA champion Denver Nuggets in five games of their first-round set. He was absent in the Game 5 clincher due to left eye contusion which was ultimately fixed via a successful surgery last May.
Anderson previously played for both the San Antonio Spurs and the Memphis since entering the NBA as the 30th pick of the 2014 Draft.
