By Jason Cruz
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Welcome to another edition of The Layup Drill. In this month’s edition, we look at a couple of basketball players and maybe the next Shohei Ohtani going to school at Stanford.
Kaylynne Truong makes history
The Women’s National Basketball Association’s Washington Mystics drafted Gonzaga University guard Kaylynne Truong in this year’s WNBA Draft. She becomes the first Vietnamese American to be drafted in the WNBA and the only Vietnamese American player in the league.
Gonzaga guard Kaylynne Truong celebrates the team’s win against Utah in a second-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament in Spokane, Wash., Monday, March 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Young Kwak)
She and her twin sister, Kayleigh, were a dynamic duo for the Bulldogs as they pushed their way to the Sweet Sixteen in the women’s NCAA Basketball tournament this spring. The twins were the first Asian American pair to play Division I basketball.
Gonzaga guard Kayleigh Truong controls the ball during the second half of a second-round college basketball game against Utah in the NCAA Tournament in Spokane, Wash., Monday, March 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Young Kwak)
The Truongs may still play together after their collegiate careers are over. In 2022, they played for Vietnam and earned a silver medal for the country in 3-on-3 women’s hoops at the SEA Games. Notably, it was the first time that both had been to Vietnam, where the games were held. In 2023, the Truongs won Vietnam’s first gold medal in women’s 3-on-3 at the SEA Games in Cambodia. No word if the two will be playing for the country in further international competition.
The 5-8 Kaylynne is from Houston, Texas where she was a star for Jersey Village High School. Kaylynne and her sister received scholarships to play at Gonzaga. This past season, she made the West Coast Conference First Team. Last year, she was the conference’s player of the year. In addition, she also received academic honors as she majored in kinesiology.
Truong was picked in the second round by the Mystics.
In a sport where there are few Asian Americans, Kaylynne highlights Jeremy Lin and Yao Ming as players that she and her sister looked up to growing up. Being from Houston, the Truongs were big Rockets fans and cheered on the teams with Lin and Yao on them.
According to the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports, Asian Americans make up just 1.4% of WNBA players. In the NBA, it’s just 0.2%.
Princeton player transfers to UCONN
Perhaps the next big Asian American to be drafted in the WNBA is Kaitlyn Chen. The 5-9 guard just came off back-to-back All-Ivy League first team honors as she led the Tigers to its third straight NCAA Tournament. However, she decided to enter the transfer portal.
Princeton guard Kaitlyn Chen (20) leaps under the basket during the second half of the team’s first-round college basketball game against West Virginia in the women’s NCAA Tournament, Saturday, March 23, 2024, in Iowa City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Matthew Putney)
The San Marino, California native decided to stay on the East Coast and play for a powerhouse, the University of Connecticut. The Huskies are coming off of a Final Four appearance and have some of the most talented female college basketball players in the country. She is the first commitment out of the transfer portal since 2022.
Chen brings with her experience for a team that features three top incoming freshmen. She also brings with her a 15 point and 5 assist average per game.
The Rinatro Sasaki experiment
The success of Shohei Ohtani has shown a growth in more Major League Baseball (MLB) clubs looking to Asia for the next big star. The Chicago Cubs’ Shota Imanaga has seen immediate success in the majors showing that he can be the ace of the pitching staff. Although the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s debut did not go so well, subsequent starts for the Dodgers have looked much better for the big-time free agent signing to accompany Ohtani in LA.
Rinatro Sasaki (Jeff Bartee Photography)
Perhaps the latest Japanese baseball star is enrolled at Stanford University in Palo Alto. Rinatro Sasaki was the top-rated high school player in Japan, hitting a national record 140 home runs in high school. He is now setting his sights on MLB, bypassing playing professionally in Japan. The reason why Sasaki is coming to the U.S. now? If he was drafted by the Nippon Professional Baseball League, the equivalent to Major League Baseball, he would be under club control for 9 years. The Japanese team could “post” a player for a MLB team, which would mean that the team would have the chance to sign the player and they would have to pay a hefty fee to the team for acquiring his services. In the alternative, he could wait 9 years and sign with an MLB at that time. But, that would mean he would be close to 30 years old by the time he could play in the U.S.
Sasaki was clear that the MLB was his goal. There is no precedent for Sasaki’s strategy. While other Japanese players have played college baseball and been drafted, none have come with so much promise as Sasaki. He would be draft eligible per MLB rules after his sophomore year in college.
Although Sasaki cannot play for Stanford Baseball yet, he has a chance to develop with the team instead of being under the microscope as a top prospect in Japan. Sasaki is a first baseman, but his main attribute is his bat. In two years’ time, he will be able to enter his name into the MLB Draft.
Sasaki has known Ohtani since he was young and has asked the Los Angeles Dodgers’ DH for advice over the years.
Jason can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.