The New York Liberty are not stopping or even pausing in their quest to create a WNBA dynasty. After signing Satou Sabally, the three-time All-Star, they’ve made headlines almost daily with often innovative moves to bring on top talent from overseas … or keep players … or bring players back.
On Wednesday, they did it again with Han Xu who played for New York over a three year period starting in 2019, playing in 58 games . A member of Team China, the now 26-year-old played most recently in the Australian
League where she won Defensive Player of the Year. Han is now 6’11”, having grown two inches since she first arrived in the W. If that becomes official, Han will be the tallest player ever in the WNBA.
Myles Ehrlich was first with the news…
In her first time around with New York, Han became a player with 3-and-D potential In her best year, 2022, she played in 34 games, averaging 8.5 points in 18 minutes per game on 49/44/80 shooting splits. Following her time with the Liberty, she moved around internationally while New York continued to hold her rights. She played in the WCBA in China and the WNBL in Australia, twice winning the MVP in China and the DPoY in Australia.
Here’s some highlights from last season playing for the Perth Lynx. She’s a lot more polished as well as more confident than when he played at Barclays Center.
She will be the latest Chinese player signed by either the Liberty or the Nets since Joe and Clara Wu bought the two teams back in 2019. In the last two years, the Nets have signed Jacky Cui and Fanbo Zeng. Cui played in five games for the Nets before needing season-ending knee surgery, Fanbo played for the Nets in a preseason game last October in Macao.
Back in May 2019, on signing Han, Joe Tsai spoke to NetsDaily about his desire to bring Chinese players to both his teams. “I have said, I’ve been on record saying if there’s good Chinese players, I would do anything to help them come — if they want to come play in the NBA, I would do anything to help them do that,” Tsai emphasized to NetsDaily.
More recently, we profiled Tsai’s interest in helping Chinese basketball as a sport … and helping the Nets in China. He reiterated those feelings that he expressed in 2019 “I’ll do anything to help develop young basketball talent from China,”
Han is critical to the success of China’s national team, seen as one of the country’s three top women’s basketball players. She won a bronze for China at the World Cup in 2022 as well as a gold, silver and bronze in three successive Asia Cups between 2021 and 2025.
