SB Nation • 9 min read

Fanbo Zeng ready, grateful for NBA debut

Not only will Brooklyn Nets first round pick Drake Powell likely make his NBA debut Friday vs. the Phoenix Suns in Macao. So will Fanbo Zeng, the Chinese Exhibit 10 who sat out Brooklyn’s blowout of Hapoel

Jerusalem last Saturday. For Nets fans, Powell’s first game is likely to be the bigger deal, but in Macao and China, it will be Zeng (his family name) who will be the news.

The 6’11” 22-year-old forward will likely get minutes before the sold-out crowd at the Venetian Macao and he’s excited about the possibility as he noted in an interview with the Chinese media Thursday. Indeed, Zeng attracted more attention than any of his teammates. No surprise. He’s only the ninth Chinese player to don an NBA uniform…

“I feel very lucky to be a part of such a major event, and I’m looking forward to the moment I get on the court,” Zeng told the South China Morning Post regarding the NBA China Games. “I will do my best to help the team in any way I can. I’m also very grateful for everyone’s support and encouragement. I hope I can repay the fans with a positive impact.”

“The coach had told me about the rotations,” Zeng said in explaining that he had no hard feelings about not playing vs. the Israeli team at Barclays. “Throughout the summer, in terms of my rehabilitation and since I came to the team, I felt that I enjoyed and cherished it very much.”

Although nothing is officially decided and the Nets still have a lot of roster pruning ahead, there’s a sense that Zeng is not just carrying the flag for China basketball, but competing for the Nets final two-way contract. Zeng himself has said he wants the spot. “I’m fighting for a two-way or getting on the roster,” Zeng explained to Brian Lewis earlier in the week.

The Chinese league’s Most Improved Player and a first team All-CBA selection has said all the right things about his chances.

“It takes time to hone your skills and become the best version of yourself … I think I can grow more through competition and various failure experiences.”

This is Zeng’s second shot at the NBA. Four years ago, he was part of the G League Ignite, averaging 5.0 points and and 2.3 rebounds in 22 games with the now defunct Ignite team. He says that the player the Nets signed is different from the one who played G League ball.

“When I played in the NBA G League last time, I was only 17, 18 years old,” said Zeng. “Maybe I wasn’t ready for the transition from high school, whether mentally, physically or in terms of reading the game.

“I think I read the game better now, and my body is better built too,” he added. “But I am going to focus on training, and I still want to be better.” A highlight reel from this past season would tend to confirm that as well as athleticism.

Zeng was first team All-State as a high school sophomore at Florida’s Windemere Academy and a top prospect before his G League stint. But after he went undrafted and had an unremarkable Summer League gig with the Indiana Pacers in 2022 it was back to China and playing for the Beijing Ducks. He had a bit of setback in April when he suffered a lumbar transverse process fracture from a hard fall in the CBA Playoffs, an injury that normally takes two-to-three months of recovery and rehab, but he’s healthy now.

How much time will he get Friday and/or Sunday is uncertain, but it’s likely that Jordi Fernandez will be hearing the Chinese version of “We Want Zeng” early on if he isn’t on the court early.

Should he get that final two-way slot, Zeng would be the sixth rookie on the roster along with the Flatbush 5. No doubt most of the two-way time would be spent developing at Nassau Coliseum with the Long Island Nets rather than playing at Barclays Center. But he’s still young, a little more than a year older than Danny Wolf and Kobe Bufkin.

Mfon Udofia, Long Island’s head coach, told our Scott Mitchell last month that he already likes what he’s seen from Zeng.

“Fanbo, first of all, is a really good human being,” Udofia told ND. “High character individual. Then, from the basketball side, he has a really good skill set, can shoot the ball, and his athleticism is good. I’m excited to coach him, excited to have him, and I think he’ll play very well for both teams.”