Abstract

Basketball World Cup in China
Starts August 31, 2019

The Japanese men’s basketball team will appear in the World Cup for the first time in 21 years. The driving force behind the team has been Nick Fazekas, who was naturalized as a Japanese citizen in April 2018.
However, it has not been a smooth journey.
In his childhood, he was influenced by his father to take up basketball and led the University of Nevada to the NCAA tournament. Despite being registered for the draft, he was given very few chances to appear in the NBA; so, he journeyed between Belgium, France, and the Philippines. Finally, Fazekas came to Japan, where basketball was not developed. At the time, the Japanese basketball team stood 10th in Asia alone, not to mention its ranking on the world stage.
However, Japan has now secured an appearance at the World Cup and will also compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
This is the autobiography of 34-year-old basketball player Nick Fazekas, the savior of basketball in Japan, who looks back at the first part of his life with basketball.


Prologue The Number 22 Shirt
Chapter 1 Decisions in the 1st year in Japan
Chapter 2 Career-defining decision at high school
Chapter 3　 Decisions at the University of Nevada and the NBA
Chapter 4　 Decisions in Europe
Chapter 5　 From the NBL to first year in the B LEAGUE
Chapter 6　 Naturalization and decision to go to the World Cup
Chapter 7　 Source of my motivation
Epilogue The basketball journey continues


Author introduction

Author’s Information

He was born in the United States on June 17, 1985. Having taken up basketball at the age of five, after playing for the University of Nevada, he was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA. Later, he played in Europe and Asia before coming to Japan in 2012. Since arriving in Japan, he has won two league titles and has been awarded twice as the league’s MVP. He was naturalized in 2018 and currently plays for the Japanese national team.
(Planning/Translation: Yorimasa Oshima)