On December 21, the 2026 FIBA Hall of Fame list was officially announced, and Chinese men’s basketball star Wang Zhizhi was among them. Following Mou Zuoyun, Zheng Haixia, Yao Ming and Miao Lijie, Wang Zhizhi became the fifth Chinese basketball player to be inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame.
On the evening of December 21, the Chinese Basketball Association sent a congratulatory letter:
Wang Zhizhi was born in Beijing and was selected for the national team for the first time in 1994. Since then, he has helped the Chinese men’s basketball team achieve great results in many international events: eighth place in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, eighth place in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, four Asian Championships (1995, 1999, 2001, 2011), and three Asian Games championships (1998, 2006, 2010).
In the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, as the youngest player on the team, he averaged the team’s second-highest 11.1 points and the team-high 5.6 rebounds per game. The Chinese men’s basketball team achieved the best result in the history of the Olympic Games in eighth place, tying the Chinese men’s basketball team’s best result in the World Series.
In 2001, he became the first Chinese player to land in the NBA and successively played for the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers, and Miami Heat.
In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Wang Zhizhi once again helped the Chinese men’s basketball team achieve eighth place. It is worth mentioning that when Beijing was qualified to host the Olympic Games in 2001, Wang Zhizhi was a member of the Chinese Olympic bid delegation.
In the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, he scored 20 points in the final and led his team to win the championship. After the award presentation, his teammates hung all the gold medals on his chest, which became a classic scene in the history of Chinese basketball.
In the domestic arena, Wang Zhizhi helped the Bayi Men’s Basketball Team win seven league championships. He personally won one regular season MVP and two finals MVPs. When he retired, he ranked first in the league’s historical blocking list with 852 blocks, a record that remains to this day.
After retiring, Wang Zhizhi did not leave basketball. He once served as the head coach of the Bayi Men’s Basketball Team. Since then, he has been actively involved in talent development and continues to contribute to the future of Chinese basketball.
In 1999, he won the “New China Basketball Outstanding Contribution Award”. In 2022, he will be entered into the Chinese Basketball Hall of Fame as an outstanding athlete.
The Chinese Basketball Association mentioned in its congratulatory letter that Wang Zhizhi’s achievements in domestic and foreign arenas reflect the hard work and perseverance of a generation of Chinese basketball players. I hope that the new generation of young athletes will use the struggle of their predecessors as a torch to illuminate their own journey, inherit the spiritual fire of Chinese basketball, face difficulties, have the courage to take on responsibilities, and work together to promote the Chinese basketball industry to a higher level.
Source | Chinese Basketball Association WeChat official account, CCTV Sports
Original title: “Wang Zhizhi, good news! Congratulations from the Chinese Basketball Association”
