Ding Yanyuhang

Ding Yanyuhang (simplified Chinese: 丁彦雨航; traditional Chinese: 丁彥雨航; pinyin: Dīng Yànyǔháng [tíŋ jɛ̂n ỳ xǎŋ]; born August 20, 1993) is a Chinese professional basketball player for the Nanjing Tongxi Monkey Kings of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He is considered to be one of the greatest Chinese basketball players and scorers of his generation, and was set to join the NBA after a successful showing with the Dallas Mavericks in the 2017 NBA Summer League at the age of 23. However, repeated knee injuries sidelined him from play after stellar CBA seasons in 2016-17 and 2017-18, where he won back-to-back CBA MVPs. This included a magnificent run in the 2018 CBA playoffs, where he scored an average of 29.8 PPG. Through June 2018 to October 2021, Ding was recovering from a string of foot and knee injuries and was out for over 1200 days without professional basketball.

Ding Yanyuhang
丁彦雨航

Ding on the court
No. 23 – Nanjing Tongxi Monkey Kings
Position	Small forward
League	CBA
Personal information
Born	(1993-08-20) August 20, 1993 (age 30) Karamay, Xinjiang, China
Nationality	Chinese
Listed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight	215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
NBA draft	2015: undrafted
Playing career	2011–present
Career history
2011–2018	Shandong Heroes
2018	Dallas Mavericks
2021–2022	Shandong Heroes
2022–2023	Shanghai Sharks
2023-	Nanjing Tongxi Monkey Kings
Career highlights and awards
2× CBA Domestic MVP (2017, 2018) CBA All-Star Game MVP (2017) 4× CBA All-Star (2013, 2014, 2017, 2018)
Stats  at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals Men's basketball Representing  China FIBA Asia Cup 2015 Changsha Asian Games 2018 Jakarta

In this Chinese name, the family name is Ding (丁).

Early experience

Ding Yanyuhang's surname is Ding, "Yan" is taken from his mother "Liu Yan" (first name's homonym), "Yuhang" is because he was born in a rainy day, parents sent to sail the implied meaning. In 1993, he was born in Wulhe town, Karamay city, where the production and construction corps 137 regiment was located. Later, he went to Ürümqi, the capital, with his parents. His father Ding Feng was a professional basketball player of Lanzhou military district basketball team, and his mother was also an athlete. Ding Yanyuhang inherited his parents' sports talent.^[1]

Ding Yanyuhang has been following Xinjiang university women's basketball coach Yubin since the first grade to do basic skills training such as dribbling, layup and jumper, laying down solid basic skills for the future. In 2006, Ding's father left Ürümqi to teach at Wang Fei's basketball school in Beijing. Ding Yanyuhang, when he was 13, started to learn from the former defender Li Lin from Bayi Rockets, and began regular basketball training; two years later, Ding Yanyuhang is one of the best players in Wang Fei's basketball school,^[2] in the training camp's skills competition, he won "dribble speed", "footsteps skills", "king one-on-one hit" three champions of the project, and in training camp all-star squad. On July 8, 2008, Ding participated the camp held by Li Ning. The school first recommended him to the Bayi youth team, but the Bayi Rockets' youth team did not want him. He joined the Shandong Heroes youth team in 2008, and was selected to the national youth team in 2009. In 2010, he won the scoring champion of the national youth league, and ranked second in the youth league in 2011.^[3] On November 3, 2013, Ding Yanyuhang won the title of best student during the 10th anniversary of Wang Fei basketball training camp.^[4]

Professional career

Asia

Touted as one of the CBA's best young stars, Ding scored 18.9 PPG at the young age of 20 in the 2013-14 CBA season, but started to suffer from injuries soon after. In the summer 2015 he suffered from a left knee fracture that limited his minutes in the 2015–16 season. However, once he returned healthy, Ding was named the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) All-Star Game Most Valuable Player in 2017.^[5] He was also named the CBA's regular season Domestic Most Valuable Player in 2017 and 2018.^[6] Due to his ongoing injuries and severe degenerative knees, Ding did not play for China in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, and was out until October 2021.

NBA

In 2017, Ding played with the Dallas Mavericks in the 2017 NBA Summer League in Orlando, Florida and Las Vegas, Nevada. On July 23, 2018, Ding signed a contract with the Mavericks.^[7] He was waived on October 10, 2018, due to an ongoing knee injury. The Mavericks originally planned to have him play 8–12 minutes per game.^[8] Ding was then added to the roster of the Texas Legends, but was still inactive due to injury.^[9]

Return to China

On October 16, 2021, Ding returned to Shandong for the first time in more than 3 years, and scored 19 points against the Beijing Royal Fighters in 24 minutes of play. He later scored 9 3-pointers and 34 points in a 102-90 win against the Nanjing Monkey Kings on October 24.

CBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	FPG	Foul per game	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	TO	Turnover per game

Season	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG (Offence/Defence)	BPG	APG	SPG	FPG	TO	PPG
11-12	Shandong	31	19.2	44.2	30.9	70.3	2.0 (0.8/1.2)	0.3	1.9	0.5	1.8	1.4	7.1
12-13	Shandong	42	27.2	47.1	37.8	71.3	4.7 (1/3.7)	0.1	1.2	0.8	2.6	1.9	14.2
13-14	Shandong	29	33.2	46.4	33.5	75.4	4.4 (1/3.4)	0.5	2.6	1.3	2.8	1.6	18.9
14-15	Shandong	31	30.8	44.3	29.7	78.8	5.6 (1.3/4.3)	0.3	1.7	0.7	2.0	1.5	15.6
15-16	Shandong	26	24.4	40.6	25.8	81.9	3.5 (1.1/2.4)	0.3	1.6	1.2	1.8	1	12.7
16-17	Shandong	39	38.0	45.2	32.8	78.8	5.7 (1.8/3.9)	0.5	3.0	1.5	2.6	3	26.0
17-18	Shandong	45	37.2	46.3	34.7	77.4	5.3 (1.1/4.2)	0.8	3.2	1.6	2.5	2.4	28.2

Source:^[10]

National team career

On June 25, 2013, Ding Yanyuhang finally made his debut in the Chinese men's basketball team. Facing Ukraine in an exhibition, Ding scored 7 points in the first half to lead the team to a 112–88 victory. However, he was ultimately excluded from the 12-man list of the Asian basketball championships.^[11]

On February 26, 2014, the Chinese basketball association has announced the 2014 first batch of men's basketball training list. Four basketball players from Shandong Heroes, Ding Yanyuhang, Sui Ran, Li Jingyu, Tao Hanlin, were in the list.^[12]

In the 2014 Incheon Asian games, Ding Yanyuhang scored 10 or more points in four of the five games.^[13] However, China lost to Iran in a stunning upset during the quarterfinals and did not medal in men's basketball for the first time ever at the Asian Games.

On August 6, 2018, Ding Yanyuhang was selected to the list of Chinese sports delegation for the 18th Asian games.^[14] Despite playing with clear knee injuries, Ding helped Chinese men's basketball team win the Asian games title for the eighth time with an 84–72 victory over Iran in the 2018 Asian games final in Jakarta on Sept. 1, 2018.^[15]

Ding represented the Chinese national basketball team at the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship in Changsha, China, where he won a gold medal.^[16] He also played at the 2016 Summer Olympics.^[17]

Due to his ongoing injuries and severe degenerative knees, Ding did not play for China in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, and as of December 2019 he has not played in a professional game since the summer of 2018.

Awards

Personal honor

▪ Ranked fourth in 2017 Chinese athletes' communication influence list (award)^[18]

▪ 2017-2018 CBA most valuable domestic player in regular season (award)^[19]

▪ 2016-2017 CBA most valuable domestic player in regular season (award)^[20]

▪ 2013-2014 CBA All-Star race (award)^[21]

▪ 2012-2013 CBA All-Star race (awards)^[22]

▪ 2010 National junior league scoring champion (award)^[23]

The team honor

▪ 2018 15th Asian games men's basketball gold medal (award)^[24]

▪ 2012-13 CBA runner-up (award)^[25]

References

1. "虎父无犬子！丁彦雨航夺MVP背后，父亲的伟大功劳却鲜为人". mini.eastday.com. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
2. 网易 (2013-11-03). "王非篮球训练营十周年庆 丁彦宇航领衔最优学员". sports.163.com. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
3. "丁彦雨航父亲款待山东男篮：新疆就是你们第二故乡". sports.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
4. 网易 (2013-11-03). "王非篮球训练营十周年庆 丁彦宇航领衔最优学员". sports.163.com. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
5. Ding Yanyuhang claims CBA All-Star MVP.
6. Yeomans, Jay (2017-02-28). "Jimmer Fredette named CBA's international MVP". Deseret News. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
7. "Mavericks sign Ding Yanyuhang". Mavs.com. July 23, 2018. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
8. "Ding Yanyuhang: Waived by Mavericks". Mavs.com. October 10, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
9. "Legends Draft Two, Announce Training Camp Roster". NBA.com. October 20, 2018. Retrieved October 20, 2018.
10. "Ding Yanyuhang's career statistics".
11. "男篮顶反扑险胜乌克兰 阿联19分新星首秀惊艳_体育_腾讯网". sports.qq.com. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
12. ""山东F4"入选国家集训队 丁彦雨航：会多学习". cbachina.sports.sohu.com. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
13. "丁彦雨航5战4场得分10+ 或成男篮未来战术核心". sports.ifeng.com. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
14. en:2018_Asian_Games, oldid 902575685^{[circular reference]}
15. "男篮16分逆转胜伊朗 时隔八年重夺亚运会冠军_体育_腾讯网". sports.qq.com. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
16. 2015 FIBA Asia Championship – Ding Yanyuhang's profile., FIBA.com, accessed January 11, 2016.
17. "Yanyuhang DING". FIBA Archives. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
18. 新浪体育 (2018-03-30). "2017中国运动员传播影响力榜 丁神第4郭少第15". sports.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
19. CBA综合 (2018-03-17). "丁彦雨航：相比MVP 更希望球队能走的更远". Sina.com.cn. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
20. Yeomans, Jay (2017-02-28). "Jimmer Fredette named CBA's international MVP". Deseret News. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
21. "2013年CBA全明星赛首发阵容". cbachina.sports.sohu.com. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
22. "2012年CBA全明星赛". cbachina.sports.sohu.com. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
23. "青年赛得分王力助山东 对位明星球员砍21+11_体育_腾讯网". sports.qq.com. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
24. "Asian Games: Super sub outshines NBA stars as China take basketball gold". ABS-CBN News. Agence France-Presse. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
25. "2012至2013全国男篮甲A联赛 山东黄金男篮获总决赛亚军_山东新闻_大众网". www.dzwww.com. Retrieved 2019-06-24.

External links

• Asia-basket.com Profile
• NBADraft.net Profile
• Ding Goes all the Way for the Dunk! – 2015 FIBA Asia Championship – Youtube.com video