Yuki Kawamura

Yuki Kawamura was born on 2 May 2001 in Yanai, Yamaguchi, and grew up modeling his game on Yuki Togashi — proof that a short Japanese point guard could still run a pro offense. At Fukuoka Daiichi he won back-to-back national high-school titles, then reached the B.League as an 18-year-old special designated player with San-en NeoPhoenix in January 2020, the youngest debutant in league history.

Yokohama B-Corsairs made him a star. After leaving Tokai University to go fully pro, he averaged 19.5 points and 8.4 assists in 2022–23 and became the first B.League player to win MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season. Assist leadership and another All-B.League First Team nod followed. For Akatsuki Five he was the engine at the 2023 World Cup — including 25 points and nine assists in Japan’s first win over a European side, Finland — then the face of Paris 2024, averaging 20.3 points and 7.7 assists and nearly beating host France with 29 in overtime.

Memphis signed him in September 2024 and converted the deal to a two-way; he played 22 NBA games (1.6 ppg in 4.2 minutes) and started for the Hustle in the G League. Chicago took him for Summer League in 2025, waived him over a lower-leg blood clot in October, then re-signed him to a two-way in January 2026. Eighteen Bulls games produced 3.4 points and 2.6 assists in 11.6 minutes. After Chicago declined a qualifying offer, he ran Pacers Summer League in July 2026 (8.2 ppg, 4.8 apg) and left Las Vegas still unsigned — Rick Carlisle praised the pace; roster math did not.

The Index question is not whether he can pass. It is whether an NBA roster will keep buying a 5'7" creator whose best tape is international and B.League, not garbage-time NBA minutes. Japan already treats him as appointment television whenever he gets on the floor. The next contract — two-way, Exhibit 10, or a B.League return with an open door — decides whether Yukimania stays an NBA subplot or becomes the league’s lasting Japanese point-guard export after the Hachimura generation.