Chinese-Canadian basketball phenom Ben Li dreams of future with China national team – ‘that’s up there with making the NBA for me’

Chinese-Canadian baller Ben Li is excited by the prospect of one day guiding the China national team to new international heights.

The 19-year-old NCAA division I college player has already been labelled the “Chinese Zion Williamson” by media for his mountainous 1.98m, 104.3kg stature and explosive dunking ability. While there is much work to do, Li has so far laid out a very encouraging blueprint to the top.

“The bigger goal, in the near future, is to represent China on the big stage competing against countries from the rest of the world. Just thinking about that is surreal in itself. That’s up there with making the NBA for me,” said Toronto-born Li, stressing that his “number one priority” is to perform in his first-year year in Lehigh University, Pennsylvania having just embarked in August.

“Those are some goals I want to hit that would mean a lot. A lot. I definitely would want to play alongside China – when the time comes. I’m always pushing to make sure I’m on that right path.”

Though he spent much of his life in his native Canada, Li – Chinese name Li Hongquan – is well aware of his ethnic heritage. He explained that were it not for global pandemics, he would be taking his annual family trip to China, where he has already made waves in the domestic basketball scene.

“Ever since a young age my mom has implemented Chinese culture into me. I love it over there – I’d be there if I could as I have a lot of friends and all my family is over there,” said Li, who made history as the first fully ethnic-Chinese player to make the All-Canadian basketball game earlier this year.

Before committing to Lehigh’s Mountain Hawks, Li’s performances earned an invitation to train with the China U-19s ahead of their 2019 FIBA World Cup campaign. The experience – while challenging – would confirm his desire to don the Dragon red.

“That was surreal. I was soaking up a lot of knowledge from coaches, veterans, surrounding players. It was definitely hard keeping up with older people – I think I was 17 at the time. Ultimately I couldn’t play with them because I had to go back to America as my priority was to get a scholarship from universities,” Li recalled, adding that while comparisons to New Orleans Pelicans’ Williamson were welcome, he wanted to leave his unique legacy in the sport.

“I’m extremely humbled by that name but I’ve still got lots to do. I started playing basketball because I was watching Kobe [Bryant] and Jeremy Lin on TV in sixth grade then I’d go straight outside and imitate all the moves I seen. Over time, I wanted to play organised basketball and from there it was just competing every year and having fun playing basketball,” he said.

“Every situation I was at, I just worked my way up from the bottom. I never came from a basketball history family. I just decided I wanted to play. Then when I hit high school, I developed some athleticism and had my first dunk at tenth grade. From then on I put a lot of time and effort to get my body right and healthy. I got better and better and did all these crazy powerful dunks. Then people started comparing me as the Chinese version of Zion Williamson. It was pretty cool but I’m still nowhere near his level.”

Committing to Lehigh did not take long as Li knew his early move south from Canada would do him the world of good in terms of competition level and scouting exposure. He immediately felt a bond with their coaches and saw an opportunity to “thrive” in basketball whilst upholding his academics.

The only stumbling block – and presumably many athletes have experienced similarly this year – was his Covid-19-impacted entry into college life. Suffice to say Li did not enjoy being told he had to quarantine upon arrival.

“It’s definitely not what I expected, obviously given the circumstances. When I came here I had to a 14-day quarantine. Coming from Canada which, at the time, had 100-200 cases a day, to Pennsylvania where there were about 9,000 a day – yet I still had to quarantine. That was like a humbling moment but also a slap in the face at the same time,” he said.

“It was only a month later when I finally got settled into my form, met my teammates and got the workouts in. It’s been up and down, especially when the school is handling Covid guidelines, but over time it got a little steadier. Now we’re in full team practice preparing for our season in January, originally supposed to start in November.”

Off the court, student Li says he adopts a different persona.

“I probably look like a nerd to some people – very chill, got my glasses on, minding my own business. But on it, I’d be right up in people’s grill trying to be as big as I can be. The most energised person on the floor. I’m just extremely focused and turn into a different animal – real talk,” said Li, who has two fellow Asian college teammates in Chinese-Filipino-American JT Tan and Jayshen Saigal of India.

As his inaugural D1 basketball season beckons, Li finds himself regularly seeking advice from childhood inspiration and former NBA and CBA Star Lin, who has since turned into a “big bro”. Meanwhile, fellow aspiring Asian ballers even younger than Li are already telling him how much they want to follow in his footsteps.

“I do have role models like Jeremy but I don’t really want to be a next someone else. Even now, younger generations are always telling me they want to be the next me. I tell them the same thing: I don’t want you or anyone to be the next me, and I don’t want to be the next anyone else, either. Just be yourself and create your own path,” Li said.