Wang Zhelin responded that he was selected by the Grizzlies in person: It’s not that he doesn’t want to go, but that he is injured and cannot keep up with the intensity.

The NBA's 2016 draft pick almost always focused on Zhou Qi. In fact, Wang Zhelin was also selected by the Grizzlies with the 57th pick in the second round, but he chose to give up this opportunity. At that time, many people said that Wang Zhelin was afraid of being someone, or that he was just a "water dispenser" player when he went there, so he simply gave up and chose the job of "less work, more money, and close to home".

Wang Zhelin was teased by fans in the late stage of his career, especially in the 2023 Men's Basketball World Cup. After all the national team rebounds that year, and he also posted some videos himself, the controversy became even more controversial.

But to be honest, during his debut, Wang Zhelin's physical talent and athletic ability were all underestimated Chinese players. Perhaps many fans remember that at the 2012 Nike Summit, Wang Zhelin scored 19 points and 8 rebounds and became famous. As the only Asian face, Wang Zhelin received attention from domestic and foreign media. It attracted a lot of attention at that time, but unfortunately there was no future.

Recently, Wang Zhelin made an exclusive interview, which talked about why he didn't go to the topic after being selected by the Grizzlies in person, and he also responded to it himself.

Wang Zhelin said: "I was reimbursed for the season in 2015. After that Asian Championships, my legs were no longer good. Then I returned to the club and didn't play for a season, and it seemed like I had only 6 games."

"I recovered in the United States and had a very good time. It took me more than a year to recover to make the injured leg not lame. Those who have played the ball know that once I get injured, it will never be used and need to rely on other parts of my body to compensate."

"I didn't dare to exert force on the left at the time, and my left leg was smaller than the right one. At that time I had already discovered that my physical injury was actually unable to keep up with the intensity there. So I thought about recovering first and then seeing what happened after I fully recovered. I might have missed this opportunity slowly. "

" That's the NBA. Which young man who plays basketball would refuse? It just happened that time period, my leg was injured." Although Wang Zhelin was selected in 2016, his signing rights in the NBA have been traded. On September 11, 2021, the Grizzlies traded Wang Zhelin's signing rights to the Los Angeles Lakers. In January 2022, Wang Zhelin's signing rights were sent to the New York Knicks.

Of course, Chinese players really started to decline after they were 30 years old. Now they are 31 years old, so Wang Zhelin missed his golden period.

18-year-old Wang Zhelin averaged 20.3 points, 12.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.8 blocks in the CBA rookie season, with a shooting percentage of 56%. This data is still very good in China, which shows that this guy was really talented at that time.

is a pity, but it is understandable that in order to keep Wang Zhelin, Fujian directly offered dividends and other bargaining chips. Even if he went to the NBA, he might not have made much money in the CBA.