Jun Nakanishi launched his pro basketball career during a period of major changes — nonstop expansion for a decade — here. And so he has witnessed the ups and downs of Japan pro basketball since the inception of the now-disbanded bj-league in 2005.
As a rookie guard, who was selected No. 5 overall in the first bj-league draft, he suited up for bench boss Joe "Jellybean" Bryant's Tokyo Apache in the circuit's inaugural season. Two years later, the Tokyo native was a player on another first-year club, the expansion Rizing Fukuoka, who were led by fiery sideline general John Neumann.
In the years that followed, Nakanishi moved around the country, playing for the then-powerhouse Osaka Evessa and Iwate Big Bulls, had two more stints with the Rizing and also saw time with the Tokyo Cinq Reves and Yamagata Wyverns, his final team, before retiring in 2017.