Yasutaka Okayama was the first Japanese to ever be selected in the NBA Draft. But he humbly says that the impact made by Rui Hachimura is incomparably greater than his case.
"I would like to congratulate him," Okayama said in a phone interview with The Japan Times, minutes after Hachimura was selected by the Washington Wizards with the ninth overall pick of the first round in the NBA Draft in New York on Thursday — Friday morning in Japan.
Okayama was selected by the Golden State Warriors in the eighth round of the 1981 NBA Draft. But he did not even negotiate with the team, partially because he wanted to keep playing for the Japan national team.