Yu Jiahao restarted his dream that was forced to be interrupted five years ago

He gave up his annual salary of 6 million and chose to go overseas to get a monthly salary of 16,000. Chinese men's basketball player Yu Jiahao signed with Bilbao Club in the Spanish League One for three years, but as a transition period, Cantabria was loaned to the second division in the first year.

Its brokerage team revealed that the monthly salary of the new contract is only 2,000 euros, which is converted to more than 16,000 yuan. Yu Jiahao, who was selected as a CBA All-Star last season, would definitely receive a maximum salary of 6 million yuan if he stayed in the CBA. Yu Jiahao said: "This is not a matter of money." In fact, this is his dream that was forced to interrupt five years ago.

Time is back in March 2018. Yu Jiahao arrived in Los Angeles on his 15th birthday and started his trip to the United States. He joined Serra Canyon High School as an exchange student and became teammates with Scotty Pippen Jr. and Kenyon Martin's son KJ Martin.

After a year of precipitation and adaptation, Yu Jiahao firmly took up the team's starting center in his senior year, and became teammates with James' son Brownie and Wade's son Zaire. He averaged 10 points and 5 rebounds per game, earned a 3-star rating, ranked 28th in the center of the All-American center, and received an offer from the University of California, Berkeley.

In March 2020, Sierra Canyon High School reached the state finals, and the state championship was right in front of us, but the epidemic situation in the United States deteriorated sharply. Yu Jiahao's team thought about it repeatedly and decided to let him withdraw from the event to avoid the risk of cross-infection caused by the team's long-distance travel. Coincidentally, the next day, the NBA was suspended due to NBA player Gobert's infection with the new crown, so the high school league also announced a suspension, and the starting center Yu Jiahao did not need to bear the "infamous" of withdrawing from the game.

Immediately afterwards, Trump declared that the United States entered a state of emergency due to the new crown. Yu Jiahao's team bought air tickets back home overnight, and even the cheapest tickets rose to more than 20,000 yuan. His body was 2.23 meters tall and he was squeezed into economy class and he ran for 34 hours before returning to China for quarantine. Since then, due to restrictions on international travel, Yu Jiahao failed to complete his senior year and had to give up the NCAA offer.

In 2021, after Yu Jiahao turned 18, he began to compete in the CBA. He handed in the first year with 12.2 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.6 caps, but he did not forget his overseas basketball dream that was forced to be interrupted. After the first season, Yu Jiahao went to the United States again to participate in the 2022 NBA Draft. He first conducted special training, and then tried out the Bucks and Celtics respectively, but was unfortunately defeated. He made up his mind to the list of selected players of that class and said, "Get up every morning and see, and one day they will let them know me!" Although he was not selected, this experience further strengthened his idea of not being able to stay in his comfort zone. Because during the special training period, the American trainer saw that he had a soft shooting touch, so he asked him how many three-pointers he had made in the first season of the CBA. Yu Jiahao replied that he never took action. This surprised the trainers. China and the United States have such different requirements for big men. Long-range shooting ability in the United States is an important criterion for examining big men. For example, Lopez, who also moved slowly, successfully achieved transformation by practicing a steady three-pointer.

In May 2024, Yu Jiahao, who ended the CBA season, went to Spain for special training at his own expense and tried out two La Liga and six Spanish League clubs. The more mature projection technology has become an advantage in the eyes of scouts. At that time, many Spanish clubs had issued invitations to Yu Jiahao, but only the teams in the Spanish Second Division could guarantee their playing time, and their treatment was very different from that of the CBA.

At that time, Yu Jiahao had one year left in the contract with Chouzhou, Zhejiang. His agency team negotiated overseas battles with the club. The club stated that the CBA will usher in a foreign aid policy reform in the 24-25 season, from 4 quarters to 7 in 4 quarters. Staying in the CBA can also get opportunities to match with more foreign aids, so I hope he will fulfill the contract. Therefore, Yu Jiahao, whose CBA contract expired this year, naturally took over the olive branch of La Liga team Bilbao and restarted his overseas dream pursuit journey.

The La Liga also has strict restrictions on foreign players: "Each team is limited to registering two non-EU foreign players in each game", which means that Yu Jiahao, who is from outside, will be snatching food in the next three years: "It reminds me that I must always be alert and make continuous progress."