Johnny Juzang was 10 years old when "Linsanity" became a phenomenon. For two magical months, Jeremy Lin showed Juzang and others that it was possible for an Asian American basketball player to succeed at the highest level.
Eleven years later, Juzang occupies that same role for a new generation of players.
Juzang may not be as well-known yet outside of Utah, where he logged just 232 minutes as an undrafted rookie, but he has a cult following in Vietnam. Prior to Lin, Juzang says that "as far as basketball players, I really didn't have many [Asian role models]."
There still exists a dearth of Asian players in the league, but their numbers are slowly growing. Like Juzang, Jazz teammate Jordan Clarkson, Thunder big man Jaylin Williams, Rockets guard Jalen Green, Raptors wing Ron Harper Jr., and Japanese-born players Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe all have Asian ancestry.
Players like Yuta Tabuse, Yao Ming, Ha Seung-Jin and others cracked the door open for Asian NBA players back in the 1990s and 2000s. Today, this new generation is widening it.
Juzang is half-Vietnamese. His mother came to America when she was three years old alongside his grandparents during the Vietnam War. She met Juzang's father, Maxie, and they settled down in Los Angeles, where Johnny watched Clarkson play for the Lakers.
Juzang felt the cultural influences of Vietnam growing up, proudly noting that "my grandma can really throw down" when it comes to Vietnamese cooking. Basketball runs in the family — his older brother, Christian, has established a good career playing professionally in Vietnam.
But it wasn't until later in Johnny's career that he started noticing the following that he had in the Vietnamese community.
"You always see the community keeping up, and they're so proud," Juzang told The Sporting News. "Vietnamese and all different Asian ethnicities, when you meet some of these kids, and even adults, it's touching.
"You see how much your journey and what you've been able to do inspires them. You see the impact that you can have on what a young kid believes they can do and what is possible for them. That, to me, is one of the most awesome things."
Williams' story is similar in some respects and different in others. Like Juzang, Williams grew up with a grandmother and mother who came over from Vietnam, but his upbringing in Arkansas gave him less exposure to the Vietnamese community.
He heard Vietnamese being spoken on his mother's side and loved eating the food, but "there wasn't that much Vietnamese influence growing up where I did."
That changed when he went to the University of Arkansas. In his freshman year, his team advanced to the Elite Eight and played its final two games at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
"The support I've gotten from the Vietnamese community has been the most from anybody," Williams said. "When I was playing in San Francisco, there was a big Asian community there. Any time I was walking with my teammates, we were playing in the Sweet 16, I was getting recognized. After the draft, I was getting [direct messages from] a bunch of Vietnamese and Asian people. A lot of the famous Asian people were DM-ing me saying congrats. It was a really cool thing.
"It was honestly mind-blowing. At the time, I knew I had support, but that much support was crazy. I didn't know that many people knew who I was and looked up to what I was doing, thought what I was doing was amazing."
Williams and Juzang didn't know each other before the draft process, but they connected over their shared ethnicity during the 2022 NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. Juzang noted "how awesome it was feeling the support and pride."
"A lot of different Vietnamese media outlets, we would always be in things together for those outlets," Juzang said. "That was the first thing we talked about, like, man, are you feeling this love?"
Second-year Rockets guard Jalen Green, who is half-Filipino, has felt that groundswell of support as well. He's visited the Philippines three times, going back to see his family's hometown.
"They built a whole mural for me," Green said. "That says a lot right there. Every time I visit the Philippines, there's always a group of fans wherever I go. It's pretty crazy how much they know me and how my name is linked all through the Philippines."
Clarkson, whose mother is Filipina, has also been a fan favorite of the community. He has a tattoo of his Filipina grandmother over his heart. He told reporters at All-Star Weekend that he's proud of his heritage and "wears it every day."
With all of that support, though, comes added pressure to be a good role model.
"Of course, there's that extra notch of knowing I have a responsibility to them," Williams said. "Everybody is watching my every move. But honestly, to me, it's really cool."
Juzang says that he doesn't let the pressure bother him. Instead, he focuses on the positives of showing that a goal of reaching the NBA is attainable for kids of Asian heritage.
"I get a lot of DMs from younger kids, saying that I make them realize they can do it, too," Juzang said. "Those are the main messages that stuck with me — that everything I'm doing is for a bigger purpose, and I have people looking up at me."
