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PROVO — It’s been a roller coaster ride in professional basketball for Jimmer Fredette since Jimmermania overtook the nation in 2011.
The one-time BYU phenom rode a four-team NBA career over five seasons, then announced last fall that he was taking the mania to the Shanghai Sharks in the Chinese Basketball Association.
“I didn’t necessarily think of playing in China,” said Fredette, also called “Jimo Dashen” or “The Lonely Master” in Chinese. “It’s turned out really well.”
Now that the season is over, Fredette opened up to ESPN’s "Outside the Lines" about his journey overseas, and what lies next for the former Cougar standout.
But if nothing else, the 2011 National Player of the Year changed the game of basketball in China — the second-highest-paying league in the world, after the NBA.
“Even the Chinese players, when he arrived, said, ‘This is your guy?’” Shanghai coach Brian Goorjian said. “But I haven’t had a guy put numbers on the board as quick as he did.”
Fredette’s teammates weren’t immediately sold.
“The first day I saw him, he’s a lot more skinny than I think, small,” Sharks guard Xiaoyu Liu said. “So I was a little bit wondering if he can really play like people say.”
Jimmermania had arrived. He averaged 37.6 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game en route to CBA "Most Valuable Player" honors.
Through it all, Fredette still has aspirations of playing in the NBA again. China will likely welcome him back with open arms. But the NBA remains a home he still longs to find.
Fredette explained to OTL what an NBA team will get for signing him to a free-agent deal now that his one-year Chinese contract is up.
“A big thing is my mentality,” he told ESPN. “I can shoot the ball. I have range. I can dribble well, I can get into the lane, I can score in a lot of ways.
“I can play with anybody.”
Watch the full feature on ESPN.com or in the video above.
