25. P. League+ Basketball: James Mao (GM, New Taipei Kings)

For the last 20 years, a fully professional basketball league simply didn’t exist in Taiwan. And as of 2022, there are now two professional leagues at play: The P. League+ (6 teams) and the T-1 League (6 teams).

This is great for basketball fans. But the sustainability of the leagues is much more than fanfare. It’s about the level of play, the audience, attraction, entertainment, coaching, talent, and funding. 

“There's no reason why Taiwan basketball can't be as good as Japan or Korea or China, but it comes down to a lot of people investing a lot of time and energy and also resources to help these players improve,” says James Mao, General Manager of the New Taipei Kings, our guest today.

James Mao is a former player on Taiwan’s national team. His roster at the New Taipei Kings includes Joseph Lin (brother of Jeremy Lin) and Quincy Davis, a L.A. native who’s now a Taiwanese citizen. See their website for season schedule: https://www.newtaipeikings.com/

Today’s host is JR Wu, a former journalist with two decades of media experience in the US and Asia. She has led news bureaus for Reuters and Dow Jones.

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EPISODE CREDIT
Host / JR Wu
Producer / Emily Y. Wu @emilyywu
Research & Editing / Gerald Williams
A Ghost Island Media production / @ghostislandme

www.ghostisland.media

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