BIO: Bo Liu was born in China.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Bo Liu made his NBL debut with the Sydney Kings at 20 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

Following a 6-22 wooden-spoon season, Sydney installed Andrew Gaze as head coach and made major changes to the playing group. Josh Childress and Al Harrington were not re-signed, while Kevin Lisch (via Illawarra), Brad Newley (via Gran Canaria), Aleks Maric, Greg Whittington and Michael Bryson were among the additions. Julian Khazzouh remained sidelined by his quadriceps tendon injury, resulting in Josh Powell being added after the opening round as Sydney’s third import.

In August, Sydney made NBL history by signing Bo Liu on loan from the Shenzhen Leopards. Liu joined the Kings as a development player and became the first Chinese-born player signed by an NBL club. Under the league’s new Asian-player rule, Liu did not occupy one of Sydney’s three import positions despite arriving from China.

Liu’s first recorded NBL court time came against Cairns at Qudos Bank Arena on October 15. Liu (0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals, and 0 blocks) played the final 19 seconds as Sydney defeated the Taipans 92-78. Cadee (23 points and 7 assists) and Whittington (21 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 blocks) led the Kings, while Cameron Gliddon (13 points) was Cairns’ leading scorer.

Liu (0.4 points and 0.4 rebounds across 5 games) remained a development player behind Sydney’s experienced frontcourt and received only occasional late-game minutes. He also made scoreless appearances against Illawarra on October 24 and Melbourne on November 12. No injury was found to explain his absences; contemporary reporting instead noted that Sydney’s depth made regular minutes difficult to find.

His breakthrough came against New Zealand at Qudos Bank Arena on January 29. Liu (2 points and 2 rebounds) made one of his two shots during 3:36 on court as Sydney defeated the Breakers 84-57. Whittington (16 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists) and Lisch (15 points) led the Kings, while Kirk Penney scored 13 points for New Zealand. Liu’s basket was his first in the NBL and made him the first Chinese-born player to score in the league, with the milestone coming on Chinese New Year.

Liu’s season unfolded amid an unusually heavy turnover of Sydney’s import positions. Bryson was released after four games because the Kings felt a change would improve the team’s balance, with former NBA guard Steve Blake arriving as his replacement. Blake later returned to the United States on compassionate leave to be with a sick family member and did not return. Garrett Jackson was subsequently signed for the remainder of the season to fill the vacant third import position. Separately, Tony Tolovae’s season-ending ankle injury opened a development-player position for William McDowell-White. None of those moves changed Liu’s status under the NBL’s Asian-player rule.

Liu made his fifth and final appearance in Sydney’s season-ending game against Perth at Perth Arena on February 10. Liu (0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals, and 0 blocks) played 2:03 as the Wildcats defeated Sydney 101-74 and eliminated the Kings from playoff contention. Newley (19 points) and Cadee (15 points) led Sydney, while Casey Prather (29 points) and Bryce Cotton (21 points) powered Perth.

After starting the season 8-3, Sydney went 5-12 the rest of the way and finished seventh with a 13-15 record. Lisch and Newley received All-NBL Second Team honours. Liu’s arrangement with Sydney had been a loan from Shenzhen and, after his one season with the Kings, he returned to China.

Bo Liu played one season in the NBL. He averaged 0.4 points, 0.4 rebounds, and 0 assists in 5 NBL games.