CHINA TOPIX

China's First NBA Starter and Champion Mengke Bateer Retires Due to Diabetes

Cesar Tordesillas   |

Aug 18, 2015 08:15 AM EDT

Mengke Bateer, the first Chinese player to start in an NBA game and to win a title, has retired due to health issues, mainly diabetes. Bateer, who is from Inner Mongolia, joined the NBA's Denver Nuggets in 2002 after a five-year stint with the Beijing Ducks. It was also wth the Nuggets that Bateer became the as the first Chinese player to start in an NBA game, according to the website Complex. In that game, Bateer scored four points on a 28 percent shooting.