page_title: List of Asian-American firsts
section_title: Basketball
hierarchical_section_title: List of Asian-American firsts / Sports / Basketball
caption_attribution_description: English: University of Utah basketball player Wat Misaka in 1948
context_page_description: Asian-Americans are an ethnic group in the United States, denoting Americans of Asian descent. The phrase Asian-American was coined by Yuji Ichioka in 1968 during the founding of the Asian American Political Alliance, and started to be used by the U.S. Census in 1980.
  Firsts by Asian-Americans in various fields have historically marked footholds, often leading to more widespread cultural change. The shorthand phrase for them is "breaking the color barrier". One commonly cited example is that of Wataru Misaka, who became the first person of color, and the first Asian-American, to be a National Basketball Association player
context_section_description: 1947: Wataru Misaka becomes the first Asian-American to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
  2008: Erik Spoelstra becomes the first Asian-American head coach of the National Basketball Association (for the Miami Heat). He is the first Asian-American head coach in any of the four major North American sports leagues.
  2019: Jeremy Lin becomes the first Asian-American NBA Champion.
caption: Asian American point guard Wataru Misaka broke basketball's color barrier as the first non-white player to play in the NBA in 1947.
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