First NBA Player from China
In the summer of 1999, to the surprise of almost all basketball officials and reporters in China, the Dallas Mavericks selected Wang, who was still listed as born in 1979 without declaring for the draft, with the 36th pick in the second round of the NBA draft. The Mavericks were the only NBA team getting hold of Wang's official documents with an authentic date of birth, thanks to his agent Xia Song who was in Dallas on draft night. Unprepared and confused, the army refused to allow their only center to leave for the United States, at least immediately.

After long periods of negotiations, Wang Zhizhi was finally let go by his Army club and the Chinese basketball officials to pursue his NBA dream, two years after he was drafted. Wang arrived in Dallas after winning his last CBA title, when there were less than 10 games left in the NBA regular season. Despite the many difficulties (including hostility towards Chinese citizens during the spy plane crash) Wang managed well, averaging 4.8 points and 1.4 rebounds in 7.6 minutes per game. He also made the playoff roster.

Two days after the Mavericks were eliminated from the playoffs, Wang hurried back to China to play in the East Asian Games, according to an agreement formed between the Chinese authorities and the Dallas Mavericks. In the same summer, Wang was tremendous in two more tournaments in China: winning the Asia Championship, and placing a historically second in the Universiade.

However, Wang still had one obligation to fulfill before being allowed to retun to the United States. His army club requested that he stayed in China to play in the National Games in November. Wang arrived after barely defeating Yao Ming's Shanghai team by 1 point in the Final, but found that he had a lot of catch-ups to do as other players already had 2 months to familiarize with the NBA team's system. Wang again made the playoff roster in 2002.

Conflict with the Chinese Officials
Wang's contract expired after the 2001-2002 season. With his future up in the air, Wang decided he would spend the summer in the United States, rather than returning to China for the monotonous training, as the Dallas Mavericks had promised the Chinese basketball officials. Wang fired his agent Xia Song when the latter suggested otherwise, and following the advice of his American born Chinese friend Simon Chan, moved to the Los Angeles area without telling either the Mavericks, or the Chinese side his intentions.

During the stay, the Chinese basketball officials faxed two letters to him urging him to return to China as soon as possible to train with the National Team. Wang conveniently ignored them.

A major blow to all parties involved an article by Jodie Valade that appeared on "Dallas Morning News". In the article, Valade hinted that Wang, who had been quiet all this while, might "defect" to the United States. While Wang managed to state that the article was baseless and the report "irresponsible", the possibility had seriously alarmed the Chinese and trust that used to be held had been all but severed.

Still the Chinese side sent two military officials who had known Wang very well to go to the United States for a final plea. Wang had been playing for the Golden State Warriors in the Long Beach summer league, and averaged 4.8 points and 1.4 rebounds in 7.6 minutes per game.

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