Photo Courtesy of Brendan Lane
From UCLA to Pepperdine to Sacramento to Japan — Brendan Lane (‘14) has lived the life of a basketball vagabond the past few years.
Lane donned the Bruins’ powder blue and gold from 2009-11, where he averaged 1.6 points and 1.8 rebounds per game on 6 minutes of playing time. He made the move to Malibu in 2012, graduating early from UCLA to pursue a Master’s degree in Finance at Pepperdine and to utilize his remaining years of NCAA eligibility.
He chose to redshirt the 2012-13 season. When he returned to the court for the Waves 2013-14, he emerged as a key power player, averaging 13 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.
Carrying that momentum into the summer, he landed a spot on the roster of the Sacramento Kings’ summer league team. They went on to win the 2014 NBA Summer League Championship.
As Lane’s mom, Lelia Lane, said, while it might have been nice for her son to stay close to home (they reside in Rocklin, California) and play on the Kings’ D-League team, his basketball career path took a different turn — one that flew him more than 5,000 miles away from home.
For the 2014-15 season, Lane signed a contract to play for the Mistubishi Diamond Dolphins in Nagoya, Japan. He’s one of two non-Japanese players on the roster. The other is Amath M’Baye, a dual Senegalese-French citizen who played college ball for the University of Wyoming and the University of Ohio.
Lane wrote in an email that he’s thankful that M’Baye and Spanish Head Coach Trifon Poch both speak English. He noted that many of the players on the team know English basketball terminology.
He also wrote that the culture shock hasn’t been too rough, especially considering that he’s in one of the larger cities in Japan with “a lot of U.S. shops and restaurants.”
“Probably the toughest part is having so much free time but no close friends or family to do stuff with,” Lane wrote.
Cassidy Wallace, Lane’s girlfriend, is a first-year law student at Pepperdine. She said that they Skype twice a day and she keeps an upbeat attitude about the long distance situation. When she found out he chose Japan, she was excited for him.
His mom said it’s tough for her to tell exactly how much he’s enjoying his abroad experience but that ultimately, she wants her son to do whatever makes him happy.
According to Lane, while playing in Japan has its challenges, there are positives that make the experience enjoyable. He wrote, “My favorite part, ironically, is having the freedom away from school and other responsibilities, and being able to improve my basketball skills.”
Over three games so far, Lane has averaged 13.7 points and 6.7 rebounds.
Beyond this year, the future is uncertain. “I’d like to play for as long as I can enjoy basketball,” Lane wrote.
Whatever path he chooses, the people who love him will have his back.
“I’m hoping he hangs on to it and goes far, and when it’s no longer a positive thing he goes in a different direction,” Lelia Lane said.
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Follow Alysha Tsuji on Twitter: @AlyshaTsuji
