Wild for Warriors, even the 15th man

As part of The Chronicle’s coverage of the Warriors’ trip to China, beat writer Connor Letourneau is posting accounts of what he observes.

SHANGHAI — I was in the lobby of the Warriors’ hotel Sunday afternoon, thumbing through my iPhone as I waited for the media shuttle, when I heard the shriek of Chinese fans huddled feet away behind barricades: “KEV-ON! KEV-ON!”

There was Golden State forward Kevon Looney — a seldom-used reserve who could be out of the league next season if he doesn’t show progress soon — sauntering by, seemingly oblivious to the fans chanting his name.

We’re nearly 7,000 miles away from the Bay Area, and these people are familiar with the 15th man on the roster. There are plenty of NBA fans stateside who don’t know who Looney is — much less, know the proper pronunciation of his first name.

Before coming to China, I wrote a long piece detailing the Warriors’ popularity in the NBA’s biggest international market. No amount of reporting, however, could prepare me for the depth of NBA fandom in China.

This isn’t a country infatuated with only the likes of Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson. Many people here study the rosters, the box scores, the analytics — anything to know more about their favorite teams. They keep close tabs on social media and are aware when Draymond Green has a juicy quote, or Golden State cuts a couple of training-camp invitees. Laurence Scott, who does videos for Warriors.com, is a bit of a celebrity here. When the Warriors arrived at the team hotel in Shanghai, a fan had Thompson sign a yellow toaster — a nod to the toaster that Thompson made headlines with by autographing last spring. A Golden State die-hard in a “Swaggy P” jersey at Thursday’s exhibition in Shenzhen told me, “I dream of Nick Young.”

Much of what I observed on this trip will stick with me for years. When I started covering the Warriors a little more than a year ago, I knew I was covering a team that had the U.S.’s attention.

What I didn’t necessarily understand was just how big Golden State is in a country of 1.3 billion people across the Pacific.