Natalie Chou

Natalie Chou (born December 22, 1997 ) is an American professional basketball player for the Perth Redbacks of the NBL1 West. Growing up in Texas, she was named a McDonald's All-American as a high school senior in 2016. Chou played two seasons of college basketball for the Baylor Lady Bears before transferring to the UCLA Bruins.

Early life Chou was born in Beaumont, Texas, to Quanli Li and Joseph Chou. Her mother played basketball for the Chinese national team before playing professionally in China. She moved to the United States in the mid-1990s with her husband when he received the opportunity to study abroad at Lamar University in Beaumont. When Chou was one week old, she stopped breathing and was rushed to a hospital, where she was revived. She was diagnosed with human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a condition she no longer has.

After earning his master's degree, Joseph moved the family to Plano for his work. As a senior in 2016, she was named a McDonald's All-American and was one of five finalist for the Morgan Wootten National Player of the Year award. Chou was a five-star recruit, and ESPN's HoopGurlz ranked her No. 8 in the nation in the class of 2016. Some Chinese media outlets called her "the female Jeremy Lin", likely more related to her ethnicity. but she otherwise had few Asian-American basketball players as role models.

College career Chou committed to attend Baylor University, where she and her high school rival, Lauren Cox, helped form one of the top recruiting classes in the country. As a freshman in 2016–17, Chou played in all 37 games as a reserve and averaged 4.7 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game as the Lady Bears reached the Elite Eight of the 2017 NCAA tournament. She led Baylor with a 42.3 three-point field goal percentage, which ranked sixth in the Big 12 Conference.

In the 2017–18 season opener, Chou scored a season-high 22 points and added eight rebounds and six assists in a 121–62 win over Lamar. On January 3, 2018, she matched her career-high of five 3-pointers after making all five of her first-half attempts en route to a game-high 17 points against Iowa State. She was a starter for the first 21 games of the season before undergoing surgery for a broken bone in her non-shooting left wrist, which had been bothering her even before then. After missing seven games, She played in six games as Baylor advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in the 2018 NCAA tournament. She went scoreless after her return, totaling 35 minutes and shooting 0-for-8 with all but one shot from three-point range. she decided after the season to transfer to the University of California, Los Angeles. Eligible to play in 2019–20, she was expected to boost UCLA's outside shooting after they ranked next-to-last in three-point percentage in the Pac-12 (30.6%) and last in three-pointers made per game (5). She was a part-time starter during the season and averaged 7.6 points and 3.6 rebounds while making 31.1% of her three-pointers for UCLA, who finished 26–5 and ranked No. 10 nationally. She made 11 of 14 shots from the field, including 5 for 7 on three-pointers to tie her career-high for made 3-pointers. She was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week. For the season, she averaged 9.9 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, and received honorable mention for the All-Pac-12 team. Chou returned as a graduate student in 2021–22, On December 5, 2021, she had career-highs of 31 points, 11 assists and six 3-pointers in a 112–33 win over San Jose State, earning her conference player of the week honors.

In 2022, Chou was named an Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar by Diverse: Issues In Higher Education.

Professional career After going undrafted in the 2022 WNBA draft, Chou signed with the Rheinland Lions of the German DBBL. During the 2022–23 season, she averaged 12 points per game.

On March 4, 2023, Chou signed with the Kalamunda Eastern Suns in Australia for the 2023 NBL1 West season. In 16 games, she averaged 20.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.6 steals per game.

In December 2023, Chou joined Östersund Basket of the Basketligan dam in Sweden. In 17 games, she averaged 14.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game. On May 31, she recorded a triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 14 steals in a 108–65 win over the East Perth Eagles. She was named to the All-NBL1 West First Team and NBL1 West All-Defensive Team. In 15 games, she averaged 18.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 3.8 steals per game. In 12 games, she averaged 11.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.0 blocks per game. On July 26, 2025, she scored 44 points in a 96–84 win over the Mandurah Magic.

National team career Chou helped the United States under-17 team win a gold medal at the 2014 FIBA U-17 World Championship.

Career statistics

College

Activism During the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Chou spoke out against the rise in animosity towards Asian Americans since the spread of the virus which originated in China. After flying home following the 2019–20 season, she was afraid to leave her Dallas-area home. Later that month, Chou posted on Twitter about her experience, which was followed by a story in the Los Angeles Times and later her first-person account on ESPN.com. She attributed the growing resentment towards Asian Americans to the use of the slang term Chinese virus, which she stated was "disrespectful and ultimately racist" and created "unnecessary xenophobia for people who look like me". According to Chou, "It takes literally no effort to call it by its correct name ."