Gotta 'Han' it to her: Turner prepares Lynx for Xu

• New Wave: Meet the WNBL26 import players
• 2025-26 WNBL Team Lists and Roster Tracker
• Anneli Maley’s 16 boards power Perth past Bendigo as Brianna Turner nears final Lynx appearance

Chinese superstar and WNBA veteran Han Xu's arrival in Perth is imminent and head coach Ryan Petrik revealed he'd been planning for it by using "elite human" WNBA import Brianna Turner as her stand-in.

Turner, 29, signed an eight-game deal with the Lynx to start the 2025-26 WNBL season while Perth awaited the arrival of the 2.08m 26-year-old Han, who is finishing commitments with the Chinese national women's team.

"We’re gonna be different, obviously," Petrik said after the Lynx beat defending champion Bendigo Spirit 79-64 on Sunday, November 16, 2025.

"Bri’s an elite defender, so we’ve got to adjust and fill that spot so to speak.

"Bri’s masking so much right now defensively because she’s so good and athletic and agile and she can rebound as well.

"So it’ll be different with Han. But we have been building a defensive system for Han and slotting Bri into it."

Turner has been a key piece in the Lynx's 5-2 start to WNBL26, averaging 11 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.9 blocks per game despite, Petrik admitting he didn't play to her strengths given he was building his game plan for Han's arrival.

"We’ll wait and see when she (Han) turns up, I guess," Petrik added.

"It was clunky (against Bendigo) because again, we’re trying to build an offense for Han whilst having Bri — and they’re different players.

"So we’ve probably not tailored it to Bri as much, even though she’s still killing it inside the system.

"But we’re trying to get ready for the future without having that piece."

Player Profile

• ‍Name: Han Xu‍
• Pronunciation: shoo
• Position: Centre‍
• Shoots: Right‍
• Height / Weight: 6'10" (208 cm) / 193 lb (87 kg)‍
• Born: October 31, 1999 — Shijiazhuang, China‍
• Age: 26 years, 17 days (as of date listed)‍
• Instagram: @hanxu_521

WNBA Draft:

• 2019 — New York Liberty
• Round 2, Pick 2 (14th overall)

Han Xu – New York Liberty Career (C, 2.08m, Shijiazhuang, China)

• ‍58 games │ Minutes: 12.4 │ Points: 5.8 │ Rebounds: 2.4 │ Assists: 0.6 │ Steals: 0.4 │ Blocks: 0.4 │ Turnovers: 0.5 │ FG: 2.4–5.2 (46.5%) │ 3PT: 0.4–0.9 (39.6%) │ FT: 0.7–0.9 (78.4%) │ Fouls: 0.7

• ‍2019 │ Minutes: 7.9 │ Points: 3.0 │ Rebounds: 0.8 │ Assists: 0.1 │ Steals: 0.2 │ Blocks: 0.2 │ Turnovers: 0.1 │ FG: 1.3–3.2 (41.4%) │ 3PT: 0.3–0.6 (50.0%) │ FT: 0.1–0.1 (50.0%) │ Fouls: 0.3‍
• 2022 │ Minutes: 16.8 │ Points: 8.5 │ Rebounds: 3.6 │ Assists: 0.9 │ Steals: 0.5 │ Blocks: 0.7 │ Turnovers: 0.7 │ FG: 3.4–6.9 (49.3%) │ 3PT: 0.5–1.1 (44.4%) │ FT: 1.2–1.5 (79.6%) │ Fouls: 1.0

• 2023 │ Minutes: 4.5 │ Points: 1.5 │ Rebounds: 0.9 │ Assists: 0.0 │ Steals: 0.3 │ Blocks: 0.1 │ Turnovers: 0.6 │ FG: 0.8–2.5 (30.0%) │ 3PT: 0.0–0.9 (0.0%) │ FT: 0–0 │ Fouls: 0.3

Han has played more than 50 times for China, averaging 12.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. She also played 21 games for the Chinese Youth Team, averaging 14 points, 9.6 rebounds and 0.6 assists.

Petrik glowed about Turner's professionalism and contribution to the Lynx.

"Again, in signing Bri for the first eight games only, she could just turn up and mail it in — 'Oh, not really feeling it tonight', not try or not whatever, Petrik added.

"Just not in her character. She just came in day one: 'What are we doing? Yep, let’s go'. Wants to win, ultra-competitive, plays the backside off every second of every game. Zero maintenance — which again, for an elite player like herself, is really rare.

"Generally the higher up the player is, the more maintenance that comes with them. And that kind of makes some sense. And especially in this case — she’s a rental essentially, she’s only here for eight games — maybe she’ll be high drama, high work.

"She’s been none of it. It’s been so low maintenance.

"Elite character. Elite human. The fact she can play is a bonus.

"We always knew she could play — we just didn’t know enough about the off-court stuff.

"We’d done enough homework, but again, for an eight-game sample size maybe she mails it in.

"She’s done anything but that, and we’re really, really thankful she’s here."

About the Author

Peter Brown is the head coach of the Sydney Comets Women’s Youth League team in the Waratah Basketball League in NSW. He is also the assistant coach for the Comets NBL1 women’s team in the NBL East Conference. Peter is a 30-year journalist, starting as a sports reporter at the NT News in the early 1990s. He played junior basketball for the Northern Territory at national championships from U16 to U20 and for the Territory’s senior men’s team at numerous international tournaments. Peter has been a basketball fan since the early 80s, especially the NBA. Basketball is his passion — and his opinions his own. Email peter.brown@basketball.com.au with feedback.