Rong Niu, better known to basketball fans as Red Panda, suffered a serious fall during her halftime performance at Tuesday night’s WNBA Commissioner’s Cup game between the Minnesota Lynx and the Indiana Fever. The veteran acrobat, whose bowl-flipping unicycle act has made her a fixture of NBA, WNBA, and NCAA games since the early 1990s, fell from nearly eight feet in the air while performing her iconic routine.
Niu was seen grabbing her left wrist as she lay on the court before being assisted off in a wheelchair by medical personnel. A WNBA spokesperson confirmed she was taken to a local hospital for evaluation after the game.
Update, July 3, 9:30 a.m.: The performer suffered a severe broken wrist, according to multiple reports. Her agent told ESPN that she was out of the hospital and hoping to return for the NBA season in the fall.
Indiana guard Caitlin Clark, speaking on teammate Sydney Colson’s Instagram Live, sent her own message of support, saying, “Red Panda, we love you!”
Niu, a Chinese-American acrobat who comes from a family of professional performers, has dazzled crowds for over three decades. She estimates she executes a “perfect show” 75 to 80% of the time.
Since debuting in the NBA in 1994—when she performed at more than 40 games in a single season—Red Panda has become a cult icon among basketball fans and sportswriters. She has also appeared on America’s Got Talent (Season 8) and Britain’s Got Talent (Series 18), extending her reach beyond the court.
Niu also performed at Game 5 of the NBA Finals in Oklahoma City just last month.
As of 2019, Red Panda was reported to typically earn between $2,500 and $3,000 per five-and-a-half-minute performance, with teams covering her travel and lodging. At her peak, she commanded up to $5,000 per appearance.
The journalist and podcaster Pablo Torre has long campaigned for Niu to be inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame. “Red Panda is the greatest halftime performer of all time,” Torre told Front Office Sports on Wednesday. “But her injury reminds us that her job is legitimately dangerous—and that she is deeply underpaid. Which is yet another reason Red Panda should already be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. I will not rest until she is.”
Steve “The Simon Sez Guy” Max, another veteran halftime performer, told FOS that he and Niu were the longest-running halftime acts in the U.S. “While we’ve never met, I respect the hell out of her talents and appreciate her special place in the entertainment universe,” he told FOS. “Simon Sez … speedy recovery.”
