NBA looking for new Yao Ming while CBA looks for next Stephon Marbury as Chinese basketball season returns
Jordan brand athlete Guo Ailun and Abudushalamu Abudurexiti among local talent who could follow Zhou Qi and Ding Yanyuhang to the big league
Basketball is back and while the focus may be sharpened on the NBA and whether anyone can stop Golden State Warriors from three in a row, the Chinese Basketball Association also gets under way this weekend.
The path from the CBA to NBA is becoming well worn with more players going from one to the other in recent years. Former CBA MVP Michael Beasley has made that move and will be suiting up with LeBron James at the Los Angeles Lakers this season.
LeBron’s former Miami Heat teammate, Dwyane Wade, was linked with a move the other way over the summer before re-upping for a final farewell in Florida, while Lamar Odom has been tipped to turn up for a Chinese team, too.
There’s still no update on the future of Odom, except for him using social media to clarify he has definitely not been kidnapped, but there are plenty of other former NBA stars on show – and there might even be some NBA stars of the future.
Ding Yanyuhang won his second consecutive domestic MVP last season at the Shandong Golden Stars and earned a contract at the Dallas Mavericks. He also won Asian Games gold with China in August.
The man most likely to take over the mantle filled by Ding and Yi Jianlian for four consecutive seasons before him is Xinjiang Flying Tigers star Abudushalamu Abudurexiti. The 22-year-old Uygur was the catalyst for that victory over Iran in Indonesia and has a career-defining season ahead of him after a busy few months that also saw him play for the Warriors in the NBA Summer League.