In the previous focus match between Beijing and Liaoning, Fan Ziming became the only player among the team's 12 players who did not play. However, in this game against the undermanned Zhejiang men's basketball team without Yu Jiahao, even though Beijing won by 22 points, Fan Ziming was finally activated to play, but he did not repay Xu Limin with actual actions, but turned into an "undercover" again.
In this game, Zhou Qi started for 19 minutes, shooting 8 of 12 for 18 points and 4 rebounds, while Fan Ziming, in his 9 minutes of playing time off the bench, shot 2 of 5 for 4 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. Originally, Xu Limin hoped that Fan Ziming could come off the bench to give Zhou Qi some breathing room, but after being replaced, Zhejiang took advantage of the situation to narrow the score, forcing Zhou Qi to return to the court again.
When Beijing once led by more than 20 points, Fan Ziming scored a goal under the basket with no one defending him, cheered with a fist pump, and looked fierce, which made many Beijing fans "laugh and cry." As the team's top-paid player, it is indeed pitiful to have to cheer for scoring a goal in garbage time.
After Zhou Qi's return, Fan Ziming's playing time has indeed been greatly reduced, and if Solomon and Qiu Tian perform well, Fan Ziming may not even get the chance to be activated. In the 22 games played this season, Fan Ziming averaged 19 minutes per game, scoring 7.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.5 assists, with a shooting percentage of 56.3%. If this were a regular role player with a Class B or C contract, people would not talk too much about it, but for a top-paid player like Fan Ziming, there will still be more doubts.
In fact, Fan Ziming is very hardworking off the court. Before this game against Zhejiang, a Beijing media reporter captured him practicing alone after training, but despite practicing late into the night, he remained the same "big sweet potato" on the court, which somewhat limited Xu Limin's lineup arrangements.
Before the start of the season, everyone thought that Beijing had already locked in a spot in the finals, but now it seems that the injury problems of Zhou Qi and Chen Yingjun may be a fuse, and Fan Ziming's "strong outside but weak inside" will also be a key factor restricting Beijing's upper limit.
Even though many fans hope that Beijing can put Fan Ziming on ice, rationally speaking, for a state-owned enterprise team like Beijing, it would be a bit embarrassing to take out the team's top-paid player from the rotation and freeze them for a long time. Therefore, whether Fan Ziming can redeem himself next depends on his own fate. If he really gives up, Beijing is likely to terminate his contract early and buy him out.