The highly anticipated second stage of the CBA regular season has been filled with intense competition, and recently, news about the Shanghai men's basketball team, a dark horse, maintaining an undefeated record has caught the attention of fans. Despite a dismal record in the first stage of the regular season, the Shanghai team has achieved a 13-game winning streak since the addition of powerful foreign player Lofton. Now, who can stop the Shanghai team's winning streak has become the biggest point of interest. As the strongest foreign player in the CBA league, Lofton has also announced an important decision in an interview. It is reported that Lofton has clearly stated that he will not consider returning to the NBA league for the time being, and helping the Shanghai team win the CBA championship is his biggest goal.
At the beginning of this season, the Shanghai men's basketball team was struggling to win a game and almost fell to the bottom of the entire CBA league. Fortunately, after the addition of Lofton, an NBA-level player, he quickly became the core of the Shanghai men's basketball team's offense and defense, and activated the tactical system on both ends of the team's offense and defense. After the main players such as Li Hongquan and Li Tianrong all played at their career peaks, the Shanghai team has become the hottest contender for the championship. At the same time, Wang Zhelin's return is also one of the biggest chips for the Shanghai men's basketball team to compete for the championship. Of course, Lofton is also the biggest advantage in activating a group of local players from the Shanghai team. With Lofton taking charge of organizing and scoring on the offensive end, the stability of the Shanghai team in decisive moments has also been greatly improved.
After Lofton once again demonstrated his ability to challenge the NBA league level, many fans did not think he would stay in the CBA league. However, Lofton has made it clear in a recent interview that he will not consider returning to the NBA league. Lofton's current biggest goal is to help the Shanghai team win the championship, which clearly shows that this top foreign player has identified with the CBA league and Chinese culture. In response, many fans believe that the Chinese men's national basketball team should consider naturalizing Lofton. After all, Lofton, this phenomenal foreign aid, is also what the Chinese men's national basketball team dreams of strengthening. Unlike Li Kaili before, Lofton is a real presence that can hard-solve opponents on the offensive end.
In fact, if the Shanghai men's basketball team can make a comeback and advance to the finals, or even win the CBA league championship after such a fierce start, then Lofton will undoubtedly become the number one foreign aid. Although the dark horse Shanxi team and the first-place Guangsha team in the standings have also shown strong competitiveness, Lofton can still play at a unique level. This season, after the CBA league increased the influence of foreign aid use, the reason why the Shanghai team can still cope freely in such a competitive environment is precisely because Lofton has given this dark horse team the confidence to compete for the championship. For fans, Lofton seems to be the most popular among active foreign players.
To sum up, Lofton, who is not only strong but also very young, still has at least ten years of peak period ahead of him. The Shanghai team is now the team closest to the championship this season and the biggest dark horse that remains undefeated. Regardless of whether Lofton can lead the Shanghai team to win the CBA championship this season, he has the opportunity to become one of the targets that the Chinese men's national basketball team may consider naturalizing in the future.