Translation of the article content into English:
The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) has announced that in preparation for the 2025 National Games, the 2025-2026 CBA season will start in early December, and the number of league games will be reduced once again. This change, which appears to be just a matter of time and schedule adjustments, has triggered a series of chain reactions in the signing of foreign players, causing many teams to face new difficulties in signing foreign players.
The adjustment of the CBA schedule, especially the postponement of the start of the new season to early December, means that at this point in time, the NBA and other major basketball leagues in Europe and America have already started their new seasons. This implies that when CBA teams are looking for foreign players, the range of high-quality players they can choose from will be significantly reduced.
In the past, the timing of the CBA season was relatively independent, giving teams more time during the off-season to contact and sign excellent foreign players from around the world. For example, in the past few seasons, many teams were able to finalize their foreign player choices in September or October, giving these foreign players enough time to adapt to team tactics and the competitive environment in China. However, under the new schedule, high-level players who are contracted in European and American leagues find it difficult to transfer to the CBA during the middle of the season.
Statistically, in the past five seasons, over 60% of newly signed foreign players by CBA teams came from European leagues and the NBA Development League. With the adjustment of the schedule, the difficulty of obtaining these foreign player resources will significantly increase. Taking the 2024-2025 season as an example, foreign players who successfully signed and integrated into the team at the beginning of the season helped their teams achieve good starting records, with an average win rate exceeding 60%. On the other hand, teams that only found suitable foreign players in the middle of the season saw a significant drop in their win rates, averaging only about 40%. This fully illustrates the importance of the timely arrival of foreign players to team performance.
Moreover, the aging of some teams' foreign players has become even more challenging due to the schedule adjustment. Taking Jones of the Jilin team as an example, with the increase in age, his competitive state and endurance inevitably decline. As a core foreign player of the Jilin team for many years, Jones plays a crucial role in the team's offense and organization. In the past few seasons, he averaged over 30 points per game, with rebounds and assists also ranking high, making him the team's top scorer and assist leader.
However, data from the past two seasons shows that Jones' average score has dropped to around 25 points, with a decrease in assists and rebounds. This not only affects the team's offensive efficiency but also raises questions about the team's ability to attack in critical moments. In this situation, the Jilin team urgently needs to find a suitable replacement to enhance the team's competitiveness in the new season.
The CBA company's foreign player salary cap policy is even more restrictive in the new schedule and foreign player signing environment. The existence of the salary cap aims to balance the strength gap between teams and avoid the destruction of league fairness due to excessive investment by individual teams. However, under the current circumstances, it has become a major obstacle for teams to introduce high-quality foreign players.
Taking the Jilin team as an example, if they want to find a high-level foreign player to replace Jones, they need to pay a higher salary according to market conditions. If the salary cap is not adjusted accordingly, the team can only look for players within a limited budget. This makes teams often have to give up on their desired foreign players due to salary issues.
Facing the new challenges in signing foreign players, CBA teams are actively seeking strategies to cope. Some teams are likely to choose to plan ahead, starting contact and negotiations with potential foreign players after the end of this season. By intervening early, teams can take control of the initiative in recruitment to some extent, avoiding being caught off guard as the new season approaches.
Additionally, some teams are beginning to focus on cultivating local players and enhancing the strength and competitiveness of local players. Under the new schedule model, the playing time and use of foreign players will be subject to more restrictions, making the role of local players even more prominent. The Guangdong team has always focused on the training system for local players, selecting and training through the youth team, providing many outstanding talents for the first team.
The challenges brought by the adjustment of the CBA schedule to the difficulties in signing foreign players are both challenges and opportunities for the development of the league. From a challenging perspective, if teams cannot effectively solve the problem of signing foreign players, it will inevitably affect the appeal and competitiveness of the league. Under the new schedule, the balance of strength among teams will be broken, and the performance of some teams that originally relied on foreign players will experience a significant decline, which will have an adverse impact on the brand image and commercial value of the league.
However, this is also an opportunity for the CBA league to improve and transform itself. Through this adjustment, the league can pay more attention to the training and development of local players, promoting the overall progress of Chinese basketball. At the same time, the CBA company can take this opportunity to optimize foreign player policies, making more reasonable adjustments in terms of salary caps and foreign player quotas to adapt to the new schedule and international basketball development trends.
In summary, the new changes and difficulties in signing foreign players faced by the CBA require joint efforts from all parties in the league to address. Only through reasonable policy adjustments, proactive responses from teams, and concerted efforts from all parties can the CBA league maintain stable development in the midst of change and significantly enhance its position on the international basketball stage.