New generation of players bring Chinese men s basketball out of the trough

Interface News Reporter|Wu Bingcong

The last 3.9 seconds left in the game, Hu Mingxuan failed to hit the three-point line, the basketball bounced out of the box, and the final whistle sounded.

At King Abdullah Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Chinese men's basketball team lost 89-90 to the Australian men's basketball team, failing to win the championship by 1 point. The game ended near 2 a.m., and a large number of Chinese fans are still paying attention to the game, and many related topics have become popular on Weibo.

The Chinese men's basketball team has not been able to reach the finals in the Asian Cup since winning the 2015 Asian Championships (the predecessor of the Asian Cup) in Changsha, and has only ended in the quarterfinals in the 2017 Asian Cup and 2022 Asian Cup. After the game ended, CCTV commentator described this young Chinese men's basketball team as "Ten years of drinking ice, it's hard to get cold and passionate." Even though it did not win the game, the Asian Cup showed the progress and future prospects of Chinese men's basketball in recent years.

Questions have become cheers

The Chinese men's basketball team went out of the Asian Cup 12-man roster, missing many names familiar to fans. There are no insider "big devil" Zhou Qi who is absent due to injury, NBA rookie Yang Hansen, and "flying" forward Zeng Fanbo.

Before standing on the court, the Chinese men's basketball team was not favored, the reasons include the lack of the main players, the low ranking, and the fact that they have not played in international competitions such as the Olympics in recent years. Zeng Lingxu, a former national player in men's basketball who served as CCTV commentator, conducted a confident Asian Cup preview on his personal Weibo, and only used the "four and six" to predict the situation of the China-Australia finals.

Head coach Guo Shiqiang's selection criteria were once questioned by people in the industry. He explained when facing CCTV cameras, hoping to select players who dare to fight and fight. With the sound of doubts spreading, the Chinese men's basketball team came to the stage of the finals.

In this competition, what is widely discussed is the team spirit of the Chinese men's basketball team. In this team, the new generation of players have grown up and played a role in key games.

In this Asian Cup, Hu Jinqiu and Wang Junjie were selected for the Best Five-man lineup together. With these two people as the core to extend, it can be seen that the talent sources of the Chinese men's basketball team are becoming diversified.

First of all, the talents provided by the CBA League for the Chinese men's basketball team. Hu Jinqiu and Zhu Junlong from the CBA Zhejiang Guangsha Team have just won the CBA championship in the 24-25 season. Raymond, a player of Beijing Shougang Team who played against them in the finals, was also selected for the national team.

Although the "two heroes of Liao and Guangdong" are missing in the CBA finals this season, the captains of this Chinese men's basketball team, Zhao Rui, Gao Shiyan, Hu Mingxuan, and even head coach Guo Shiqiang have played for these two traditional strong teams.

What is more noteworthy is that Wang Junjie, who is only 20 years old, has not participated in any country's professional leagues, because he will return to the United States to go to college after the Asian Cup, and he is also called "playing summer jobs."

Wang Junjie averaged 23.5 minutes per game, scored 13 points and 4.2 rebounds, and shot 56.1% from the field, of which the three-point shooting percentage was as high as 47.8%. This young player who plays for the University of San Francisco basketball team has been trained in the more intense North America, thus playing the main position in the Asian Cup.

Although Yang Hansen and Zeng Fanbo failed to stand on the stage of this Asian Cup due to different reasons, they are both "post-00s" players who have played in the CBA and their continuous growth will also help the Chinese men's basketball team to achieve good results in the international arena.

Why did the men's basketball team get out of the trough?

In the early morning of August 18, during the finals of the Men's Basketball Team, on Weibo, many fans described this Chinese men's basketball team as "unfamiliar". When they faced the Australian team, which ranked higher in the world, the Chinese team once led the scores and did not lose the upper hand.

In recent years, Chinese fans' disappointment with the men's basketball team has been due to the decline in team performance. The Chinese team lost to the Philippines in the 2023 Men's Basketball World Cup, and has since missed the Tokyo Olympics and the Paris Olympics.

Faced with the pressure of performance, Yao Ming took a number of reform measures during his tenure as chairman of the Basketball Association, including strengthening the youth training system, promoting the development of three-man basketball and women's basketball, and trying to drive the improvement of the men's basketball performance.

When Yao Ming first took office in 2017, the article "China's basketball reform continues, Yao Ming wants to chew three "hard bones"" pointed out that the three challenges he needs to face include: expanding the number of leagues and reducing foreign aid; innovating the selection mechanism of the national team; breaking the "separation of sports and education" material selection system for youth training. Judging from the later basketball reform route, its actions basically revolve around related fields.

However, the men's basketball team's performance in the international arena is still declining. Yao Ming once said in the face of the media that the men's basketball team "has to do a major operation", and the reform may take 5, 10 years, or even longer to see results.

In this Asian Cup, the Chinese men's basketball team showed its playing style and spirit, which made fans feel that the Chinese men's basketball team they were familiar with was back. The changes in the field performance are related to multiple factors such as league support and tactical style.

CBA League is the base camp of Chinese basketball talents, and the reform of the CBA in the new season is still continuing. According to Xinhua News Agency, China Basketball League (Beijing) Sports Co., Ltd. (CBA Company) announced the "Regulations on the Draft, Salary Cap, Employment and Transaction Management of the 2025-2026 CBA League Player Draft, Salary Cap, Employment and Transaction Management of the 2025-2026 CBA League. According to this regulation, the number of foreign players registered by each team in the new season will be restricted.

In the ended 2024-2025 season, the CBA company implemented a foreign aid policy of 4 (up to) 4 quarters and 7 (up to 2 each quarter in the first three quarters and 1 person in the fourth quarter). However, the number of foreign players registered in the league last season has not been restricted, resulting in some teams frequently changing foreign players. The teams will have certain restrictions on the use of foreign players in the new season.. Reducing dependence on foreign players means to a certain extent that local players have more opportunities to show themselves in the league.

In addition, some analysts believe that the change in playing style has also helped the Chinese men's basketball team's game results. During the game, Guo Shiqiang activated the configuration of "one big and four small" many times. After the game, Liaoning Daily published an commentary article saying that in the new system of the Chinese men's basketball team, the guards are no longer just "porters" of basketball, but the initiator and organizer of the team's offense. The return of the "Little Quick Spirit" style of play is the most successful part of the tactical design of the Chinese men's basketball team in this Asian Cup.

According to the latest rules, the Asian Cup rankings are no longer linked to the Olympic quota. Whether the Chinese men's basketball team can return to the Olympic stage depends on the ranking among the participating Asian teams during the World Cup. But after experiencing the fierce battle with Australia, more and more Chinese fans have begun to look forward to the future of the Chinese men's basketball team.