Today, domestic sports media personality @ReporterSongXiang posted an article discussing the foreign player policy for the new season of the CBA (Chinese Basketball Association).
The content of the report is as follows:
The foreign player policy for the 2024-25 CBA season will undergo significant adjustments. Compared to previous seasons, the usage frequency of foreign players in the new season will increase substantially, likely allowing 7 foreign player appearances in 4 quarters, with the bottom four teams from last season permitted 8 foreign player appearances in 4 quarters. The bottom four teams can field two foreign players in the final quarter. After this major adjustment to the foreign player policy, it is bound to directly impact the league’s landscape.
Undoubtedly, the quality and fit of foreign players will greatly influence a team’s performance throughout the season. Simultaneously, the substantial increase in foreign player usage will inevitably reduce playing time for domestic players. Whether these domestic players will grow more rapidly under the pressure of increased competition can only be accurately assessed once the season begins. Since the Chinese national team’s disappointing performance at last year’s World Cup, there has been growing support for increasing the use of foreign players in the league to accelerate the development of domestic players and prevent them from remaining in their comfort zones. At that time, many players on the Chinese national team also expressed that playing in the current competitive environment of domestic leagues offers insufficient training value.
In fact, prior to the start of last season’s CBA league, the Chinese Basketball Association had already held discussions with the CBA company and various teams regarding this matter. However, due to the imminent start of the 2023-24 season, the changes to the foreign player policy were not immediately implemented. Since then, the Chinese Basketball Association has conducted extensive research on the changes to the foreign player policy. These changes were first implemented in the NBL (National Basketball League) arena. In the 2024 National Men’s Basketball League (NBL), among the 12 players registered for each match, no more than 3 can be foreign players. In each quarter and each overtime period, no more than 2 foreign players can be on the court simultaneously (4 quarters, 8 appearances), previously it was 4 quarters, 6 appearances.
This summer, the Chinese Basketball Association and the CBA company have held several meetings with various teams to discuss the adjustments to the foreign player policy for the new season. As of now, the most likely scenario is that the new CBA season will allow 7 foreign player appearances in 4 quarters, while the bottom four teams from last season will allow 8 foreign player appearances in 4 quarters. This is a significant change from the original policy during the 2023-24 regular season, which allowed 4 foreign players for 4 quarters, with a maximum of 1 appearance per quarter. For the bottom four teams in the 2022-23 season, 4 foreign players were allowed for 4 quarters with a maximum of 2 appearances in the first three quarters and 1 in the final quarter. The relaxation of the foreign player policy will undoubtedly have a direct impact on the league’s structure. Firstly, the quality and compatibility of foreign players will have a greater impact on a team’s performance. However, it also directly increases the financial investment required by teams for foreign players.
In recent years, some teams have experienced poor financial conditions, forcing them to trade key players to secure funds. For these teams, it is difficult to make larger investments in foreign players, which could further reduce their competitiveness. However, for championship-contending teams and those aiming to enter the playoffs, they are sure to invest more heavily in foreign players. Secondly, the relaxation of the foreign player policy will inevitably reduce playing time for domestic players. However, whether this will lead to better performance by domestic players remains to be seen. In fact, the CBA had previously relaxed its foreign player policy, but after a few seasons, public opinion generally held that the arrival of more high-level foreign players did not significantly enhance the competitiveness or skills of domestic players. Instead, it turned the CBA into a stage for foreign player competition, and issues such as bidding wars over foreign players became common.
Therefore, the CBA tightened its foreign player policy again. Now, with the foreign player policy opening up once more, whether it will achieve the expected results remains uncertain. We can only hope that when higher-level foreign players join, domestic players will continuously learn from them in both training and games, and improve themselves quickly to compete for playing time and opportunities on the court.