NBA Players Migrate to China

Although the NBA is locked-out for the time being, Chinese basketball is in full swing and looking to take advantage of the NBA's woes. Basketball (篮球; lán qiú) is hugely popular in China as any tourists will quickly realize. Every schoolyard and park with a basketball court is usually full of Chinese boys, all wanting to be the next Yao Ming or Kobe Bryant. 

 College students hooping it up at Xiamen University of Technology

The Chinese Basketball Association (中国男子篮球职业联赛; Zhōngguó Nánzǐ Lánqiú Zhíyè Liánsài), usually known simply as the CBA is China's equivalent of America's NBA. Since the CBA's beginnings in 1995, the league has been dominated by two teams - initially the Bayi Rockets (from the city of in Ningbo near Shanghai), but in recent years the Guangdong Southern Tigers (winner of the last 4 championships). The nearest team to my home of Xiamen is the Fujian Sturgeons, located in Jinjiang, Fujian. Sturgeons would certainly be an odd choice of name for an American basketball team, but fish are quite popular in Fujian.

Kobe Bryant is probably the most popular NBA star among Chinese youth (even more than national hero Yao Ming), but some less famous NBA players are becoming more visible in China by actually playing in the CBA. Several former NBA players have joined CBA teams, most notably former New York Knicks guard and NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury. Marbury (known to his Chinese fans as Ma Bu Li) just started playing for Beijing's CBA team this year. 

Stephon Marbury with Chinese teammates

With the 2011 NBA lockout, a few other NBA players have also come to China such as Kenyon Martin (formerly of the NBA's New Jersey Nets and Denver Nuggets), J.R. Smith (Denver Nuggets), Gerald Green (Houston Rockets and 2007 NBA Slam Dunk Contest winner) and Yi Jianlian, who previously migrated to the U.S. to play for the Washington Wizards, but has now come home to play for the Guangdong Tigers. 

Despite getting the Chinese royal treatment, including his own personal cook and 2 translators, J.R. Smith is having problems adapting to some aspects of Chinese culture such as Internet censorship when he couldn't access his Twitter account or Youtube. After finding a way around the Great Firewall, Smith wrote China a message via Twitter (although I'm not sure how he expects China to see it): 

"Dear China, the fact that u won't let me work my Skype on my desktop or twitter is really pissing me off."

Poor J.R needs to toughen up - I didn't get a cook, translators or the cute greeting girls when I came to China.

After spending a year in a more remote part of China, Stephon Marbury seems to be adapting pretty well in his new home of Beijing. The former NBA badboy is apparently smart enough to realize driving in Beijing is an act of insanity (and/or extreme ego) and has chosen to give the Chinese subway a chance instead. Fortunately, his first subway experience was on a "light day" when it wasn't to crowded (by Chinese standards, that is).

Its unlikely that the CBA will become popular outside of China to any great extent in the near future, but the mixing in of a few NBA players is helping make it even more popular here in China. And NBA players will certainly add a bit of flash and individuality to Chinese basketball's much more team-oriented basketball culture.