(Ecns.cn)--Chinese basketball fans may be disappointed as their hope to see some NBA big shots in the new sports season of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) may be in vain as the latter is planning a new rule to ban NBA players from temporarily playing in China while they are locked out at home, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.
The new rule may require NBA players to play a whole CBA season on Chinese teams, which may be adversely affected if NBA stars went back to the US once the lockout is over. Moreover, the rule may also require each Chinese team to sign only one active NBA player.
The new rules were in draft and will be discussed at the CBA Committee conference in August, according to an insider at the CBA.
The CBA formulated the rule over concerns that NBA stars' temporary participation may have a negative impact on the CBA season. "The CBA isn't the NBA's backyard," an anonymous league source said. "If we don't make a rule about players playing here temporarily, then they'd all just leave in the middle of the season. That would affect our season greatly."
Even though some NBA big shots, including Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, and Carmelo Anthony have shown interest in playing in the CBA while they were locked out at home, they did not win great favor from Chinese teams because of their high prices.
Generally speaking, the monthly pay for an NBA big star may be up to $1 million, which exceeds the capacity of the Chinese club, according to a CBA investor. Thus, some independent players were more welcomed by Chinese teams.
