The CBA (Chinese Basketball Association) has issued a ruling blocking it’s teams from signing any NBA player that is currently under contract. What that means is all the players who had dreams of going to China during the lockout to hug Pandas like Melo, CP3 and LeBron better find an endorsement to cover the trip because the CBA isn’t having it.
The officials even added an extra step. They’ve put together a list of 108 free agents from the NBA that teams can sign for a full season. Players not on that list cannot be signed. Although it may seem this action was done to benefit the NBA owners, it’s actually more about Chinese officials wanting to preserve the integrity of their league. The purpose of it is to build up the Chinese National team, an influx of NBA players for a few months won’t help them arrive at their ultimate goal.
There’s always more barnstorming tours.
Curtsy to Pro Basketball Talk
