Report: China threatens to ban basketball players who do not return to league

China is starting to come back to life after practicing social distancing to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan. Their basketball league — the Chinese Basketball Association — is planning to get back to action soon and continue the season by conducting the playoffs. Games would be played without fans.

But the league is not being very friendly to American players, according to a report.

ESPN’s Jonathan Givony says players were threatened with lifetime bans if they do not report back to their teams. Agents were also threatened with the temporary loss of licenses if their players do not report.

From the ESPN article:

One memo, which was acquired by ESPN and sent to a number of player representatives, threatened “lifetime bans for players who do not return by March 15,” and loss of league agency licenses “for 2-3 seasons if they cannot force represented players to return to CBA.”

Those seem like some pretty Draconian measures, but remember, this is China, which is run by the Communist Party, and they do not tolerate dissent. As we saw in the Daryl Morey situation, their responses are often viewed as excessive compared to our standards.

The CBA was postponed in late January and could be restarted as soon as early April. Some players have understandable health concerns about potentially returning, and it’s no surprise they appear to be met with hostility from the teams. According to CBS Sports, there are around 40 American players in the CBA, including players like Jeremy Lin, Lance Stephenson and Ty Lawson.