Chinese Basketball Association

Background

The CBA began play in the 1995–96 season. The league should not be confused with the Chinese Basketball Association (organisation), which was founded in June 1956 and represents the country in matters involving the sport's governing body, FIBA. Basketball in China is currently regulated by the Chinese Basketball Management Center.

Other Chinese basketball leagues include the National Basketball League (NBL), the Chinese University Basketball Association (CUBA), and the Chinese High School Basketball League (CHBL). At one time there was a league called the Chinese New Basketball Alliance (CNBA), one of whose most prominent teams was the Beijing Sea Lions, but this venture lasted for just one winter (1996–97).

The first non-Chinese player to compete in the CBA was Mihail Savinkov of Uzbekistan, who joined the Zhejiang Squirrels in the league's inaugural 1995–96 campaign. During the 1996–97 season, James Hodges became one of the first Americans to play in the CBA, and his signing by the Liaoning Hunters helped pave the way for many more imports from the United States to follow in the ensuing years.

Some other notable foreign pioneers included John Spencer, who joined the Jiangsu Dragons later in the 1996–97 campaign, and David Vanterpool, who inked a deal with the Jilin Northeast Tigers the following winter, who helped the team move up to the CBA in time for the 1998–99 season. The CBA's first international coach was American Robert Hoggard, who led the Sichuan Pandas for the last eight games of the 1997–98 campaign.

In June 2026, the CBA announced it would resume promotion-relegation, with the National Basketball League (NBL) acting as a second tier on the pyramid.

Timeline

This is a chronological listing of current and former CBA teams according to the season that they entered the league.

Current teams Defunct Teams

Non-Chinese players for whom 2019–20 is their 1st season in the CBA

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