# NBA Lockout Deal VS Chinese Contracts

- Link: https://exclusiveaccess.net/nba-lockout-vs-chinese-contracts/
- Published: 2011-11-28T22:35:23-05:00
- Author: EAN

The Chinese Basketball Association is showing no inclination to let unhappy NBA 
players out of their contracts for the 2011-12 season, and will likely mandate they
not receive clearance letters to return to the NBA until the Chinese season ends
in March, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Wilson Chandler(notes), Kenyon Martin(notes), J.R. Smith(notes) and Aaron Brooks(
notes) are the four top NBA players under contract in China, and several sources
involved in those contract entanglements said escape clauses won’t be allowed with
the impending end of the NBA lockout.

The Chinese Basketball Association passed a rule that its teams could sign only 
NBA free agents during the lockout, and it was made clear to those players they 
would have to play the full season to be given FIBA clearance letters to sign contracts
with NBA teams.
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Smith has had multiple clashes with his team, and some Chinese officials fear players
becoming obstinate and purposely missing practices and games once they realize they’ll
be held to their contracts.

Team officials have prepared for the possibility some players could try to force
their way out of deals, but their contracts give teams the latitude to fine and 
suspend players without pay. Chinese teams invested heavily when they signed NBA
players, also providing hotel suites, personal drivers and chefs to make the players
more comfortable.

“They can play, get paid [in China] and return to the NBA in March,” one Chinese
team official said. “Or they can not get paid, and return to the NBA in March.”

As a member of FIBA, the NBA needs a letter of clearance from Chinese teams to allow
players to sign NBA deals. Chinese teams could face forfeiture of any games that
NBA players participated in, if the players somehow end up back in the NBA before
the Chinese season ends.

“If they think that they’re going to make things difficult, not play, create problems,
what’s going to happen is that the teams will not release their letters of clearance
they’ll need to sign in the NBA,” a Chinese Basketball Association official told
Yahoo! Sports. “There’s no way out.”

Smith, Chandler and Martin, who signed a $3 million contract with the Xinjiang Guanghui
Flying Tigers, played for the Denver Nuggets a season ago, but the team has interest
in re-signing only Chandler, league sources said. Chandler was a key player for 
the Nuggets after the Carmelo Anthony(notes) trade with the Knicks.

So far, Chandler – averaging 43 points for the Zhejiang Guangsha Lions – has been
the most dominant player in the Chinese Basketball Association. On and off the floor,
Chandler has required far less maintenance than his two former Nuggets teammates.
Smith has constantly clashed with Zhejiang Chouzhou Golden Bulls officials since
arriving in China, and the complaints about him include missed practices, allegedly
faking injuries and relentless demands on living conditions and transportation.

Yi Jianlian(notes) can return to the NBA immediately because he has a Chinese passport
that allowed him to sign with the Guangdong Hongyuan Southern Tigers regardless 
of the league’s NBA free-agent rule. He’s expected to be sidelined two to three 
weeks after spraining his right knee in a recent game, but plans to sign with an
NBA team after free agency starts on Dec. 9.