It’s not uncommon for NBA stars to move to China toward the end of their basketball careers to make some extra money in the Chinese professional leagues before they retire. But a few former NBA stars have landed themselves in trouble with the league after moving to China.
Due to allegations of match-fixing, China’s top basketball league has disqualified two of its teams from the postseason – the Shanghai Sharks and the Jiangsu Dragons. The Sharks’ roster includes multiple former NBA players including Michael Beasley and Eric Bledsoe.
According to ESPN, the league said in a statement Monday that the two teams showed a “lack of competitive effort” and were “negative in competition” during their best-of-three playoff series last week that concluded Friday.
“Fan and media attention was drawn to a last-minute, come-from-behind win Friday in Game 3 by Shanghai, which capitalized on a series of questionable turnovers by Jiangsu to reach the quarterfinals,” ESPN wrote on Monday. “The Dragons led the Sharks 100-96 with 1:36 remaining but committed five straight turnovers over the next minute that helped Shanghai gain a 10-point lead. The game ended in a 108-104 win for Shanghai and a 2-1 victory in the series.”
The league also alleges that Shangai lost Game 2 of the series intentionally to extend the series to Game 3 and allow Bledsoe, who was given a four-game suspension before the postseason started, to return earlier in the quarterfinals rather than later in the playoffs.
In addition to their disqualification, the two teams will also be fined the equivalent of $5 million and the general managers and head coaches of both teams will be suspended from the league for up to five years.
Beasley, who appeared in just four games with Shanghai this season because of an injury, said on social media that he “had no involvement in the recent allegations of game-fixing within the Shanghai Sharks organization.”
[ESPN]
