Perhaps, this is the most professional team in the CBA!

It’s been a long time since I last wrote about the CBA, so here’s a new piece.

Let’s discuss the team known among fans as the “Huangpu Military Academy” or “Supermarket”: Guangzhou Long-Lions.

Players such as Chen Yingjun, Zhu Mingzhen, and Li Yanzhe grew through the team’s system and demonstrated their value before being traded to other teams in exchange for assets.

It’s very probable that they will make more significant trades going forward...

College draft players like Guo Kai from Peking University and Jia Mingru from Civil Aviation, after rising to fame in Guangzhou, also moved to other teams and secured substantial contracts.

There are many opinions outside, and fans often feel puzzled: Why dismantle a team that’s doing well?

What I find confusing is why some people criticize the CBA for being “unprofessional” while simultaneously condemning Guangzhou Long-Lions for trading players...

What does “professional” really mean?

Profitability is one of the core goals of a professional club; fundamentally, a professional club is a business entity, and making money is essential for sustainable development.

I remember when Guangzhou Evergrande dissolved, I wrote: Can our professional sports clubs make their owners money?

That is the biggest question.

We don’t lack Olympic gold medals, sports stars, or casual fans, but what we lack is truly professional, standardized management systems, market-driven commercial operations, and a healthy sports culture.

Strictly speaking, aren’t most CBA teams like “children” who have to keep asking their parents for money?

Many teams survive partly because they spend far less than the football clubs did during the era of massive investment.

The vast majority of our clubs rely on local governments or state-owned enterprises to sustain their operations.

Their existence often serves more for brand promotion, political-business relations, or social responsibility rather than pursuing profits.

From a professional sports perspective, this is unhealthy... The dissolution of many Chinese Super League teams is a clear example.

Most private CBA clubs’ parent companies operate in real estate or related industries, and the economic downturn has tightened real estate financing, making it difficult to continue funding the clubs.

Since survival is tough, we must accept that different teams have different ways of operating.

Thus, Guangzhou reduces costs, trades key players... to survive first, then plan for growth.

In today’s highly developed commercial sports world, diversity in operational models is a sign of a healthy industry.

Do you expect Guangzhou Long-Lions to burn money like Shanghai Jiushi or the two Beijing state-owned teams? That’s impossible.

Do you want them to rely on ticket sales like Dongguan? In Guangdong, fans mostly support Hongyuan, and even Hongyuan’s attendance has dropped in recent years...

So, smaller teams must find their own path.

Twenty teams are like twenty kids: the gifted ones go to top universities; others might attend vocational schools or learn trades like operating excavators — those are also valid paths.

Exceptional talent serves the nation; average talent stays close to home.

Anyone familiar with European clubs knows that different clubs adopt development paths suited to their region, investment background, history, and market environment.

For example:

In 2005, Borussia Dortmund faced near bankruptcy, which triggered a transformation focusing on youth development as a core survival strategy.

Later, players like Bellingham and Dembélé emerged...

From this perspective, Guangzhou Long-Lions’ cycle of “developing—training—properly monetizing” is an innovative sustainable model for private clubs under the current financial conditions.

It ensures player development pathways while maintaining relatively healthy club operations.

This is survival wisdom under resource constraints.

Many professional European clubs operate this way; it’s the survival rule for small and medium clubs.

I agree with a league comment I saw: “If all 20 CBA teams could balance their revenues and expenses like Long-Lions, the league and Chinese basketball would be much healthier!”

When you criticize Guangzhou for aggressively “selling players,” have you considered that many CBA teams don’t even have players to sell?

“Together a blazing fire, apart a sky full of stars” — this indirectly shows that the Long-Lions’ “star-making” ability is quite good.

In recent years, the fact that many college players have been developed here speaks volumes...

Young players are willing to come to Guangzhou.

Currently, the team still nurtures many young talents, like Guan Ziyu.

What I want to express today is that Guangzhou Long-Lions, in terms of capital operation, talent mobility management, and international exchange, has some pioneering aspects and is leading the CBA.

The league truly needs such explorations.

Fans’ simple emotions are understandable, but I hope people can view the issues from different perspectives.