Rise of the underdog

Fueled by young domestic talents, minnows spark CBA power shift

With young guns muscling their way into the spotlight, the start of the Chinese Basketball Association season has witnessed a power shift as the domestic game's future suddenly looks bright again.

After nine games for each club inside the bio-secure bubble in Hangzhou, the first phase of the CBA regular season ended on Sunday, with league underdogs — bolstered by surging young talents — overthrowing perennial powerhouses.

Four teams that fell out of the top-12 playoff cut last year had all cracked the top eight by Sunday to spark hope of long-awaited deep runs for the minnows.

Among the surprises, last year's bottom team the Nanjing Monkey Kings and crosstown underachiever the Jiangsu Dragons, who finished third to last, have both impressed with newfound confidence and momentum to rank fifth and sixth respectively after the first phase.

Nanjing's rookie guard Lin Wei, the team's top homegrown scorer, has emerged as a new face of the league after averaging 16.9 points and 3.7 assists in nine games to spearhead the revival of the Monkey Kings, who won only two games the whole season last year and haven't reached the playoffs since 2014.

In his CBA debut on Oct 11, Lin drained a tough mid-range jumper with two seconds to go to help Nanjing secure a 90-88 opening win against the Tianjin Pioneers. Five games later, the sharpshooting guard, who turns 19 next month, hit two 3-pointers in a row to tie the game against the Shanghai Sharks at the end of regulation before finishing with 32 points to lead the Monkey Kings to an overtime triumph.