2015–16 Chinese Basketball Association season

CBA
CBA
Season	2015–16
Duration	October 31, 2015 – February 5, 2016 (regular season）; February 15, 2016 – March 6, 2016 (Playoffs) ; March 11, 2016 – March 25, 2016 (Finals)
Games played	38
Teams	20
Regular season
Top seed	Liaoning Flying Leopards
Finals
Champions	Sichuan Blue Whales (1st title)
Runners-up	Liaoning Flying Leopards
Finals MVP	Hamed Haddadi
Awards
Domestic MVP	Yi Jianlian
International MVP	Michael Beasley
Statistical leaders
Points
Points	Jonathan Gibson
Rebounds	Alan Williams
Assists	Jeremy Pargo
	← 2014–15 2016–17 →

The 2015–16 CBA season was the 21st season of the Chinese Basketball Association. The regular season began on Saturday, October 31, 2015, with the Beijing Ducks hosting the Xinjiang Flying Tigers. The regular season ended on Friday, February 5, 2016, and the playoffs began on Monday, February 15, 2016.

Team changes

Two teams relocated ahead of the season.

Name changes

The Chongqing Soaring Dragons moved to Beijing and initially changed their name to Beijing BG in September 2015.^[1] To avoid confusion with the city's soccer club from the second-tier China League One, which is also called Beijing BG or Beijing Beikong, as well as to avoid confusion with the Beijing Ducks when only the geographical names of CBA teams are used—a large number of Chinese sports websites have decided to refer to the team as the Beikong Fly Dragons (the club's official logo has always used the badly-translated English term "Fly Dragons" instead of "Soaring Dragons").^[2] The practice is consistent with the way a lot of Chinese sports websites shorten the second Zhejiang team's name to Guangsha Lions and the second Jiangsu team's name to Tongxi Monkey Kings. So this means Beikong replaces Beijing as the club's "geographical" designation.^[3]
The Dongguan Leopards moved to Shenzhen and changed their name to the Shenzhen Leopards in October 2015.^[4]

Regular season

Standings

#	2015–16 CBA season
#	Team	W	L	PCT	Pts	Tiebreaker
1	Liaoning Flying Leopards	31	7	.816	69
2	Xinjiang Flying Tigers	30	8	.789	68
3	Sichuan Blue Whales	30	8	.789	68
4	Guangdong Southern Tigers	28	10	.737	66
5	Shandong Golden Stars	28	10	.737	66
6	Zhejiang Guangsha Lions	27	11	.711	65
7	Beijing Ducks	23	15	.605	61
8	Zhejiang Golden Bulls	22	16	.579	60
9	Shenzhen Leopards	19	19	.500	57
10	Shanxi Brave Dragons	18	20	.474	56
11	Jiangsu Dragons	18	20	.474	56
12	Shanghai Sharks	18	20	.474	56
13	Fujian Sturgeons	16	22	.421	54
14	Qingdao Eagles	16	22	.421	54
15	Beikong Fly Dragons	13	25	.342	51
16	Jiangsu Tongxi Monkey Kings	12	26	.316	50
17	Jilin Northeast Tigers	10	28	.263	48
18	Tianjin Gold Lions	8	30	.211	46
19	Bayi Rockets	7	31	.184	45
20	Foshan Long-Lions	6	32	.158	44

Key to colors
	Top 8 teams advance to the Playoffs

Foreign Players Policy

All teams except the Bayi Rockets can have two foreign players. The bottom 5 teams from the previous season (except Bayi) have the additional right to sign an extra Asian player.

Rules Chart

The rules for using foreign players in each game are described in this chart:

#	Facing other teams	Facing Bayi Rockets
Chinese players+	No Limit	No Limit
Asian players++	No Limit	4 quarters collectively+++
International players	6 quarters collectively+++	4 quarters collectively+++

+ Including players from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

++ If a team waives its right to sign an extra Asian player, it may use its 2 foreign players for 7 quarters collectively.

+++ Only 1 allowed in the 4th quarter.

Import Chart

This is the full list of international players who competed in the CBA during the 2015-16 season.

Team	Player 1	Player 2	Asian Player	Replaced During Season
Bayi Rockets	–	–	–	–
Beijing Ducks	Stephon Marbury	Randolph Morris	–	–
Beikong Fly Dragons	Esteban Batista	Dorell Wright	Mehdi Kamrani	–
Foshan Long-Lions	Jerrelle Benimon	Jabari Brown	–	Scotty Hopson
Fujian Sturgeons	Dwight Buycks	Jeremy Tyler	Fadi El Khatib	Jarrid Famous
Guangdong Southern Tigers	Justin Carter	Ike Diogu	–	Will Bynum
Jiangsu Dragons	MarShon Brooks	Greg Oden	–	Will McDonald
Jiangsu Tongxi Monkey Kings	Jerome Jordan	Von Wafer	Sani Sakakini	Liam McMorrow
Jilin Northeast Tigers	Josh Akognon	Peter John Ramos	-	Marcus Williams
Liaoning Flying Leopards	Lester Hudson	Shavlik Randolph	–	–
Qingdao Eagles	Jonathan Gibson	Alan Williams	–	–
Shandong Golden Stars	Michael Beasley	Eugene Jeter	–	–
Shanghai Sharks	Bernard James	A.J. Price	-	-
Shanxi Brave Dragons	Jamaal Franklin	Samuel Dalembert	–	Yancy Gates Dominique Jones
Shenzhen Leopards	Bobby Brown	Dominic McGuire	–	–
Sichuan Blue Whales	Justin Dentmon	Mike Harris	Hamed Haddadi	–
Tianjin Gold Lions	Jordan Crawford	Casper Ware	–	Jason Maxiell
Xinjiang Flying Tigers	Andray Blatche	Bryce Cotton	–	Andrew Goudelock
Zhejiang Golden Bulls	Charles Gaines	Willie Warren	Samad Nikkhah Bahrami	–
Zhejiang Guangsha Lions	Eli Holman	Jeremy Pargo	–	–

Statistical Leaders

The CBA statistical leaders list combines numbers from both regular season and playoff games.

Individual statistical leaders

Category	Player	Team	GP	Total	AVG
Points per game	Jordan Crawford	Tianjin Gold Lions	26	1,121	43.1
Rebounds per game	Alan Williams	Qingdao Eagles	35	538	15.4
Assists per game	Jeremy Pargo	Zhejiang Guangsha Lions	40	335	8.5
Steals per game	Hu Xuefeng	Jiangsu Dragons	34	110	3.2
Blocks per game	Zhou Qi	Xinjiang Flying Tigers	42	134	3.5

Playoffs

The 2016 CBA Playoffs began on Monday, February 15, 2016.

Bracket

This is the bracket for the 2016 CBA Playoffs.

Quarterfinals Best of 5			Semifinals Best of 5			Finals Best of 7

1	Liaoning Flying Leopards	3

8	Zhejiang Golden Bulls	0
			1	Liaoning Flying Leopards	3

			4	Guangdong Southern Tigers	1
4	Guangdong Southern Tigers	3

5	Shandong Golden Stars	0
						1	Liaoning Flying Leopards	1

						3	Sichuan Blue Whales	4
2	Xinjiang Flying Tigers	3

7	Beijing Ducks	1
			2	Xinjiang Flying Tigers	0

			3	Sichuan Blue Whales	3
3	Sichuan Blue Whales	3

6	Zhejiang Guangsha Lions	0