The naturalization path of Chinese men s basketball team: The arrow is on the string, who is the best solution?

After the 2027 Men's Basketball World Cup qualifiers lottery results were announced, the "East Asian Intra-Check" pattern of the Chinese men's basketball team in the same group as Japan, South Korea and China's Taipei has sparked heated discussions. Although avoiding top teams such as Australia and New Zealand, the tactical style and historical grievances of Group B's opponents still make the road to advancement full of challenges. Media people questioned, "Is this sign drawn?" and even pushed the controversy to a climax. Faced with opponents with a high-intensity schedule and strength, the Chinese men's basketball team urgently needs to make up for their shortcomings and reshape their competitiveness by naturalized players. Why is

‌ urgently needed naturalization? The ceiling of the local lineup has appeared. Although core players such as Zhou Qi and Zhao Jiwei are still first-class in Asia, their performance in international arenas in recent years: 20 points defeat to the Philippines in the 2023 World Cup and a home defeat at the Asian Games have all exposed key ball skills and physical weaknesses. Faced with Japan and South Korea's rapid offensive and defensive transformation and high-intensity confrontation, it is difficult to say that the current lineup is stable.

‌Naturalization of opponents has become the norm‌Japan has risen with mixed-race players such as Hachimura, and South Korea has also activated naturalized centers many times; the Philippines has relied on naturalized players such as Clarkson and Soto to firmly rank first in Asia. If the Chinese men's basketball team still refuses to naturalize, it may further lag in the "arms race".

‌Schedule pressure conflicts with the league‌ From November 2025 to July 2026, the men's basketball team needs to complete 6 group matches between the CBA season, and the intensive schedule puts higher requirements for physical fitness. Naturalized players can alleviate the consumption of the main players, especially provide immediate combat power guarantees during the window period.

‌Who is the best candidate? ‌

The naturalization goals need to meet three major conditions: ‌plug and play capability, location adaptability, and long-term cooperation intention‌.

‌Kyle Anderson (Li Kaile) renews his relationship? ‌During the 2023 World Cup, Anderson's support and defense injected vitality into the Chinese team, but his offensive style failed to solve the scoring drought. If the cooperation is restarted, it is necessary to clarify its "core ball holder" positioning and be equipped with a stable shooter group.

‌CBA foreign aids are preferred: Jones and Blackney‌Jilin team foreign aid Jones has both scoring and organizational skills, and the average score, assists, rebounds and other data per game proves that he is suitable for the Asian arena; Blackney is good at breakthroughs and three-pointers, which can make up for the lack of firepower on the men's basketball team on the outside. Both play in CBA for a long time, without running-in and a stronger sense of belonging.

‌NBA Fringe: Jeremy Lin mode‌look for Chinese players with NBA rotation skills, such as Development League defender Juzang, whose shooting ability can crack the opponent's joint defense. Such players need to solve the problem of identity authentication and national team running-in.

‌Naturalization≠Give up youth training, but tactical supplements‌

Some fans are worried that naturalization squeezes the space of local players, but referring to the successful cases of Japan (Haimura Aki + Yuki Kawamura) and France (Embid + local star), naturalization is actually a win-win strategy of "short-term improvement in performance + long-term stimulation of youth training". The Chinese men's basketball team needs to take naturalization as an opportunity to optimize the talent selection mechanism and avoid repeating the mistake of "relying on veterans". Behind the lottery controversy is the urgent expectation of the Chinese men's basketball team to return to the top Asian stories. Naturalization is not a universal antidote, but it is an indispensable catalyst on the road to reconstruction. The Basketball Association needs to clarify the candidates as soon as possible, and use the first battle between South Korea in November 2025 as a node to open a new chapter of "local + naturalization".