The Chinese Basketball Association has disqualified the Shanghai Sharks and Jiangsu Dragons from its postseason amid match-fixing allegations.
Both teams have been fined 5 million yuan (USD $727,135) and all results this season erased.
What Other Penalties Do The Teams Face?
Sharks head coach Li Chunjiang and Dragons head coach Li Nan were both banned from coaching for five and three years respectively.
In addition, the two general managers, Jiang Yusheng of the Sharks, and Shi Linjie of Dragons, were barred from taking part in any basketball-related activity for three and five years, respectively.
The Sharks have a number of former NBA players on their roster, including 2008 No. 2 draft pick Michael Beasley and Eric Bledsoe, who was serving a suspension for the series against the Dragons.
The league accused the Sharks of “negative contention” and losing a game to the Dragons on purpose to extend the series so that Bledsoe could play.
Bledsoe Denies Involvement In Match-Fixing
The 12-year NBA veteran took to Twitter and denied any involvement in match-fixing.
“I was suspended and couldn’t play fam stop acting weird,” tweeted Bledsoe.
Bledsoe’s name made headlines last October for the wrong reasons after he was accused of domestic violence. No criminal charges were filed.
Beasley also used social media to distance himself. Saying, “[I] had no involvement in the recent allegations of game-fixing within the Shanghai Sharks organization.”
Beasley, who is 34, was a guest on the “Pivot Podcast” last year and talked about some of his personal struggles off the court.
“Being black is so fake right now. Motherf***rs only care when someone dies and it’s time for the cameras to show up,” Beasley sad. “People are out here every day saying that they need help. It’s in the music we’re listening to. Everyone needs help, but everyone is out here walking like they have it all together.”
The Integrity Of The Game
Match-fixing is among the worst offenses in sports. It speaks to character, fairness and the integrity of the game.
Houston Rockets legend Yao Ming is the head of the CBA and said the punishments were necessary in order to maintain the league’s credibility.
“We conducted a very prudent investigation to help us make the decision based on precise matters. We believe that everybody feels quite distressed about this,” Yao said to China Daily.
“For sports games, the most important thing is reputation, rather than ability. Credit is what everybody, every team, the league, and the association is based on. We need to draw a profound lesson from this and change some things in the future to make what we have paid for valuable.
“That’s all I can say. We need to express our steadfast attitude and grief at this moment.”
The CBA published a post on Weibo saying “the league and the clubs would learn from the lessons.”
“All league participants must firmly establish correct values, the concept of honor and disgrace, and earnestly abide by national laws, regulations and various management systems of the league,” the post read.
“[We are] to further create a clean and upright league environment, and make unremitting efforts to create a game that satisfies the people.”
The investigation of the match-fixing highlighted continuing suspicions about widespread corruption in Chinese professional sports.