Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association becomes the first CBA team to play against an NBA Team

Yao Ming’s Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks seemed to have great ambitions for the new seasons, signing up 2 NBA players early.

Jimmer Fredette, who had had a not-so-successful NBA career, 10th draft pick in 2011, and played sparingly for New York Knicks and spent most of his time playing in NBDL in 2015~16 season, but was picked NBDL All Stars, as well as MVP for NBDL All Star Game.

Guerschon Yabusele, the young untested French player, considered one of the best international prospects for the 2016 NBA draft, the #16 overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics.

The team had also picked up from the 2016 CBA Draft the very over-hyped Chris Tang.

They also snatched the internationally renowned coach Brian Goorjian fromGuangdong Dongguan Bank Hongyuan Tigers as associate head coach assisting local head coach Liu Peng.

And they had a promising start last week winning an invitational tournament the2016 Merlion Cup International Invitational in Singapore against 5 other professional basketball teams from around the region: Singapore Slingers, Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor of Taiwan, Mighty Sports of the Philippines, Samsung Thunders of South Korea and Westports Malaysia Dragons of Malaysia.

Probably due to Yao Ming’s relationship with NBA and Houston Rockets,Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks will make history when they play againstHouston Rockets this coming Sunday (October 2) in Toyota Centre in Houston. The game is considered one of Houston Rockets’ preseason games, and Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks will become the FIRST CBA team invited to play a preseason game in NBA !!!