Media Figure: Over the past two years, CBA team management has thoroughly studied the rules, not only understanding them but also applying them flexibly

Today, domestic sports media figure @FuzhenghaoMVP posted an article analyzing the trade of Guo Ailun by the Liaoning Flying Leopards:

“Strictly speaking, Liaoning only traded Guo Ailun’s exclusive signing rights under Category D contract to Guangzhou Long-Lions. According to the current CBA rules, theoretically, there are four ways for Long-Lions to monetize these rights (assuming there is no clause in Liaoning’s contract prohibiting Long-Lions from selling Ailun to a strong team):

One: Directly sell the signing rights to the highest bidder before the registration deadline;

Two: If the other party has already reached the limit of Category D contracts, operations can still be carried out; that is, first let Long-Lions waive their signing rights over Ailun, making him a free agent, then have the other party claim him as a free agent, which allows signing a Category C contract. Of course, this requires the new club to convince both Long-Lions and Ailun to agree to the contract;

Three: If Long-Lions do not have suitable trading partners in the short term, they can sign with Ailun first. Since the mid-season trading window period has been increased to three this season, Ailun’s contract can be bought out at any time within the window, and then the new club can claim Ailun.

Four: Even if neither side signs nor completes registration by August 31st, Long-Lions can retain the signing rights and patiently negotiate a good price with teams needing to strengthen their guard positions during the season, abandoning the signing rights during the mid-season window so that the new club can claim Ailun as a free agent.

Because CBA rules stipulate that Category D contracts cannot be traded if fulfilled for less than one year, it is impossible for Ailun to be swapped with other players during the mid-season window period; once it reaches the mid-season window, the claiming channel is the only option.

Of course, all of this is based on the premise that there was no clause in the tripartite trade between Liaoning and Long-Lions prohibiting the transfer of Guo Ailun’s signing rights to a strong team. As previously stated, Liaoning has engaged in various contacts regarding Guo Ailun’s transfer over the past two years, but the fundamental strategy of the trade is not to send Ailun to a strong team, only to middle or lower-tier teams, to prevent adding a formidable rival to their championship aspirations. Based on Liaoning’s usual strategy, I speculate that such additional clauses may exist between Liaoning and Long-Lions. If this is indeed the case, Ailun might only have the option of playing for Long-Lions. I hope there isn’t such a clause.

It must be acknowledged that over the past two years, CBA team managements have thoroughly studied the rules, not only understanding them but also applying them flexibly. No wonder they can all get along so harmoniously, it’s just unfortunate for Guo Ailun, unable to achieve the ideal scenario of staying with one team for life, now facing a late-career journey full of uncertainty.

Even in professional leagues, it’s inevitable that local stars will have conflicts with their hometown teams when money comes into play. During their prime, stars who want to pursue higher salaries elsewhere are often persuaded to stay, but when they reach the twilight of their careers and wish to retire with their hometown teams, they receive eviction notices instead. When players seek professional transfers, clubs play the emotional card, but when players grow old and seek emotional connections, clubs start talking about professionalism. The last time we saw such a bittersweet situation was with Liu Wei, and now it’s Guo Ailun’s turn.

It’s hard to clearly define right and wrong in such situations; perhaps the conflict was planted when the club earnestly persuaded the player to stay. Although the person stayed, a rift formed in their hearts, and emotional cracks are hard to mend, waiting until the player’s twilight years to settle accounts. Therefore, the ideal scenario of staying with one team for life is rare in professional sports leagues, as it requires mutual respect and understanding from both sides.”