# 1998–99 Chinese Basketball Association season

The 1998–99 CBA season was the fourth season of the Chinese Basketball Association.
The season ran from December 27, 1998, to April 25, 1999.
The Air Force team withdrew from the league before the season got underway, so three clubs were promoted from the Second Division. The Sichuan Pandas, originally relegated at the end of the previous campaign, earned a reprieve. They were joined by the Jilin Northeast Tigers and Beijing Olympians.

## Regular Season Standings

These are the final standings for the 1998-99 CBA regular season.
| # | 1998–99 CBA season | 1998–99 CBA season | 1998–99 CBA season | 1998–99 CBA season | 1998–99 CBA season | 1998–99 CBA season | 1998–99 CBA season | 1998–99 CBA season |
| # | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Tiebreaker |
| 1 | Bayi Rockets | 21 | 1 | .955 | - | 11–0 | 10–1 | |
| 2 | Liaoning Hunters | 15 | 7 | .682 | 6 | 9–2 | 6–5 | |
| 3 | Guangdong Southern Tigers | 13 | 9 | .591 | 8 | 7–4 | 6–5 | GD: 3-1 SD: 2-2 BO: 1-3 |
| 4 | Shandong Flaming Bulls | 13 | 9 | .591 | 8 | 9–2 | 4–7 | GD: 3-1 SD: 2-2 BO: 1-3 |
| 5 | Beijing Olympians | 13 | 9 | .591 | 8 | 7–4 | 6–5 | GD: 3-1 SD: 2-2 BO: 1-3 |
| 6 | Shanghai Sharks | 12 | 10 | .545 | 9 | 8–3 | 4–7 | |
| 7 | Beijing Ducks | 11 | 11 | .500 | 10 | 7–4 | 4–7 | |
| 8 | Zhejiang Squirrels | 10 | 12 | .455 | 11 | 5–6 | 5–6 | |
| 9 | Sichuan Pandas | 9 | 13 | .409 | 12 | 7–4 | 2–9 | |
| 10 | Jilin Northeast Tigers | 8 | 14 | .364 | 13 | 8–3 | 0–11 | |
| 11 | Jiangsu Dragons | 5 | 17 | .227 | 16 | 4–7 | 1–10 | |
| 12 | Ji'nan Army | 2 | 20 | .091 | 19 | 2–9 | 0–11 | |
Key to colors :
* Top 8 teams advance to the Playoffs
* Bottom 4 teams advance to the Relegation Round

## Playoffs

The top 8 teams in the regular season advanced to the playoffs.
For the first time, the semifinals used best-of-five series to determine the advancing team.
In the Finals, the Bayi Rockets defeated the Liaoning Hunters (3-0), claiming their fourth straight CBA championship.
Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in regular season, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. Home court advantage belongs to the team with the better regular season record; teams enjoying the home advantage are shown in italics.
| Quarterfinals Best of 3 | Quarterfinals Best of 3 | Quarterfinals Best of 3 | Semifinals Best of 5 | Semifinals Best of 5 | Semifinals Best of 5 | Finals Best of 5 | Finals Best of 5 | Finals Best of 5 |
| 1 | Bayi Rockets | 2 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Zhejiang Squirrels | 0 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Zhejiang Squirrels | 0 | 1 | Bayi Rockets | 3 | | | |
| | | | 5 | Beijing Olympians | 0 | | | |
| 4 | Shandong Flaming Bulls | 0 | 5 | Beijing Olympians | 0 | | | |
| 5 | Beijing Olympians | 2 | | | | | | |
| 5 | Beijing Olympians | 2 | | | | 1 | Bayi Rockets | 3 |
| | | | | | | 2 | Liaoning Hunters | 0 |
| 2 | Liaoning Hunters | 2 | | | | | | | 2 | Liaoning Hunters | 0 |
| 7 | Beijing Ducks | 0 | | | | | | |
| 7 | Beijing Ducks | 0 | 2 | Liaoning Hunters | 3 | | | |
| | | | 3 | Guangdong Southern Tigers | 0 | | | |
| 3 | Guangdong Southern Tigers | 2 | 3 | Guangdong Southern Tigers | 0 | | | |
| 6 | Shanghai Sharks | 1 | | | | | | |

## Relegations

The bottom 4 teams played the relegation phase by round-robin.
The Ji'nan Army and Sichuan Pandas were relegated to the Second Division.
| Team | W | L | PF | PA | PD |
| Jilin Northeast Tigers | 6 | 0 | 649 | 574 | +75 |
| Jiangsu Dragons | 2 | 4 | 590 | 649 | −59 |
| Ji'nan Army | 1 | 5 | 575 | 630 | −55 |
| Sichuan Pandas | 3 | 3 | 670 | 631 | +39 |
Key to colors :
* Bottom 2 teams relegated to the Second Division
| | JS | JL | JA | SC |
| Jiangsu Dragons | – | 92-100 | 108-98 | 120-111 |
| Jilin Northeast Tigers | 100-92 | – | 109-87 | 117-103 |
| Ji'nan Army | 108-85 | 92-112 | – | 101-109 |
| Sichuan Pandas | 132-93 | 108-111 | 107-89 | – |
* 1 2 A decision was made post-season on May 19, 1999. Sichuan was relegated for cheating on timer and scoring in two regular season games respectively. Sichuan was made the last place officially.

## CBA Awards

These are the award winners for the 1998-99 CBA regular season.
* CBA Most Valuable Player: Sun Jun (Jilin Northeast Tigers)