# 2015–16 Chinese Basketball Association season

The 2015–16 CBA season was the 21st season of the Chinese Basketball Association. The regular season began on Saturday, October 31, 2015, with the Beijing Ducks hosting the Xinjiang Flying Tigers. The regular season ended on Friday, February 5, 2016, and the playoffs began on Monday, February 15, 2016.

## Team changes

Two teams relocated ahead of the season.

### Name changes

* The Chongqing Soaring Dragons moved to Beijing and initially changed their name to Beijing BG in September 2015. To avoid confusion with the city's soccer club from the second-tier China League One, which is also called Beijing BG or Beijing Beikong, as well as to avoid confusion with the Beijing Ducks when only the geographical names of CBA teams are used—a large number of Chinese sports websites have decided to refer to the team as the Beikong Fly Dragons (the club's official logo has always used the badly-translated English term "Fly Dragons" instead of "Soaring Dragons"). The practice is consistent with the way a lot of Chinese sports websites shorten the second Zhejiang team's name to Guangsha Lions and the second Jiangsu team's name to Tongxi Monkey Kings. So this means Beikong replaces Beijing as the club's "geographical" designation.
* The Dongguan Leopards moved to Shenzhen and changed their name to the Shenzhen Leopards in October 2015.

## Regular season
### Standings

| # | 2015–16 CBA season | 2015–16 CBA season | 2015–16 CBA season | 2015–16 CBA season | 2015–16 CBA season | 2015–16 CBA season |
| # | Team | W | L | PCT | Pts | Tiebreaker |
| 1 | Liaoning Flying Leopards | 31 | 7 | .816 | 69 | |
| 2 | Xinjiang Flying Tigers | 30 | 8 | .789 | 68 | |
| 3 | Sichuan Blue Whales | 30 | 8 | .789 | 68 | |
| 4 | Guangdong Southern Tigers | 28 | 10 | .737 | 66 | |
| 5 | Shandong Golden Stars | 28 | 10 | .737 | 66 | |
| 6 | Zhejiang Guangsha Lions | 27 | 11 | .711 | 65 | |
| 7 | Beijing Ducks | 23 | 15 | .605 | 61 | |
| 8 | Zhejiang Golden Bulls | 22 | 16 | .579 | 60 | |
| 9 | Shenzhen Leopards | 19 | 19 | .500 | 57 | |
| 10 | Shanxi Brave Dragons | 18 | 20 | .474 | 56 | |
| 11 | Jiangsu Dragons | 18 | 20 | .474 | 56 | |
| 12 | Shanghai Sharks | 18 | 20 | .474 | 56 | |
| 13 | Fujian Sturgeons | 16 | 22 | .421 | 54 | |
| 14 | Qingdao Eagles | 16 | 22 | .421 | 54 | |
| 15 | Beikong Fly Dragons | 13 | 25 | .342 | 51 | |
| 16 | Jiangsu Tongxi Monkey Kings | 12 | 26 | .316 | 50 | |
| 17 | Jilin Northeast Tigers | 10 | 28 | .263 | 48 | |
| 18 | Tianjin Gold Lions | 8 | 30 | .211 | 46 | |
| 19 | Bayi Rockets | 7 | 31 | .184 | 45 | |
| 20 | Foshan Long-Lions | 6 | 32 | .158 | 44 | |
Key to colors :
* Top 8 teams advance to the Playoffs

## Foreign Players Policy

All teams except the Bayi Rockets can have two foreign players. The bottom 5 teams from the previous season (except Bayi) have the additional right to sign an extra Asian player.

### Rules Chart

The rules for using foreign players in each game are described in this chart:
| # | Facing other teams | Facing Bayi Rockets |
| Chinese players+ | No Limit | No Limit |
| Asian players++ | No Limit | 4 quarters collectively+++ |
| International players | 6 quarters collectively+++ | 4 quarters collectively+++ |
+ Including players from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
++ If a team waives its right to sign an extra Asian player, it may use its 2 foreign players for 7 quarters collectively.
+++ Only 1 allowed in the 4th quarter.

### Import Chart

This is the full list of international players who competed in the CBA during the 2015-16 season.
| Team | Player 1 | Player 2 | Asian Player | Replaced During Season |
| Bayi Rockets | – | – | – | – |
| Beijing Ducks | Stephon Marbury | Randolph Morris | – | – |
| Beikong Fly Dragons | Esteban Batista | Dorell Wright | Mehdi Kamrani | – |
| Foshan Long-Lions | Jerrelle Benimon | Jabari Brown | – | Scotty Hopson |
| Fujian Sturgeons | Dwight Buycks | Jeremy Tyler | Fadi El Khatib | Jarrid Famous |
| Guangdong Southern Tigers | Justin Carter | Ike Diogu | – | Will Bynum |
| Jiangsu Dragons | MarShon Brooks | Greg Oden | – | Will McDonald |
| Jiangsu Tongxi Monkey Kings | Jerome Jordan | Von Wafer | Sani Sakakini | Liam McMorrow |
| Jilin Northeast Tigers | Josh Akognon | Peter John Ramos | - | Marcus Williams |
| Liaoning Flying Leopards | Lester Hudson | Shavlik Randolph | – | – |
| Qingdao Eagles | Jonathan Gibson | Alan Williams | – | – |
| Shandong Golden Stars | Michael Beasley | Eugene Jeter | – | – |
| Shanghai Sharks | Bernard James | A.J. Price | - | - |
| Shanxi Brave Dragons | Jamaal Franklin | Samuel Dalembert | – | Yancy Gates Dominique Jones |
| Shenzhen Leopards | Bobby Brown | Dominic McGuire | – | – |
| Sichuan Blue Whales | Justin Dentmon | Mike Harris | Hamed Haddadi | – |
| Tianjin Gold Lions | Jordan Crawford | Casper Ware | – | Jason Maxiell |
| Xinjiang Flying Tigers | Andray Blatche | Bryce Cotton | – | Andrew Goudelock |
| Zhejiang Golden Bulls | Charles Gaines | Willie Warren | Samad Nikkhah Bahrami | – |
| Zhejiang Guangsha Lions | Eli Holman | Jeremy Pargo | – | – |

## Statistical Leaders

The CBA statistical leaders list combines numbers from both regular season and playoff games.

### Individual statistical leaders

| Category | Player | Team | GP | Total | AVG |
| Points per game | Jordan Crawford | Tianjin Gold Lions | 26 | 1,121 | 43.1 |
| Rebounds per game | Alan Williams | Qingdao Eagles | 35 | 538 | 15.4 |
| Assists per game | Jeremy Pargo | Zhejiang Guangsha Lions | 40 | 335 | 8.5 |
| Steals per game | Hu Xuefeng | Jiangsu Dragons | 34 | 110 | 3.2 |
| Blocks per game | Zhou Qi | Xinjiang Flying Tigers | 42 | 134 | 3.5 |

## Playoffs

The 2016 CBA Playoffs began on Monday, February 15, 2016.

### Bracket

This is the bracket for the 2016 CBA Playoffs.
| Quarterfinals Best of 5 | Quarterfinals Best of 5 | Quarterfinals Best of 5 | Semifinals Best of 5 | Semifinals Best of 5 | Semifinals Best of 5 | Finals Best of 7 | Finals Best of 7 | Finals Best of 7 |
| 1 | Liaoning Flying Leopards | 3 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Zhejiang Golden Bulls | 0 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Zhejiang Golden Bulls | 0 | 1 | Liaoning Flying Leopards | 3 | | | |
| | | | 4 | Guangdong Southern Tigers | 1 | | | |
| 4 | Guangdong Southern Tigers | 3 | 4 | Guangdong Southern Tigers | 1 | | | |
| 5 | Shandong Golden Stars | 0 | | | | | | |
| 5 | Shandong Golden Stars | 0 | | | | 1 | Liaoning Flying Leopards | 1 |
| | | | | | | 3 | Sichuan Blue Whales | 4 |
| 2 | Xinjiang Flying Tigers | 3 | | | | | | | 3 | Sichuan Blue Whales | 4 |
| 7 | Beijing Ducks | 1 | | | | | | |
| 7 | Beijing Ducks | 1 | 2 | Xinjiang Flying Tigers | 0 | | | |
| | | | 3 | Sichuan Blue Whales | 3 | | | |
| 3 | Sichuan Blue Whales | 3 | 3 | Sichuan Blue Whales | 3 | | | |
| 6 | Zhejiang Guangsha Lions | 0 | | | | | | |
* Bold Series winner
* Italics Team with home-court advantage

## CBA Awards

Playoffs
* CBA Finals MVP:
    Hamed Haddadi (Sichuan Blue Whales)
Regular Season
* CBA Domestic MVP
    Yi Jianlian (Guangdong Southern Tigers)
* CBA International MVP
    Michael Beasley (Shandong Golden Stars)
All-Star Game
* CBA All-Star Game MVP
    Michael Beasley (Shandong Golden Stars)

## Attendances

The total CBA attendance in the 2015-16 season was 1.79 billion.
| # | Football club | Average attendance |
| 1 | Liaoning Flying Leopards | 7,124 |
| 2 | Xinjiang Flying Tigers | 6,874 |
| 3 | Sichuan Blue Whales | 6,624 |
| 4 | Guangdong Southern Tigers | 6,204 |
| 5 | Shandong Golden Stars | 6,014 |
| 6 | Zhejiang Guangsha Lions | 5,754 |
| 7 | Beijing Ducks | 5,514 |
| 8 | Zhejiang Golden Bulls | 5,314 |
| 9 | Shenzhen Leopards | 5,034 |
| 10 | Shanxi Brave Dragons | 4,824 |
| 11 | Jiangsu Dragons | 4,804 |
| 12 | Shanghai Sharks | 4,674 |
| 13 | Fujian Sturgeons | 4,514 |
| 14 | Qingdao Eagles | 4,484 |
| 15 | Beikong Fly Dragons | 4,264 |
| 16 | Jiangsu Monkey Kings | 4,164 |
| 17 | Jilin Northeast Tigers | 4,034 |
| 18 | Tianjin Gold Lions | 3,934 |
| 19 | Bayi Rockets | 3,844 |
| 20 | Foshan Long-Lions | 3,714 |