Bay Area Dragons players threaten legal action over axing, claiming EASL was ‘intentionally misleading’
- Several players wrote a long post on Weibo claiming EASL had misled them in days before team was disbanded
- League says players have made false accusations on the internet and reserves right to take own legal action
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Several members of the disbanded Bay Area Dragons have blasted team officials on social media, saying they were axed without warning and left with no chance of finding another team this season.
The lengthy post on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, signed by Liu Chuanxing, Zhu Songwei, Ju Mingxin, Zheng Qilong, Adili Kuerban, Wang Yunzhang, also accused the East Asia Super League, which ran the franchise team, of “intentionally misleading” the players over its status.
Saying they were “shocked and felt helpless” after being told during an online meeting the team was being axed, the players said until that point they had been working on training plans over the summer while preparing for a preseason tournament in Xiamen.
The group said the league’s actions had resulted in the “infringement of the legitimate rights and interests of all players” and they planned on taking legal action.
In response, the league initially said that as there were legal issues involved it would “reserve comment until a later date”, however sources acknowledged the timing of the move to disband the Dragons had been unfortunate, given it came one day after the Chinese Basketball Association’s deadline for teams to sign new players expired.
The league also threatened legal action of its own on Friday, putting out a lengthy statement in Chinese on Weibo defending its decision to scrap the Dragons, which it previously said was taken with the interests of the EASL as a whole in mind.
“The Bay Area Dragons will do its best to provide a feasible termination plan for all members, and actively assist players in finding new job opportunities,” the statement said.
“However, in the process, some players published remarks and false accusations on the internet that harmed the interests of the EASL and the Bay Area Dragons, which also interfered in the progress of work for the 2023-24 EASL season.
“In this regard, the EASL and the Bay Area Dragons have entrusted lawyers to collect evidence and reserve the right to pursue legal liability.”
Most of those involved with the team are understood to have signed non-disclosure agreements as part of a severance package that guaranteed them 50 per cent of their expected salaries over the course of the next 18 months.
East Asia Super League sacks entire Bay Area Dragons team during online meeting
But three who put their names to the Weibo post – Zhu, Zheng and Wang – did not agree to the terms set out by the league. Kuerben is one of three of the group who have told officials their names were used without permission.
Kuerben took to Weibo himself on Friday, signing a letter attached to the league’s post that said he was not “responsible for any baseless accusations against the EASL and Bay Area Dragons”.
The letter continued: “I had already accepted the termination package provided by the Bay Area Dragons, and hope to return to playing professional basketball as soon as possible, and via a peaceful process.”
One of the complaints made by players is that the team was never actually registered with the Hong Kong Basketball Association, despite the EASL saying it was working with the Chun Yue club.
The association said the Dragons had not done so, while an official at Chun Yue, acknowledged a link had existed but declined to provide any further details.
“In terms of the players’ contractual dispute with the team, we cannot offer help because the Dragons are not an affiliated team of the association,” HKBA chairman Norman Chan Sui-tim said. “We will, however, be able to help should the players require assistance in finding a new team going forward.”
Separately, sources close to the players said those involved would “maintain communication and listen to follow-up arrangements” with the CBA.
