China News Service, Beijing, March 1 (Di Yingxuan) "I haven't seen Guo Ailun play for a long time, can't you wait?" A seemingly ordinary question was actually written by Guo Ailun himself on social media.
The 2024 CBA All-Star Weekend will start on March 1.
Surprisingly, Guo Ailun did not appear this time.
In the past 10 years, Guo Ailun has never missed the All-Star Weekend.
In the last All-Star Game, Guo Ailun also played as the vote king of the North District.
Screenshot of Guo Ailun’s social media.
Due to a thigh strain, Guo Ailun is undergoing rehabilitation training in Spain.
According to media reports, Guo Ailun's thigh strain is an old problem.
Since he chose to come back without recovering from his injury last season, Guo Ailun's injuries often recurred, and his debut in the new season was repeatedly postponed.
It wasn't until December 29, 2023, that Guo Ailun had just made his debut of the season.
When the Liaoning Men's Basketball Team challenged the Fujian Men's Basketball Team away from home, Guo Ailun came on as a substitute.
Amid the cheers of the fans, Guo Ailun played 22 minutes and scored 13 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists, but made 5 turnovers.
Although it cannot be called a "strong return", his performance has provided more support for the team's back line rotation.
After his official comeback after 228 days, Guo Ailun also posted on social media: "I played, dunked, laid up, and shot. It's really a pity that I didn't make a free throw. Thank you everyone, grateful."
However, before he had the chance to make a free throw, Guo Ailun's leg injury worsened again.
In the game against the Zhejiang Men's Basketball Team on January 3, 2024, Guo Ailun could not hold on after 14 minutes of playing.
In a follow-up interview, the head coach said that Guo Ailun's leg was still very painful and he had been undergoing treatment and evaluation.
So far, Guo Ailun's statistics this season have stopped at 3 appearances, averaging 8.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game.
Due to insufficient appearances this season, Guo Ailun also missed the chance to participate in the CBA All-Star Weekend.
In addition to Guo Ailun, Zhou Qi and others are also plagued by injuries.
For Chinese fans, the recent performance of the men's national basketball team is even worse.
In the first window of the 2025 Asian Cup qualifiers, the Chinese men's basketball team lost to the Japanese men's basketball team 73:76 in an away game.
This defeat also created an embarrassing record: for the first time since the 1936 Olympics, the Chinese men's basketball team lost to the Japanese men's basketball team in the Asian Cup and higher-level events organized by FIBA.
In the second phase of the men's basketball Asian preliminaries strength list announced by FIBA, the Chinese men's basketball team has fallen to 8th place.
In addition to the Japanese men's basketball team, the names of teams such as South Korea, the Philippines, and Lebanon all appeared before the Chinese team.
The national team once led by Yi Jianlian, Guo Ailun, Zhou Qi and others is at least guaranteed to be competitive at the Asian level.
Now it seems that the only way to get the Chinese men's basketball team back on track is to wait for the next Yao Ming to appear.
The second phase of the 2025 Asian Cup qualifying window strength rankings.
Image source: FIBA International Basketball Federation
At a recent international sports business summit, Olympic champion Li Ning also raised this issue directly to Yao Ming.
Yao Ming said that due to the uniqueness of his own growth environment, looking forward to the next Yao Ming is not as good as looking forward to the next Guo Ailun and Zhao Jiwei, and looking forward to a training model that can be replicated.
Under Guo Ailun's news, netizens also left messages: "Waiting for you to come back."
Fans are waiting for the former "Asia's No. 1 point guard" to return to the court, and they also hope that the virtuous cycle of player training can be realized as soon as possible.
(over)