The Shenzhen New Century Liebao Club, also known as Shenzhen

Marco Polo Marco Polo (; ; ; 8 January 1324) was a Republic of Venice, Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known a ...

or Shenzhen Leopards (previously Shenzhen Aviators), are a Chinese professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team which plays in the Southern Division of the

Chinese Basketball Association The Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the CBA, is the first-tier men's professional basketball league in China. The league is commonly known by fans as the CBA, and this acronym is even used in Chinese on a regular basis ...

(CBA) and The Asian Tournament. New Century is the club's corporate sponsor. The team is based in Futian District,

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

, and plays its home games at Shenzhen Gymnasium.

History

The club was founded in 2003 as Dongguan New Century Leopards and was initially located in

Dongguan Dongguan,; pinyin: alternately romanized via Cantonese as Tungkun, is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. An important industrial city in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou t ...

. After twelve seasons, the team relocated to nearby

in 2015. Success came early in their existence for the Leopards, as they were the runners-up in the 2004 Chinese Basketball League (CBL) championship, and were promoted to the

(CBA) for the 2005–06 season. In its first season in the CBA in 2005–06, Dongguan finished in seventh and last place in the South Division, and was out of the playoffs. The team would soon battle its way to respectability, however, becoming somewhat regular participants in the CBA's postseason over the ensuing years. In July 2011,

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

Jeremy Lin played for the team at the ABA Club Championship, and was named the

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

of the tournament. On December 26, 2013,

Bobby Brown Robert Barisford Brown Sr. (born February 5, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and dancer. Alongside frequent collaborator Teddy Riley, he is recognized as a pioneer of new jack swing: a fusion of hip-hop and Contemporary R&B, R ...

scored a franchise-record 74 points in a game against Sichuan Blue Whales.Bobby Brown scores 74 points and the game winner in China!
/ref> In 2024, the club moved to Shenzhen Gymnasium.

Current roster

Notable players

- Set a club record or won an individual award as a professional player.
- Played at least one official international match for his senior national team at any time.
* Daryl Macon * Shen ZijieShenzhen beats Qingdao, Ningbo suffers 9th straight defeat

China Internet Information Center China Internet Information Center () is a state-run web portal of the People's Republic of China's State Council Information Office and the China International Communications Group. History The China Internet Information Center was launched ...

, 6 November 2021. Accessed 8 November 2021. *

Askia Booker Askia Toussaint Booker (born August 31, 1993) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Shenzhen Leopards of the Chinese Basketball Association. He played college basketball for the Colorado Buffaloes as a point guard. In ...

References

External links

Shenzhen New Century Leopard Club at CBA website

Shenzhen Leopards on Weibo.com
Chinese Basketball Association teams Sport in Dongguan Sports clubs and teams in Guangdong Basketball teams established in 2003 2003 establishments in China National Basketball League (China) former teams {{PRChina-basketball-team-stub