A crushing 35-point victory! Completely shut down Zeng Fanbo! The Nets really know how to irritate people.

The Nets opened their preseason this year with a dominant 123-88 win over the Jerusalem Sharps.

In this game, apart from Zeng Fanbo and three injured teammates, the Nets fielded their full roster.

So basically, the only one who couldn’t play was our Chinese player, which is really embarrassing...

Domestic reporters stated that the Nets had no plan to play Zeng Fanbo in this game.

Nets head coach Fernandez previously publicly stated that all healthy players would rotate in over the next two to three games.

It seems many people were right; the Nets signing Zeng Fanbo was likely just to have him play in the NBA China Games to attract attention and boost ticket sales.

In the next two games, the Nets will face the Suns in Macau, China.

Actually, whether Zeng Fanbo plays in the China Games, how much playing time he gets, and how he performs—all of that no longer matters.

From the very first game, it’s clear the Nets never planned to offer Zeng Fanbo a two-way contract; otherwise, they wouldn’t have denied him even a second of playing time in a blowout.

Previously, several American reporters mentioned Zeng Fanbo was a strong contender for the Nets’ last two-way contract spot, but now it looks like it was just for marketing.

During the China Games, the Nets even organized a paid meet-and-greet with Zeng Fanbo, charging $210, about 1497 RMB, which sparked furious backlash accusing them of exploiting fans, with the player himself also receiving criticism.

Zeng Fanbo could seriously consider skipping the trip back to the U.S. after the two China Games, instead returning to train or rest with the Beijing team, saving a lot on airfare. The Exhibit 10 contract salary is barely enough to support himself abroad anyway; either way, he’d just be a spectator watching on TV.

The Beijing team must be thrilled seeing how little the Nets value Zeng Fanbo because if he doesn’t get a two-way contract or join the NBA G League, he’ll return to join Zhao Rui, Chen Yingjun, Zhou Qi, and others for the new CBA season. As long as the foreign player lineup is solid and the roster stays healthy, they’ll be the top championship favorite, even the likely champions.

The Chinese men’s basketball team might also be “sad” beyond words. On November 28 (home) and December 1 (away), in two World Cup qualifiers against South Korea, after Wang Junjie left to play in the NCAA, they finally hope to regain a reliable starting power forward, whose defense and three-point shooting are especially important.

If Zeng Fanbo hadn’t suffered a transverse process fracture in his lumbar spine during Game 2 of the CBA playoffs’ second round against Shanxi, he could have tried out for various NBA teams and participated in the Summer League this summer. That would have been a real chance to earn a two-way contract. Unfortunately, there are no “ifs”—success also requires luck, and clearly, fortune hasn’t favored him.

In 2022, after going undrafted in the NBA, Zeng Fanbo played for the Pacers in the Summer League, averaging 10.1 minutes, 5 points, and 1 rebound per game. Three years later, he returned to the NBA stage at a higher-level preseason, but his prospects are even dimmer now—more like a business deal than pure competitive sport.

“Keep learning, learning never ends, it’s so profound.”