Two other sites have picked up the story of Shanxi Zhongyuan releasing Bonzi Wells, who returned to the US during the CBA's Spring Festival break. This move is a bit shocking considering Wells has been incredibly helpful to his Shanxi team, instantly dominating the league and breathing life in an otherwise mediocre team. Wells was near the top in points, rebounds, and steals per game, but only was able to help his team to a .500 record during his time in Taiyuan.
So why was he let go? Very little information has come out on the release, but that's not surprising as so few people care about the CBA. Despite Wells being a force for Shanxi, the team was 8-7 before he arrived and 7-7 while he was in China. Was the release inspired by the fact that despite the large sum of money they were paying him, Wells couldn't improve the supporting cast around him? Or, a more cynical (or sinister) thought, is it because of Wells' immediate impact on the league, exposing it for the joke that it is? The CBA is already dominated by foreigners, you'd have to go almost 20 names down to find the first Chinese players name on the points per game list, and the sudden appearance of an aging and out of shape mediocre NBA player suddenly becoming Michael Jordan might have been a little too much for league heads to take.
There's sure to be an interesting story behind Wells' release and I wouldn't expect his team to be very forthcoming, we'll just have to wait for someone to get a comment from him.
UPDATE: The story is simple, seems Wells just didn't want to return to China, less than 2 months was more than enough, and if you want to know why that might be the case, check out this interesting post by Gabe Muoneke, the CBA's leading scorer.
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