Michael Beasley Getty Shanghai Sharks
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The Shanghai Sharks and Jiangsu Dragons have been disqualified from the Chinese Basketball Association playoffs for allegedly fixing games, the league announced Monday. The Sharks roster includes former NBA stars Eric Bledsoe and Michael Beasley.

The investigation surrounds suspicious lack of competitive effort in the Sharks-Dragons first round playoff series. One of the major instances in question was in the Game 3 of their best-of-three series when the Dragons were up 100-96 with less than two minutes remaining. They then committed five turnovers that helped their opponents take the lead. The Sharks eventually finished on top with a 108-104 victory, to win the series 2-1. 

The CBA came down hard on both teams, fining each side 5 million Chinese Yuan, about $725,000. Head coaches and GMs were also punished with bans of three and five years.

Bledsoe has been with the Sharks since last November, and this was his first CBA season. However, he was not playing in the three-game series against the Dragons because he has been serving a four-game suspension.

"I was suspended and couldn't play fam stop acting weird," he said on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Beasley has more experience in the league. He first played for the Sharks 2015-16 after being waived by the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies. The two-time CBA All-Star has done CBA on and off with different teams, and even won the CBA championship in 2019 with the Guangdong Southern Tigers. He had returned to the Sharks last summer after signing a seven-figure deal, but he parted ways with the team in the fall. Beasley made a social media post regarding the current situation.

First he clarified that he has not been playing recently because of an injury. The Sharks, he said, failed to provide him with the necessary assistance and accommodations to properly address the injury. He then added that his decision to leave the team was "a mutual and amicable decision," and that he is now "100% healthy."

"Furthermore, I want to make it clear that I had no involvement in the recent allegations of game-fixing within the Shanghai Sharks organization," he wrote on an Instagram story. "I am deeply disappointed by the lack of support from the team, but want to emphasize that my focus remains on my recovery and returning to basketball."

The Sharks are the team Hall of Famer Yao Ming played for before entering the NBA and becoming an eight-time All-Star. He bought his former team in 2009 but gave up his ownership title to become the president of the CBA in 2017.

"A quite saddening weekend," Yao said in a recent press conference. "Both teams have a long history. Jiangsu has competed in the CBA since its inaugural year (1995). Many milestone figures have been produced in the two teams' history, especially some Basketball Hall of Famers. The more we talk about this, the more grief we will feel."