History
Established in 1993, the Tigers are the main team (Team 1) of the Guangdong Southern Tigers Basketball Club. The club is the first non-government owned professional basketball club in the People's Republic of China. Besides Team 1, the club has three reserve teams (youth teams): Team 2 (Guangzhou based), Team 3A (Guangzhou based), and Team 3B (Dongguan based). The reserve teams are jointly-administrated by the club and Guangdong Provincial Sports Bureau. Many famous basketball players in China play for the club. Currently the Tigers have eight national team players and a number of national youth team players.
The Tigers have had a history of performing well in the CBA, being a member since the inception of the CBA. In 1995/96, the 1st CBA season, the Tigers qualified for the finals but lost 0–2 to Bayi Rockets. In 2002/03, they fought their way back to the finals after seven years. In 2003/04, the team claimed its first ever CBA title. From 2002/03, they qualified for the finals in every season until now (2010/11), and won seven CBA champions, including a threepeat (2003/04 – 2005/06) and a fourpeat (2007/08 – 2010/11).
When team 1 performs well in the CBA, the club's youth team is even more dominant. By August 2011, the Tigers had won 15 championships in the two most prestige national youth leagues in China, including a sixpeat and a fivepeat. When competing with the Tigers in the youth league, many opponents will "let the timer run" (i.e., the timer does not stop during timeouts), reducing match time to decrease opportunities for the Tigers to increase their lead. In 2009, the Tigers lost the youth league title to the rival Dongguan Leopards, but they won it back in the following year.
In addition to CBA, the team played in the National Games of the People's Republic of China, on behalf of the Guangdong Province. In 2009, they won the first National Games gold medal of basketball in the history of the province.
NBA players currently play and have played for the team. Yi Jianlian was promoted from the youth team in 2002/03 and played for the Tigers until 2006/07. He then played in the NBA for a few years before returning for a few games in the 2011/12 season. Laron Profit played in 2002/03 as well as in 2003/04 before returning to the NBA. Lamond Murray played in 2007/08. Smush Parker played in 2008/09 and 2009/10. David Harrison has played in 2009/10 and 2010/11 before going to Tianjin. Aaron Brooks played for them in the 2011/12 season due to the 2011 NBA lockout.
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