On February 14, Beijing time, the CBA officially announced the time and place of the third phase of the regular season. From March 1 to March 22, the third phase of the regular season will be held jointly in Shenyang and Shunde (Foshan), and the competition will still be held in the conference system.
Compared with the plan drawn up at the beginning of the season, the third phase of the regular season was held nearly a month earlier. Initially, the CBA planned to host the third phase of the regular season from March 30 to April 21, at that time, this arrangement was based on the Chinese men's basketball team to participate in the second window of the World Cup qualifiers in February. However, with the timing of the second window of the Chinese men's basketball team in the World Preliminary Tournament adjusted to June, the CBA also chose to advance the time of the third stage of the regular season.
As for the location of the third phase of the regular season, it is determined to be Shenyang and Foshan, which is also the first time since the epidemic in 2020 that these two places have hosted a CBA conference system. At the same time, this is the first time this season that a double division has been used.
Previously, the CBA also planned to work hard to restore the home-and-away format in the third phase of the regular season, but from the current point of view, this is still impossible to achieve.
This season, the CBA regular season shrank to 38 rounds. Currently, the first phase (13 rounds) and the second phase (15 rounds) of the CBA have been played in 28 rounds of the regular season, and only the last 10 rounds of the third stage of the regular season (rounds 29-38 of the regular season) remain. The final 10 rounds of the sprint will also determine the final playoff spot, and the top 12 teams in the regular season will eventually qualify.