The CBA playoffs are in full swing, and the Liaoning team and the Xinjiang team are the top two teams in the regular season this season, with a deep lineup and the strength to compete for the championship, but the main defenders of these two teams are not found in the playoffs. So where did Guo Allen of the Liaoning team and Zhao Rui of the Xinjiang team go, and why didn't they participate in the playoffs?
An important reason why they did not participate in the playoffs is injury, Guo Allen, like Zhao Rui, has been plagued by injuries in the last two seasons, and has also added a lot of troubles to the team. According to public sources, Guo Allen has been recuperating due to a leg muscle strain, and has only played 3 regular season games for the Liaoning team this season, namely away to Fujian on December 29, home to Guangdong on January 1 and Zhejiang Chouzhou Golden Rent on January 3, averaging only 8.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 4 assists in 19 minutes per game. A large part of the rest of the time is spent abroad (Spain) recuperating from injuries, during which we can also see Guo Allen interacting with domestic fans online, or interacting with local Chinese fans offline, etc., and he is also quite active in the days of recuperation, but it is rare to see the official announcement of the Liaoning team about him.
The contradiction between Guo Allen and the Liaoning team has been around for a long time, and it has even been semi-public, and Guo Allen also wants to leave after the "uncle" Guo Shiqiang leaves the Liaoning team, but he can only stay in the team without the contract expires. Last summer, the Liaoning team carried out negotiations on Guo Allen's trade and transfer, and the Shanxi team was close to getting Guo Allen, but when Zhou Qi announced that he would join the Guangdong Hongyuan team, the Liaoning team unilaterally stopped the negotiations, and they wanted to keep Guo Allen as a hole card against the Guangdong team in the playoffs.
So now Guo Allen's position is very embarrassing, he can't play, and he won't be traded in the short term, and he may be shelved by the team like Zhou Qi. It may be that Guo Allen's leg muscle strain has fully recovered, but the Liaoning team does not need him to play at present, he is hidden in the snow, which is possible.
Zhao Rui was traded to Xinjiang last summer, but so far he has only played nine regular season games for Xinjiang, averaging 12.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists in 26.3 minutes per game. In the home game against Jiangsu team on December 13 last year, Zhao Rui suffered a fractured fibula bone injury in his right leg, and has been recovering from the injury so far, before the playoffs began, there were media reporters interviewed the head coach of the Xinjiang team, Qiu Biao, asked about Zhao Rui's injury, Qiu Biao instructed that Zhao Rui has been actively recovering, which shows that Zhao Rui's leg injury should not be a big problem, and it is very likely to come back in the recent game.
At present, the Xinjiang team is leading the Guangzhou Dragon and Lions team 2-0 in the 1/4 finals of the playoffs, and some fans saw Zhao Rui take a plane with the Xinjiang team to the home stadium of the Guangzhou team, which shows that Zhao Rui's injury has basically recovered. In the current situation that Huang Rongqi is banned, Zhao Rui and the team can go to the away team to enter the squad in case of emergency, of course, Zhao Rui also needs to play some low-intensity games to adapt to the comeback, such as being able to appear on the bench time, go to the field to warm up and get back to the state of the game, and prepare for the next round of games.
There is a high probability that we can see Zhao Rui playing in the next round of semi-finals, but the news about Guo Allen's return to China has always been rumored and has not been confirmed, and he may not play again this season. Injuries are more serious than injuries, and of course there are more serious things than injuries, and they affect more than just a player's career.