*This content was translated by AI.
Taiwan national team guard Ling Ting-chen (26) has left Tianjin Pioneers of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) to join Taipei Taishin Mars of the Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL). According to local reports, his salary is a staggering 60 million New Taiwan dollars (approximately 2.7 billion won). This amount nearly equals the total player salaries of an entire KBL franchise and is described as one of the largest contracts in Asian professional basketball history.
According to multiple local media outlets including Taiwan's TSNA, the TPBL's Taishin Mars club secured Ling Ting-chen, a "Taiwan national team" star, on the 6th (Korean time) with what is being called the highest contract in league history. Ling, who signed a pre-tax annual salary of 6 million yuan (approximately 1.25 billion won) in the previous CBA season, saw his salary more than double upon returning to his homeland. He is well-known among domestic basketball fans for hitting a dramatic three-pointer in the final minutes of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 75-75 during South Korea's FIBA World Cup qualifier against Taiwan in Goyang last July. At that time, Ling scored 13 points and helped Taiwan secure an 82-80 victory.
The background of this unprecedented contract lies in the fierce competition among teams for player acquisitions within Taiwan's professional basketball league. Currently, Taiwan's basketball scene operates under a dual-league system consisting of TPBL and PLG. With intense inter-league rivalry and no separate team salary cap regulations, clubs are engaged in an unrestricted bidding war to acquire star players. Ling Ting-chen's 2.7 billion won salary far exceeds the caps of major neighboring leagues and even surpasses the salaries of top stars in those regions.
According to reports, China's CBA limits its total team salary cap to 42 million yuan (approximately 8.8 billion won), with individual maximum pre-tax salaries capped at 6 million yuan (approximately 1.25 billion won). Japan's B.League also has a new team salary cap of around 800 million yen (approximately 7.2 billion won), with Yuta Watanabe of the Chiba Jets, formerly of the NBA, earning about 200 million yen (approximately 1.8 billion won).
The contrast becomes even more striking when compared to South Korea's KBL. The KBL's team salary cap for the 2026-2027 season is around 3 billion won. TSNA also reported, "Korea's highest-paid players include Heo Hoon and Kim Sun-hyung, with estimated salaries of 800 million won." In comparison, Ling Ting-chen's salary exceeds this by three times. Essentially, the value of a single player equals the entire payroll of one KBL franchise.
Taiwanese capital's aggressive expansion into China's league is expected to significantly reshape the transfer landscape across Asian basketball markets. It remains to be seen whether Ling Ting-chen's contract will accelerate the rising trend in player valuations across Asia or lead to the formation of a unique large-scale market within Taiwan's league.
<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>
*This content was translated by AI.
