Guangdong Hongyuan Southern Tigers or Guangdong Southern Tigers, also known as Guangdong Dongguan Bank for sponsorship reasons, are a Chinese professional basketball team owned by the Guangdong Winnerway Group. The team is one of the best-performing teams in the Chinese Basketball Association. The Tigers have won nine CBA titles, more than any other team in the league. They are also the only team to have qualified for the CBA playoffs stage every single season since the league launched in 1995. The team plays its home games in Dongguan, Guangdong. Occasionally, for marketing purposes, the team plays some of its home games in Zhongshan, Zhuhai, and other cities in the Pearl River Delta.
History
Established in 1993, the Tigers are the main team of the Guangdong Southern Tigers Basketball Club which is the first privately owned professional basketball club in China. Besides Team 1, the club has three reserve teams : Team 2, Team 3A, and Team 3B. These reserve teams are jointly administrated by the club and by the Guangdong Provincial Sports Bureau. The Southern Tigers have been CBA members since its inception and are the most successful team in the league. In the 1995–96 season, the Tigers qualified for the finals but lost to Bayi Rockets. After a seven-year wait, they made it to the finals again in 2002–03, and in 2003–04, the team claimed its first ever CBA title. Between 2002–03 and 2012–13, the team played in the finals 11 times in a row, winning eight CBA championships and losing three times. The team has also participated in the National Games of China, on behalf of the Guangdong Province. In 2009, they won the first National Gamesgold medal in basketball for their 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 toTianjin. Aaron Brooks played for them in the 2011–12 season due to the 2011 NBA lockout. James Singleton and Quincy Douby also played for them in 2011–12.
