While the 2016 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) finals are still under way between Liaoning Flying Leopards and Sichuan Whale, Zhou Qi, a player fromXinjiang Flying Tigers and one of the best basketball prospects in China, has started his US tour in Dallas accompanied by his agent Leng Gang.

It once again triggers speculation that Zhou will take part in the upcoming NBA draft in the summer. Speaking about Zhou’s plansin the US, his agent said Zhou traveled to the US primarily for recovery and physical conditioning. But various sources have pointed out that Zhou will be exposed to NBA scouts, officials and even sports reporters during his stay in the US. More importantly, they noted Zhou himself has decided to play in the NBA draft in June. Could Zhou grow into the next Yao Ming? Or will he take part in the draft this summer?

Leng Gang, as Zhou’s agent, would like to keep the speculation going and hasn’t given a direct answer. “Zhou Qi hopes to join a strong (NBA) team, where he can practice and improve. We will work hard for the best outcome, and we will see what the result is.”

This is how a sports agent operates in the presence of the media. However, not many Chinese athletes find it easy to partner with quality domestic agents as there are only around 1,000 of these registered in the country, while even fewer have gained international qualifications. Some analysts believe that China’s rising sports industry will be needing as many as 7,000 sports agents in the near future.

Li Yaming, formerly a sports reporter, is now among one of the high-profile agents in the sports industry in China. He insists that there is great scope for expansion in this area, with the relative lack of quality agents a real challenge to the growing industry.

In the past, government administration centres had been playing the role of representing international athletes but now evolving professional sports are asking much more than that. Athletes nowadays need professional representatives to help them with transfers and commercial deals. With the rise of the CSL and the CBA, we can easily see the gap between the needs of players and the number of quality representatives and agencies.

There is also the issue of college students who are interested in setting up sports agencies. A professor at Hangzhou Normal University said the students are expecting to get more relative professional training in that area, not a strong point of Chinese universities. So this deficit will likely encourage more Chinese students to further their studies in the sports industry abroad.

Furthermore, being a good sports agent requires a basic knowledge of the relevant laws, the local tax regime, program planning and promotions, personal networks, and above all, occupational requirements. All this in addition to pure interest, a professor at Beijing Sport University argued.

The good news is that China’s sports industry is expected to boom in the next few years and to reach its RMB5 trillion goal by 2025. With the growth of professional sports, especially the CSL and the CBA, more and more people who are interested in being sports agents will take on more professional training run by China’s State General Administration of Sports. Will domestic agents catch up with the growth of Chinese professional sport? Like Leng Gang said, “we will see”.

Proofread by John Devlin.