The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) is planning to set up a players' association.

Like the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) which was launched in 1954, theCBA's players union is expected to protect the rights of CBA players, however, pundits areworried whether this union is really able to do the job.

"Although it is a trend to set up a players' union, the most important is whether the unioncan protect the players' rights or not," said Xu Jicheng, a well-known Chinese commentator on the game.

Different from the NBPA which is independent from NBA, the CBA players' association will be part of the CBA structure.

Twenty CBA clubs will be asked to have a player representative each in the union, whichwill hire a lawyer to offer legal help and advice.

Shanxi player Duan Jiangpeng is looking forward to the establishment of the players' union.

"I hope the union will be 100 percent on our side and protect and maximize our rights," he said.

For NBA,the players' association is independent,self-organized ,therefore they are fully authorized when facing labor-management dispute.The NBA players went on strike in 1998-1999 and 2011-2012 seasons in order to increase their salary in lastest 20 years.

As the experts analyze,because of the depency on the CBA,the association would be hardly make decisions all by themselves in short time.

Original title by Xinhua:China's basketball league to set up players' association