LAUSR

Abstract This study explores the relationship between talent pool size and competitive balance in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). In particular, the focus of this analysis is on the impact of the Asian-born player policy, which gives CBA teams at the bottom of the standings the ability to sign an additional talented player. Prior theorization suggests that allowing weaker teams to sign additional talent—while also constraining other teams—should reduce the talent gap between teams, and hence improve competitive balance. Based on this, both within-season and cross-season competitive balance metrics were utilized in interrupted time series regressions to estimate whether this policy had an impact on parity. The results find that while the Asian-born player policy did not improve within-season competitive balance, it did lead to better reordering of where teams finished in the final standings. Overall, the findings have important implications in regards to how policy can impact competitive balance.