The Xinjiang Flying Tigers have decided to withdraw from the Chinese Basketball Association in protest against a controversial league penalty, following years of contract disputes between the club and star center Zhou Qi.

The Flying Tigers, the 2016-17 CBA champion club based in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, announced on Tuesday their withdrawal from the remainder of the 2022-23 regular season and quit the entire professional league in a strong statement released on the eve of the tip-off of its scheduled home game on Wednesday against the Beijing Ducks in Urumqi.

The shocking decision was made just after CBA announced on Feb 17 to punish the Flying Tigers with a one-year transfer ban that would prohibit the club from signing any new players, citing its violation of league rules in club registration.

The punishment was "groundless" and the club has denied any wrongdoing during its 24-year operation that has resulted in one league championship and five runner-up finishes in the CBA and a total investment of 2.31 billion yuan (about $334 million), according to the Flying Tigers' strong statement.

However, the CBA, currently chaired by basketball legend Yao Ming, stressed in its punishment that the Flying Tigers had been actually operating financially in the name of a new company, different from the original entity the club had registered with the league, thus causing a breach of league rules.

Should the Flying Tigers quit the league as announced, its former star center Zhou Qi, also a formidable member of China's national squad, is expected to resume his unrestricted free-agent status following his long feud with the club over a contract dispute since 2021.

After helping the Flying Tigers win the franchise's first CBA title in 2017, Zhou, who was drafted by the Houston Rockets in 2016, joined the NBA club to start a two-year stint in the United States.

However, his desire to seek opportunities elsewhere in the CBA after being waived by the Rockets and returning to the domestic league in 2019 was denied by the Flying Tigers, as per league rules that a club could keep a player as long as they offer him a maximum contract to match any offers from other clubs in the league.

Citing its legal rights to keep Zhou even if his previous contract had expired, the Flying Tigers have been refusing to release Zhou to other CBA clubs, forcing the towering center to withdraw from the CBA in 2021 and ply his trade overseas in the Australian league with South East Melbourne Phoenix.

As the backbone of China's national team, Zhou has decided to return to the CBA for more playing minutes on court as Team China prepares for the upcoming FIBA World Cup, yet met strong opposition from the Flying Tigers against his will to sign with a new club due to the same dispute.