Chinese center Zhou Qi of both the Chinese Basketball Association's (CBA) Xinjiang Flying Tigers and the Liaoning provincial team in the National Games of China (NGC) was seemingly criticizing the Flying Tigers while arguing with fans on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, on Sunday.

Zhou and Liaoning are currently playing in the NGC preliminary contest, which takes place every four years following the CBA's season wrap-up. He scored 23 points and six rebounds in the second game on Sunday. On that night, Zhou posted on Weibo: "I have starved for so long and suddenly I'm so stuffed."

Many assumed he was talking about scoring many easy points thanks to quality feedings by his Liaoning teammates. Others interpreted such remarks as criticism against the Flying Tigers as he had "starved for so long" without good teammates.

Some Flying Tigers fans lashed at Zhou for his seemingly sarcastic post, which in return upset him. In response, Zhou replied: "I'm being sarcastic? Come on, why didn't you call me sarcastic when they (the Flying Tigers) sold Shirelijan Muxtar​ and others?"

Zhou was referring to the Flying Tigers letting Shirelijan Muxtar​, Kyranbek Makan and Yu Changdong go during the 2020 summer offseason. The team claimed that they were trying to give young players more opportunities but the departures of these quality veterans hurt the team's strength badly.

As a result, 25-year-old Zhou had to carry the Flying Tigers alone while averaging 32.7 minutes per game. He even puked because of excessive fatigue twice. His team lost seven of the 11 games Zhou sat out, proving how much they have been relying on him. It was no surprise then when the Flying Tigers were eliminated by the Shandong Heroes in the CBA playoffs.

After his team's elimination, Zhou posted: "Are they really gonna feed us more illusions? Like who will actually eat it" on Weibo. 

His contract with the Flying Tigers is up in September. Although the team may still be able to keep Zhou with a maximum contract offer, Zhou's voice should be a wakeup-call for the team to consider improvements and reinforcements.