Abdusalam Abdurixit, captain of the CBA's Xinjiang Flying Tigers and the team's head coach Adiljan Jun responded to Xinjiang's All-Star center Zhou Qi's criticism on the team in an exclusive interview with CGTN.

In early May, Zhou criticized the team's decision of letting Shirelijan Muxtar​, Kyranbek Makan and Yu Changdong go during the 2020 summer offseason on Sina Weibo.

"I'm being sarcastic? Come on, why didn't you call me sarcastic when they (the Flying Tigers) sold Shirelijan Muxtar​ and others?" Posted Zhou replying to comments called him "sarcastic."

Since then there have been rumors about Zhou seeking a departure from the Flying Tigers. Losing the above three names already hurt the team's strength badly, the Flying Tigers do not want to lose a star player like Zhou if they still want to make a difference in the new CBA season.

Abdusalam reportedly signed a contract extension with the Flying Tigers already. He said that Zhou has the right to express his opinion and the team is open to discuss his grievances.

"We are in one team. Maybe he has a different long-term goal," said Abdusalam to CGTN. "Not only our team, there have been a lot of reforms in terms of policies concerning the Chinese basketball. Maybe not every player shares the same long-term goal. Besides, the media is a channel for him to voice his opinions. For us, we are not supposed to censor his posts. I think we always have a channel to discuss the differences."

"For us as team members, we first need to respect his channel to voice his opinions. We cannot control what he is thinking, what are his aspirations, and how he wants to voice his opinions. I think it's his own business. I think eventually, we can discuss with the team management."

As the team's head coach, Adiljan lauded Zhou Qi's performance and his role in helping the team's younger players.

"I think Zhou Qi also cares about the team. He wants to have good results. We understand that. From the last season, he has been leading the team of young players, with such a diverse age structure, in achieving some good results. So, he has been playing an important role in leading the team members on the path of development. We have not paid excessive attention to his comments on social media. He is still an excellent member of our team and China's national team. I think the cooperation between him and the management have been very pleasant. He also knows that the team cares about him," said Adiljan.