Congratulations to Guangdong! The New Leader of Hongyuan Has Emerged, and He Could Be Hu Mingxuan's Successor!

The 2026-27 CBA preseason games continued, with a highly anticipated matchup between the strong Guangdong men's basketball team and their city rivals Shenzhen. In the end, Guangdong, without Hu Mingxuan, Cui Yongxi, Jiao Boqiao and three foreign players, lost 81-89 to Shenzhen. However, the defeat brought Hongyuan fans a surprise far beyond the result. With Hu Mingxuan and the foreign players all unavailable, young interior player Wang Hongze delivered a dominant performance and became Guangdong's strongest performer. Many fans believe Wang Hongze could become Guangdong's new leader in the future. After the foreign coaching staff took over Guangdong men's basketball, the course of this game fully demonstrated Wang Hongze's rapid development.

Facing a Shenzhen team that finished among the top four in the standings last season, Wang Hongze displayed maturity far beyond his age on both offense and defense. On offense, Wang Hongze repeatedly used his footwork to finish in the low post and also moved to the mid-to-long range to hit shots, making full use of the advantages of a stretch-style center. On defense, his rebounding positioning and rim protection awareness were equally impressive, as he repeatedly provided protection and disruption when Shenzhen launched fast breaks. In the game, Wang Hongze ranked first on the team in scoring, rebounds and efficiency value, almost carrying the team's offensive and defensive responsibilities by himself while three core players were absent. This performance even surpassed Xu Jie's impact level, showing his potential as a future cornerstone of Guangdong men's basketball.

In fact, Wang Hongze's rise represents Guangdong's long-term planning. On one hand, Guangdong currently lacks a true core at the power forward position. It should be noted that Jiao Boqiao, Cui Yongxi, Xu Jie and Hu Mingxuan all have national-team-level ability, giving Guangdong clear advantages at the point guard, shooting guard, small forward and center positions. However, after Du Runwang's transfer, Guangdong's power forward position not only lost an experienced immediate contributor but can currently only rely on newcomers such as Wang Hongze, Huang Mingyi and Zhang Hao to take on major responsibilities. On the other hand, Guangdong's leader Hu Mingxuan is currently in a state of heavy workload. Before talented center Xu Xin returns, Hu Mingxuan remains Guangdong's biggest championship contender asset.

However, it will not be easy for Hu Mingxuan to maintain his form for a long period in the future, and his availability has also begun to decline in recent years. If Hu Mingxuan continues to suffer injury issues over the next 2-3 years and sees his form decline, Guangdong will need a new leader to carry the team. At this point, Wang Hongze may be more suitable than Xu Jie to develop into the team's new leader. After all, Xu Jie struggled to solve the problem of being repeatedly attacked by Sun Haoqin in this game. In the future, Xu Jie may be better suited to serve as a reliable backup point guard. As for the decisive lineup, Guangdong could use a combination of a foreign guard, Hu Mingxuan/Chen Jiazheng, Cui Yongxi, Wang Hongze and Jiao Boqiao. Although Wang Hongze does not yet have consistent power forward shooting ability, his playmaking and finishing abilities are both at a high level.

In conclusion, if Wang Hongze can continue maintaining his current pace of improvement, he could not only become one of the top power forwards in the CBA in the future but also become Guangdong's new leader after Hu Mingxuan.