Shanghai Sharks

2018catchphrasesemi-active

The Shanghai Sharks meme is an NBA Twitter running joke where slumping American basketball players are sarcastically pictured getting signed by the Chinese CBA team of the same name. The gag went viral around Ben Simmons in 2021 and peaked with Dillon Brooks after the Memphis Grizzlies lost to the Lakers in the 2023 playoffs.

basketball memessarcasm memestwitter memessnowclone memeswikipedia memes

Overview

The Shanghai Sharks are a professional Chinese Basketball Association team founded in 19962. On NBA Twitter, the team's name turned into shorthand for career banishment, with slumping American players sarcastically 'drafted' by the Sharks whenever they turn in a rough game3.

Common formats include fake Sharks roster infographics, Photoshopped jersey mockups, and edited Wikipedia pages that quietly slot NBA busts into the Sharks' lineup, and posts often ran alongside the 'Get Ready to Learn Chinese, Buddy' template when an ugly performance went viral3.

How It Spread

The joke picked up steam during the 2021 NBA playoffs. On April 5th, 2021, Twitter user @mldiffley captioned a Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal photo with 'Drew Timme and Corey Kispert on the Shanghai Sharks in 2025' for about 2,400 likes, and @CrypticNoHoes' May 21st, 2021 tweet declaring Draymond Green would play for the Sharks the next season drew roughly 10,200 likes. The gag went fully mainstream when @GoldieOnSports posted a June 21st, 2021 screenshot of the Sharks' Wikipedia page showing someone had quietly added Ben Simmons to the roster, gathering about 23,200 likes3.

Elaborate Simmons riffs followed on Instagram, where @hoodiemelo dropped a June 20th, 2021 parody Sharks lineup stuffed with playoff underachievers including Joe Harris, Kyle Kuzma, Kristaps Porzingis, and Rudy Gobert.

The biggest Shanghai Sharks wave hit during the 2023 playoffs, centered on Memphis Grizzlies wing Dillon Brooks. After the Lakers closed out Memphis with a 125-85 Game 6 win on April 28th, 20231, TikToker @gavinmchughh's pregame video taunting Brooks as 'Shanghai Shark Brooks' passed 3 million plays and 351,700 likes within four days, kicking off a fresh wave of Brooks-in-a-Sharks-jersey Photoshops and parody roster graphics across Twitter and Instagram.

How to Use This Meme

Common convention is to pair a photo of an underperforming NBA player, often in a Photoshopped Sharks jersey, with a mock trade announcement claiming they were signed by the team. Fake infographic rosters listing several playoff busts on the Sharks are another typical format, and quietly editing the target player onto the team's Wikipedia page has been a recurring bit3.

Frequently Asked Questions

Shanghai Sharks

2018catchphrasesemi-active

The Shanghai Sharks meme is an NBA Twitter running joke where slumping American basketball players are sarcastically pictured getting signed by the Chinese CBA team of the same name. The gag went viral around Ben Simmons in 2021 and peaked with Dillon Brooks after the Memphis Grizzlies lost to the Lakers in the 2023 playoffs.

basketball memes sarcasm memes twitter memes snowclone memes wikipedia memes

Overview

The Shanghai Sharks are a professional Chinese Basketball Association team founded in 19962. On NBA Twitter, the team's name turned into shorthand for career banishment, with slumping American players sarcastically 'drafted' by the Sharks whenever they turn in a rough game3.

Common formats include fake Sharks roster infographics, Photoshopped jersey mockups, and edited Wikipedia pages that quietly slot NBA busts into the Sharks' lineup, and posts often ran alongside the 'Get Ready to Learn Chinese, Buddy' template when an ugly performance went viral3.

How It Spread

The joke picked up steam during the 2021 NBA playoffs. On April 5th, 2021, Twitter user @mldiffley captioned a Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal photo with 'Drew Timme and Corey Kispert on the Shanghai Sharks in 2025' for about 2,400 likes, and @CrypticNoHoes' May 21st, 2021 tweet declaring Draymond Green would play for the Sharks the next season drew roughly 10,200 likes. The gag went fully mainstream when @GoldieOnSports posted a June 21st, 2021 screenshot of the Sharks' Wikipedia page showing someone had quietly added Ben Simmons to the roster, gathering about 23,200 likes3.

Elaborate Simmons riffs followed on Instagram, where @hoodiemelo dropped a June 20th, 2021 parody Sharks lineup stuffed with playoff underachievers including Joe Harris, Kyle Kuzma, Kristaps Porzingis, and Rudy Gobert.

The biggest Shanghai Sharks wave hit during the 2023 playoffs, centered on Memphis Grizzlies wing Dillon Brooks. After the Lakers closed out Memphis with a 125-85 Game 6 win on April 28th, 20231, TikToker @gavinmchughh's pregame video taunting Brooks as 'Shanghai Shark Brooks' passed 3 million plays and 351,700 likes within four days, kicking off a fresh wave of Brooks-in-a-Sharks-jersey Photoshops and parody roster graphics across Twitter and Instagram.

How to Use This Meme

Common convention is to pair a photo of an underperforming NBA player, often in a Photoshopped Sharks jersey, with a mock trade announcement claiming they were signed by the team. Fake infographic rosters listing several playoff busts on the Sharks are another typical format, and quietly editing the target player onto the team's Wikipedia page has been a recurring bit3.

Frequently Asked Questions