# Shanghai Sharks 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. ## Overview The Shanghai Sharks are a professional Chinese Basketball Association team founded in 1996[2]. 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 game[3]. 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 viral[3]. ## 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 likes[3]. 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, 2023[1], 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 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 bit[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Shanghai Sharks? The Shanghai Sharks meme is an NBA Twitter running joke where slumping American basketball players are sarcastically pictured signing with the Chinese Basketball Association team of the same name[3]. ### Where did Shanghai Sharks come from? The first viral post using the modern gag was a July 23rd, 2018 tweet from user @steven_lebron joking that Dwight Howard would land with the Sharks[3]. ### What does Shanghai Sharks mean? It's NBA fan shorthand for a player being washed and about to be out of the league, riffing on the real history of ex-NBA veterans like Michael Beasley and Jimmer Fredette actually signing with the CBA team[2]. ### How do you use Shanghai Sharks? Pair a photo of a slumping NBA player, often in a Photoshopped Sharks jersey, with a mock trade announcement or a fake roster infographic listing multiple playoff busts[3]. ### Is Shanghai Sharks still popular? The meme peaked in April 2023 with Dillon Brooks after the Lakers eliminated the Memphis Grizzlies from the playoffs[1] and has been less active in NBA discourse since. ## References 1. [https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2023-04-28/lakers-memphis-grizzlies-game-6-photos-pictures]() 2. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Sharks]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/shanghai-sharks]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/shanghai-sharks Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library