With just over a month to go before the season tips off on Oct 10, Zhai is facing a tough challenge of his own to get back to peak condition after just completing a long quarantine due to a bout of COVID-19 that he picked up in early July during the national team's FIBA Asia Cup campaign in Indonesia.

Zhai battled fatigue and fever for more than a week before isolating for over 20 days in total－first in Jakarta and then Hong Kong－while the rest of the national team flew to Europe for a training camp. He finally returned home to Beijing on Tuesday.

"Physically, I feel OK now but I still need at least a week to get back to my best shape so that I can go full tilt in scrimmage," said Zhai, a formidable member of the national team coached by Du Feng.

"It's definitely exciting that we are going to play faster under coach Xie in the new season. I will do my best to keep up with the pace of our young guns."