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Does Playing Time Impact Player Performance? A COVID-19 Natural Experiment

Jiang Jin et al.

International Journal of Sport Finance2026https://doi.org/10.1177/15586235251403248article
AJG 1ABDC C
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

This paper assesses the effect of playing time on player performance within the Chinese Basketball Association. The outbreak of the COVID-19 prevented some foreign players from returning to their team during the 2019–2020 season and has led to an increase in playing time for domestic players in overlapping positions. We exploit this exogenous variation in playing time and find that domestic players at affected positions show significantly improved performance, measured by plus–minus values. Quantile regression reveals that domestic players with higher plus–minus values benefit more. The shock of the COVID-19 also positively affects field goal percentage and points per minute. Additionally, we identify persistent performance gains beyond the immediate season.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/15586235251403248

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@article{jiang2026,
  title        = {{Does Playing Time Impact Player Performance? A COVID-19 Natural Experiment}},
  author       = {Jiang Jin et al.},
  journal      = {International Journal of Sport Finance},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/15586235251403248},
}

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Does Playing Time Impact Player Performance? A COVID-19 Natural Experiment

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.