The club's history dates back to 1953, when the Northeast Sports Training Class Basketball Team () was formed, which later became the Liaoning Provincial Basketball Team (). Liaoning won the national basketball championship in 1985, as well as in 1988, 1989, 1991 and 1992. During the
2004–05 CBA season, Liaoning finished in first place in the North Division, but lost in the quarter-finals of the CBA Playoffs to the South Division's
Yunnan Bulls. The team would then go on to place seventh and fourth, respectively, over the next two years, before advancing to the CBA Finals following the
2007–08 CBA season. Although Liaoning eventually lost to the
Guangdong Southern Tigers, the club did win the fourth game of the series. This was the team's first victory in the CBA Finals, despite multiple appearances. After finishing in fifth place in the
2009–10 CBA season, Liaoning would miss both the
2010–11 and the
2011–12 CBA playoffs. In 2011, Liaoning Scale Industry took over sponsorship from the Liaoning Panpan Group Co., Ltd. Before the
2012–13 CBA season began, the roster received a massive upheaval. Liaoning made multiple changes including the signings of
Josh Akognon and
Alexander Johnson. Meanwhile, veteran Bian Qiang retired, and many local players were either transferred or loaned out to other
CBA teams. One of the most significant player transactions that occurred was the decision to let go of Zhang Qingpeng. It would later be revealed that this move was made in the interest of developing sharpshooter
Guo Ailun. On 2 December 2012, the Flying Leopards beat the
Tianjin Gold Lions 100–81. This was Liaoning's sixth straight home victory against Tianjin. In 2013, the team started to receive sponsorship from
Benxi Steel Group. The Flying Leopards have since become regular contenders for the CBA title again, powered by such players as Guo,
Han Dejun, and multi-time CBA International MVP
Lester Hudson. Liaoning lost to the
Beijing Ducks in six games in the
2015 CBA Finals, and to
Sichuan Blue Whales in five games in the
2016 CBA Finals. After Game 3 of the 2016 Finals, a
brawl broke between players from the visiting Liaoning Flying Leopards and fans of the Sichuan Blue Whales. In the
2017–18 CBA season, Liaoning defeated
Zhejiang Lions in the finals (4–0) and won their first CBA league title. The team relocated their home stadium from Benxi to Shenyang during the play-offs semi-finals. In 2019, 3SBio Inc. officially took the sponsorship, and changed the team name. In the
2020–21 season, former
national team player
Yang Ming became the new head coach. Under his guidance, the Flying Leopards won three consecutive CBA championships (
2021–22,
2022–23 and
2023–24), and also swept their opponents 4–0 in the finals on all three occasions. ==Players==