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Yao Ming
FILE - Former NBA basketball player Yao Ming attends a luncheon during the forum titled Chinese Modernization and the World held at The Grand Halls in Shanghai, on April 21, 2023. Yao has stepped down as head of China’s struggling national league. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
Chinese basketball legend Yao Ming steps down as head of national league
Former Houston Rockets star Yao Ming has stepped down as head of China’s struggling national basketball league.
 
FILE - New York Liberty center Han Xu is shown during the first half of a WNBA exhibition basketball game against China, Thursday, May 9, 2019, in New York. Standing 6-10, Han would like to emulate Yao Ming's impact — including his influence on the sport in China. She wants to be a female beacon of basketball in her native land. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
Aspiring female Yao: 6-10 Han Xu making mark in WNBA, China
 
Yao Ming, head of the Chinese Basketball Association and Ice Snow Sports Promotion Ambassador speaks during a Linjia 7 Salon afternoon tea with journalists at Beijing International Club in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 17, 2022. Former NBA great Yao Ming said Monday he and others had a pleasant talk when they met last month with Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, whose disappearance after making a sexual assault allegation against a former government official raised international concern. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Former NBA great Yao Ming addresses Peng Shuai, Olympics
 
Houston Rockets head coach Stephen Silas, center, talks with guard Jalen Green (0) and forward David Nwaba (2) during a time out during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Washington Wizards Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
Youth is served: Rockets to rely on 4 teen 1st round picks
 
Singer Usher performs during a memorial for Kobe Bryant, prior to an NBA basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Portland Trail Blazers in Los Angeles, Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. (AP Photo/Kelvin Kuo)
Kobe tribute game 2nd most watched in ESPN NBA history
 
United States' Coco Gauff, left, and compatriot Caty McNally talk in their third round doubles match against Japan's Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Bryant’s death draws tributes from Asian fans, politicians
BEIJING (AP) — Kobe Bryant was a hugely popular figure in Asia, no more so than in China where basketball rivals soccer as the most popular sport.
 
Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Sheryl Swoopes speaks during induction ceremonies at Symphony Hall, Friday, Sept. 9, 2016, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Iverson, Shaq headline emotional Hall of Fame ceremony
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — When Shaquille O’Neal was 10 years old, his father made a prediction.

Friday night when his son became a Hall of Famer, it was realized.
 
Yao Ming, of China, a 2016 class of inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame ,looks up at photographs of past inductees as he speaks about them during a news conference at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Shaq, Iverson, Yao headline ‘extraordinary’ Hall class
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame will soon welcome two of the sport’s game-changing stars — one big and one small.
 
AP Source: Timberwolves adding NBA’s 1st Chinese owner
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor is bringing in two new minority partners to his ownership group, including the NBA’s first Chinese owner, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press.