What next for Yao Ming?

SHANGHAI - Chinese media was rife with speculation Monday about what basketball icon Yao Ming might do next, after reports the country's most famous sporting export is set to retire.

The giant 30-year-old Houston Rockets center is expected to announce his retirement on July 20 at a news conference in his home city of Shanghai, after eight seasons playing in the NBA.

The 2.29-metre (seven-foot-six) phenomenon, whose ground-breaking career is widely credited with helping the global growth of the game, is set to quit after a series of injuries, most recently a stress fracture in his left leg.

Returning to the Shanghai Sharks -- the team he owns and used to play for -- designing his own sportswear line or taking over China's answer to the NBA have all been mooted as options for the wildly popular Yao.

"What is next for Yao Ming? China has never had anyone like Yao before," the Guangzhou Daily wrote.

Fans have already begun mourning his departure after the Houston Chronicle reported on Friday that Yao had told the Rockets a month ago he would not return, after two seasons dogged by injuries.

An official with the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) told AFP that the league was not able to confirm the reports.

Already the most powerful figure in Chinese basketball, Yao could be invited to head up the national association, the Guangzhou Daily predicted, but acknowledged he might not be interested in the post.

The report also suggested Yao could take to the court as a player for the Shanghai Sharks, but a spokeswoman told AFP she had not heard anything about Yao returning to the club.

Yao routinely tops Forbes' list of China's most valuable celebrities and his global appeal has led to endorsement deals with Nike, Pepsi, McDonald's and China Telecom.

His personal brand is valued at more than $1 billion, his lawyers once told a court in the central city of Wuhan, where he sued a sportswear firm for selling a brand called "Yao Ming Generation" without his permission.

"Yao's commercial value is unlikely to shrink in the near term. Yao’s value surpasses the sport itself," the Nanfang Daily wrote Monday.

In an interview with the newspaper, Yao's manager, Zhang Mingji, declined to answer questions about the star's possible retirement, but said his man was not influenced by money.

"I never got the feeling from Yao he wanted to be really, really rich. We just run the business based on Yao's interests. If Yao Ming wanted to be a rich man, he could earn three or four times more than now," Zhang was quoted as saying.

While Yao was not the first Chinese player in the NBA, his engaging personality made him a favorite for sponsors seeking a way to attract interest in the potentially hugely profitable China market and for NBA fans across Asia.