Chinese basketball fans are already gleefully predicting Yao Ming will join LeBron James at the Cleveland Cavaliers after reports in the United States that a Hong Kong-based company is set to take a minority share in the NBA franchise.
New World Development Company is said to be set to take a 15 percent holding in the Cavaliers, the second-largest stake after owner Dan Gilbert.
The NBA is hugely popular in China with hundreds of millions tuning in to games involving the giant Houston Rockets centre Yao.