Former Chinese professional basketball player who last played for the Houston Rockets, Yao Ming has an estimated net worth of $65 million. Born in Shanghai, as a teenager he started playing for the Shanghai Sharks.

Yao was drafted by the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 2002, and later that year became only the third Chinese national ever to play in the NBA.Yao was already famous, and famously tall: at 7'5" (2.26 meters) he towered over even most professional players, and he had played for China's national team in the 2000 Olympic Games and the 2002 FIBA World Championships. He also played five seasons with the Shanghai Sharks of the China Basketball Association.

Both of Yao's parents played for the national basketball teams of China; his mother, Fang Feng Di, is 6'3" tall and his father Yao Zhi Yuan is 6'7".Yao is married to Ye Li (6 ft 3 in), a women's basketball player for China. He met her when he was 17 years old, she is the only woman he's ever dated. On July 16, 2009, Yao bought his former club team, the Shanghai Sharks, which were on the verge of not being able to play the next season of the Chinese Basketball Association due to financial troubles.

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