Total commitment

Just as he played in the paint for Houston, Yao is giving everything to his new role.

It wouldn't be unusual to see the 37-year-old attending a news conference in Beijing in the morning, a state banquet in the evening, and then fielding questions at a summit in Shanghai the next day.

His personal life is not the only thing Yao has sacrificed. He sold his majority share in CBA franchise the Shanghai Sharks, the team he played for before departing for the NBA in 2002.

Yao began his tenure by outlining a five-year plan for the league.

This season 10 teams will qualify for the playoffs, instead of the previous eight, and that number will increase to 12 for the 2018-19 campaign. Meanwhile, the regular season will grow from 38 to 56 rounds within five years.

In a bid to provide more opportunities to young players, a new development league (mirroring the NBA's G League) tipped off this month, while the CBA is also working to improve its referee roster and the draft.

"Investment isn't everything in the sports industry and gold medals aren't everything for a strong sporting country," Yao told the annual session of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body.

Professionalizing the CBA's operation and growing the grassroots game are equally important for Yao, who has urged education and sports bodies to increase cooperation in a bid to boost participation rates among young people.

In Fuzhou, Fujian province, for example, 100 schools with a special focus on basketball will be built, while this month a new under-12 league tipped off.

Yao is also keen to push 3-on-3 basketball - the newest member of the Olympic family - and, mindful of those with disabilities, has also championed the wheelchair game.

For Yao, basketball is a way of life, a method to educate people and a way of strengthening society - a vision he summed up perfectly during a visit this year to the historical site of China's first ever basketball court in Tianjin: "Only by keeping our feet on the ground can we look up at the starlit sky."

Xinhua