Looking at the Chinese basketball scene over the past few years, the most accomplished player at home and abroad is undoubtedly Yao Ming, the former center of the Shanghai men's basketball team and the Chinese national men's basketball team.
Yao Ming in the CBA era, with this self-help, has supported the entire Shanghai men's basketball team, and under his leadership, the Shanghai men's basketball team has become one of the most powerful CBA teams in the domestic basketball world in the twenty-first century.
After losing two consecutive games to the Bayi men's basketball team in its heyday in the 1999-20 and 2000-01 seasons, the Shanghai men's basketball team finally won the first CBA championship trophy in the club's history under the leadership of Yao Ming in the 2001-02 season.
After helping Shanghai win the championship, Yao Ming finally came to the NBA as he wished, joining the championship team Houston Rockets. Arguably, Yao Ming is by far the most successful Chinese player in the NBA.
After joining the Rockets, Yao Ming quickly became the absolute core of the team's internal line, and he and Maddy, who later joined the team, became the most iconic figure of the Rockets, which caused a new wave of enthusiasm in both the United States and China.
Plagued by long-term injuries with a fractured foot, Yao Ming officially announced his retirement in 2011. After returning to China, Yao Ming bought a stake in the Shanghai men's basketball team and transformed himself from a basketball superstar to a boss.
In 2016, Yao Ming was hired as the chairman and general manager of The China Vocational Federation, and a year later he was elected chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association. This brought his career to a new peak after retiring.
Judging from Yao Ming's experience in the past 20 years, his career has been very successful. And a former NBA international player, whose experience is also very similar to Yao Ming's, is the former Utah Jazz All-Star Forward Kirilenko.
Kirilenko, a year younger than Yao Ming, entered the NBA in 1999, and the Russian forward was selected for the All-Star team several times until 2015, when he announced his retirement. Very similar to Yao Ming's life trajectory, Kirilenko also became the president of the Russian Basketball Association after retiring.
Recently, Yao Ming and Kirilenko have also been linked again, for reasons that are well known, Russian basketball has been completely banned by FIBA, and teams of all levels in Russia cannot participate in European competitions.
In order to prevent Russian basketball from falling and more international games to play, Kirilenko intends to organize a new transnational basketball tournament, and China is an important part of this transnational championship.
It is reported that Kirilenko hopes to join hands with Yao Ming to promote the formation of this new event. Although there are many obstacles to the establishment of this tournament, it is still very helpful for improving the overall level of Chinese basketball.
Domestic players play in the CBA, and there is generally a lack of sufficient confrontation, which makes the Chinese team suffer greatly when facing strong European and American players on the international field, and the results of the game naturally cannot be too good. Being able to host a league with a European basketball power like Russia would be extremely beneficial to improving the ability of domestic players to compete and experience internationally.
Therefore, we also hope that Yao Ming and Kirilenko can successfully join hands this time to establish this transnational tournament of great significance to the two countries.