Why Yao Ming stepped down as CBA chairman, and what it means for Chinese basketball
- Preparation for 2024 and 2028 Olympics is a ‘top project’ for the Chinese Basketball Association – and former NBA star will lead the charge
- Despite reports in Chinese media, Houston Rockets legend Yao is not expected to be in the running for FIBA presidency this summer
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Chinese basketball legend Yao Ming has stepped down as the head of China’s national basketball league – but it is far from the end of his role in shaping the future of the game in his home country.
The former Houston Rockets star has designated Xu Jicheng, vice-chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), to succeed in his role as CBA league chairman.
The 42-year-old Yao, however, is retaining his position as CBA president, having been elected to his second term only last December, and will focus more on the national team going forward rather than the business side of things.
At a CBA company board of directors and shareholders’ meeting last week, Xu credited Yao for his “irreplaceable contribution” to the league, and the great foundation he had laid for it to move to a higher level in the future.
Matters concerning the salary cap of local players, as well as foreign players for the 2023-24 season, were also discussed and finalised at the meeting.
According to Chinese media reports, the rise of Xu had been a long time coming, as the 62-year-old had been managing the league and attending league-related activities since last year, including the 2022 CBA draft.
Yao, who only took up the CBA league company chairman role in a part-time capacity and without pay, had been stepping aside from the league’s daily management work from around 2020 because of the poor results of China’s men’s national team, who finished 24th when they hosted the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2019, and missed out on the Tokyo Olympics.
According to the 14th five-year Chinese basketball development plan, the national team’s preparation for the 2024 Paris Olympics, as well as the 2028 Los Angeles Games, had since been listed as the “top project”, and Yao, as the CBA chairman, had shifted his focus onto the national team.
China are set to compete at their 10th World Cup this summer when they take on Group B opponents Serbia, South Sudan and Puerto Rico in Quezon City.
China, whose best result at the tournament is an eighth-place finish in 1994, can claim one of the seven automatic qualifying spots for the Paris Olympics if they finish as the best Asian team at the event, which is being co-hosted by the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia from August 25 to September 10.
Separately, despite multiple mainland Chinese media reports, Yao is not vying to become the FIBA president this summer.
Per FIBA General Statutes, the president is elected by the Congress for a single four-year term in office, which rotates among the Zones.
While it will be Asia’s turn for the 2023-2027 term, rules also state that the president may not hold an office within a Zone or a national member federation.
Yao is, therefore, ineligible as he waa only been re-elected as CBA chairman last December, and he was also re-elected as the chairman of FIBA Asia recently.
With Sheikh Saud Ali Al Thani stepping down as the FIBA Asia president last week and being replaced by Dr Kempa Govindraj, it is expected Sheikh Saud is set to run for the FIBA president role.
The FIBA presidency is more of an honorary role given its rotation among Zones and it is the Secretary General who manages the daily affairs of FIBA.
The president is also not an employee of FIBA and is only entitled to claim travel expenses.
