How the Yao Ming Effect has panned out
By Tym Glaser | China Daily | Updated: 2016-02-19 07:59
When Chinese behemoth Yao Ming was taken No 1 in the 2002 NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets, a nation rejoiced, history was created and a portal opened.
Ming, all 2.29 meters of him (or 7 feet, six inches in the old language), strode through that door and other Chinese were expected to follow him into the most popular foreign league in this country - not immediately, but steadily and surely.
Almost a decade and a half after the draft in which Yao became the first player from outside the US collegiate system to be taken No 1, there is not a single China-born player in the NBA.
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