Continue the legend

He already has his own restaurants, and is shareholder of a music website and a navigation technology company. However, the most intriguing investment is when he purchased the Shanghai Sharks Basketball Club in July 2009.

The club is where Yao comes from, and where he led the team to its only CBA title. The club plunged after Yao's departure in 2002, and had lost 96 million yuan before Yao came to the rescue in July 2009, when he bought all the club's stock shares. There is a chance that Yao will once again lead the battered club back to CBA's top- only this time as its boss.

Become a philanthropist

The popularity the first Asian NBA player gained is likely to stay on for quite some time, and is very much to his benefit if he decides to dive into charity work after retirement.

Yao was a regular member of the Huston Rockets annual charity party, and was named the first goodwill ambassador of the United Nations Environment Program in 2008.

What's more, he founded The Yao Foundation after a major earthquake hit Southwest China's Sichuan province in 2008, and has helped reconstruct primary schools damaged by the earthquake and renovate primary schools in remote areas.

The most recent public welfare event that Yao took part in was the launch of a healthcare program in Tibet started by Chinese singer Han Hong, on July 13.

When Yao retires, he will have more time to run his foundation, and promote charity work using his agreeable image.

A television celebrity

Yao co-hosted a Chinese New Year program on Shanghai Dragon TV in 2010, and even appeared on China's Got Talent in 2011. He was humorous and smart, and easily became the focus of the show. There's also predictions that he will commentate more basketball games. Anyway, a studio may be the right place for people to enjoy his witty words outside news conferences.