Yao Ming - The Great Wall of Basketball

Position Center
Nickname The Ming Dynasty, The Great Wall of Yao, Chairman Yao
League NBA
Height 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m)
Weight 310 lb (141 kg)
Team Houston Rockets
Nationality Chinese
Born September 12, 1980 (1980-09-12) (age 27)
Shanghai, China
Draft 1st overall, 2002
Houston Rockets
Pro career 2000–present



Former teams Shanghai Sharks (1997-2002)
Awards 6-time NBA All-Star
3-time All-NBA Selection
2002-03 NBA All-Rookie First Team


Yao Ming (Chinese: 姚明; pinyin: Yáo Míng) (born September 12, 1980, in Shanghai, China) is a Chinese professional basketball player who plays for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is currently the tallest player in the NBA, standing at 7'6" (2.29 m).[1] He played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) for five years, before being selected by Houston as the 1st overall pick of the 2002 NBA Draft.

Physical Dimensions

Yao Ming is currently listed as the tallest player in the NBA at a height of 7'6". In the 2002 NBA draft camp Yao Ming was listed as having a barefoot height of 7'5" with a comparatively short armspan of 7'4.75" and a standing reach of 9'7". In shoes Yao Ming was listed at 7'6.25".[15]

Early life and pre-CBA career

Yao was born to a 6'7"[2] (2.01 m) father, Yao Zhiyuan, and a 6'3"[2] (1.90 m) mother, Fang Fengdi. His mother was the captain of the women’s national team that won the first Asian Championship in 1976.[3] Yao's birth weight was 11 pounds, twice the average size in China. He was 5’5" by age ten,[3] and 6’6" (2 meters) by age thirteen.[4] He developed a sickness at age seven that resulted in him losing his hearing in his left ear.[3]

He first started playing basketball at age nine,[3] and he went to the junior sports school at the same age.[3] When he was examined at age ten he was predicted to grow to the height of 7’3”.[3] The Sharks invited him to try out for their junior team when he was thirteen, where he had to practice for 10 hours a day to make the team.[3] He first dunked at age fifteen,[3] and he made the senior team of the Sharks when he was seventeen.[3]