Yao Ming

Perhaps the greatest basketball player to ever come from China, Yao Ming, played professionally for the Shanghai Sharks in the CBA. He moved to the NBA to play for the Houston Rockets between 2002 and 2011, where he was selected eight times as a starter in the NBA All-Star Game for the Western Conference.

Ming, who’s a basketball executive in China, was named five times to the All-NBA Team, twice on the second team and three times on the third team. He held an enviable record of being the tallest active NBA player at 2.29m in 2011, which was his final season.