After the devastating 8.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Wenchuan in Southwest China in 2008, Yao donated 2 million yuan ($309,741) and then set up the Yao Foundation to further aid the victims and other poverty-stricken people in rural areas of China. Since 2007, Yao has teamed with a series of NBA icons and entertainment celebrities to twice stage the Yao Ming-Steve Nash charity games in Beijing and Chinese Taipei to raise donations for poor children.

So far, Yao's foundation has reaped 44 million yuan in donations and has completed seven schools, according to Yao's agent, Zhang Mingji.

"Charity will be my lifetime-long job compared to my limited career as a basketball player. I'll try my best to do it even after I retire," Yao said last month during the completion ceremony of a special education school in Gansu province.

Apart from charity work, Yao has started his own business network.

According to Forbes, Yao reaped about 2 billion yuan from his salary and global endorsements since 2002. He routinely tops Forbes' wealthy celebrities list in China. In 2009, Yao bought his hometown CBA club Shanghai Sharks for 96 million yuan.

Ma, who has promoted the CBA over the past three years, believes Yao's retirement could be a boon for the league.

"He will put more energy into the Sharks' management when he retires. His return to the CBA as an owner will definitely draw attention back from the US. That should lure more sponsorship and eyeballs to his Shanghai team and the league. He still has that kind of power.

"The NBA has benefited from his popularity a lot. Many domestic companies bought commercial ads in the Toyota Center (the Rockets' home court) and signed his teammates, including Shane Battier and Luis Scola, with big deals. Now it's the time of the CBA," says Ma.