On Saturday night in Shanghai, Yao got a hero’s welcome from the fans as he appeared as team owner for the Shanghai Sharks season opener.

Yao spoke to the crowd before the game pledging he would try his hardest to bring the team back to the top of Chinese basketball.

Click here for lots more photos of Yao and details of the game.

The Sharks almost won the game, led by former Houston Rocket John Lucas III in his first game with Shanghai. Lucas scored 30 points on 13-of-22 shooting, but wasn’t able to hit a shot at the end of overtime that could have won the game.

Although Lucas didn’t have that illustrious of an NBA career, he must be thrilled he is “the man” in Shanghai and will be treated like royalty there. And who knows, if he keeps this up, he could get another crack at the NBA. It also doesn’t hurt that Yao would probably put in a good word for him, even if it meant Shanghai may not be as good without him.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 19th, 2009 at 11:55 am and is filed under China. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.