Nike swoops in
Nike were shocked to find out about this the next morning from Frank Sha who was filled in by Da Fang. Later, Nike confirmed to the family that the contract signed would not be valid in the NBA. Later, Li would dispute that saying that the contract called for additional services in player development beyond what the standard NBA contract entailed. Regardless, this contract situation shook Nike into a move to sign Yao officially before any other unforeseen developments occurred.
They wanted to sign him to a four-year deal, which Da Fang felt was way too long. But Frank Sha explained that this was standard procedure for Nike to develop the brand of an athlete. Again, the family had to go along with it. Da Fang told Sha, "I’m only signing this out of respect for your father because he was my coach.”
Nike introduced the family to Bill Duffy, a sports agent who now handles stars like Rajon Rondo and Zach LaVine. Duffy was disliked by Li, who suspected him of scuttling Yao's deal with Evergreen Sports Management. Duffy decided to go over Li to the mayor of Shanghai and the owner of the Sharks at Shanghai Television.
But Li wasn't done. He had met with several NBA agents, including David Falk, who was Michael Jordan's agent. Falk had conversations with Da Fang, and unofficially it seemed that Yao had signed with him. However, Terry Rhoades, Sports Marketing Director of Nike in China advised Yao to sign with Duffy.
Yao's mother Da Fang recalled, “Everybody who knew Yao Ming would tell me the same thing: ‘Your son is too pure and honest. People will take advantage of him when he grows up.’” But Yao had begun to assert himself with age.
Da Fang was all for Falk, but Yao shot that idea down. “This was the first time that Yao Ming had ever stood up to his mother,” Rhoads recalled. Yao ended up writing a letter to the NBA Players' Association refuting his intention of not signing with Falk.
In part, the letter read “My family and I will resist any attempt to infringe upon our inalienable rights of exercising free will.” This opened up discussions between NBA executives and Shanghai Sharks, during which the Sharks claimed to hold rights to Yao in perpetuity, thus requiring a substantial buyout.
The deciding move
“Yao Ming is China’s Michael Jordan,” Li explained. “We cultivated him from childhood, made him what he is today. If we’re being asked to give him up, don’t you think we should get a high price?”
The Sharks wanted a number of benefits besides cold, hard cash in return. Special television rights for NBA matches, NBA clinics, establishing new basketball schools and also financial assistance to build a new stadium.
One bargaining chip with the NBA officials was Yao's draft stock. They explained that if there's ambiguity about whether Yao would be released by the Sharks, teams in the NBA might not be so eager to draft him. This would impact the scale of his rookie contract and as a result, the amount which the Sharks would earn from him.
The deadline for declaring the 2001 NBA was 13th May 2001. Right before that, Da Fang even offered almost $1 million to the Sharks to release Yao, to no avail.
On 11th May, the Sharks announced that Yao would not enter the NBA draft in a press conference. They cited various reasons, the CBA losing a star, him being too young to play in the NBA, the Sharks needing him to help them win their first championship since the 1949 revolution.
Yao recalled the bitter emotions he felt at that time, saying "Once your heart gets broken, once you feel like your dream passed you by, you can really grow up. For that period I was very depressed. When I faced the TV camera I smiled, but that was a cover-up.”
Two other players from China who had come up around Yao, Wang Zhizhi and Mengke Bateer, had both signed with NBA teams by 2002. That season, Yao averaged 29.7 points, 18.5 rebounds and almost five blocks per game for the Sharks in the CBA.
The CBA Finals came up, and Yao delivered a seminal performance to help his release to the NBA. He averaged over 45 points and 22 rebounds per game in the Finals against Beijing in the Finals, and even had a game where he made all 21 of his shot attempts.
In spite of scoring 44 points and getting 21 rebounds in the final game, Yao's team barely won 123-122 on a last minute tip-in.
After the game, the Sharks’ general manager Bai Li announced live on Shanghai TV, “Now I would like to deliver a piece of good news. The club has decided that it will no longer keep Yao Ming from going to the NBA. Yao has opened the door to the NBA with his own hard work
Ten days after that final, Yao headed to the USA for his NBA tryouts. Around this time, the CBA announced that he'd be liable to send 50 percent of his earnings to the Chinese government. It seemed that there was no end to how much Yao would have to deliver to make it to the NBA.
The noose seemed to tighten again, as the deadline for declaring for the 2002 NBA draft came closer. It was at this point that Yao’s mother, weary of not getting approval for Yao, said less than a week before the NBA Draft, “If we don’t reach an agreement, Yao Ming will never play basketball again. He will go to university, and that will be the end of his career. That’s okay because that’s what we wanted from the start.”
Enter Erik Zhang, a family friend living in the USA. He had introduced himself as a distant cousin of Yao Ming to the Sharks. He was someone Yao’s family trusted, and he was set to negotiate a release for Yao.
The CBA banned Yao from going to the USA to attend the NBA Draft. In a desperate attempt, Zhang’s response was to announce to the media that a press conference will be held and he informed the Sharks that if he wasn't released then the fact would be made public.
The Sharks ended up releasing him, and the conference ended up being an announcement that Yao Ming was being allowed to go to the NBA by Shanghai.
Finally, after late night contracts with ultimatums, after numerous parties trying to get their pound of flesh; after being disallowed and discouraged, again and again, the gentle giant from China made it to the NBA.
The rest, is history enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
(source- Operation Yao Ming: “The Chinese Sports Empire, American Big Business, and the Making of an NBA Superstar” by Brook Larmer)
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