Yao Ming and Ben Simmons of the Brooklyn Nets greet each other during the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers last Wednesday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. NBAE/GETTY IMAGES

Hoops legend has nothing but warm words for his old stomping ground during recent US visit

Basketball great Yao Ming believes the NBA is still rated "first-class" in China, even though fans in his home country crave the days when they could cheer on one of their own in the league.

Yao, the president of the Chinese Basketball Association, used to be that guy when he soared to stardom in the United States as an eight-time All-Star for the Houston Rockets. The affable, 7-foot-6(2.29-meter) center dominated the league before retiring in 2011 at the age of 30 following a slew of injury problems.

He was the first international player to be selected first overall in the NBA Draft (2002) without having played college basketball in the US. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September 2016 as a global ambassador of basketball in recognition of his efforts on and off the court to promote the game. The Rockets retired his No 11 jersey on Feb 3, 2017.

"I have to say, the NBA is in the first class... (because) you know the players being exposed in China for so long," Yao said, when asked about the past issues between China and the NBA during a trip to New York last week.

"The players, the teams (are) all still very welcome in China and (we had) a couple of players in China just this past summer."

Not surprisingly, Yao's achievements have been hugely influential in growing the NBA, and hoops in general, in China. In 2004, two years after Yao joined the league, the NBA became the first professional American sports league to play in China with a pair of Rockets preseason games.