Yao Ming Won’t Consider Buying Rockets

Yao Ming can be crossed off the list of potential buyers for the Rockets franchise. Yao issued a statement via the Xinhua news agency that was relayed by the Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen stating he would have “no time to consider” joining a group interested in purchasing the team. The Rockets’ Hall of Fame center was named the president of the Chinese Basketball League in February and was elected this week to be Chairman of the Board for the company that runs the league.

Houston owner Leslie Alexander announced on Monday that the team was up for sale, a surprising development for one of the Western Conference’s top teams. Feigen tweeted earlier this week that the Rockets would prefer the timeline for a sale to be “sooner rather than later.”

Feigen also reported this week that GM Daryl Morey and the Rockets‘ management team is not attempting to put together a group to buy the franchise.

Another Hall of Fame center, Dikembe Mutombo, is trying to put together a group to buy the team. The purchase price is expected to approach or exceed the $2 billion that Steve Ballmer paid for the Clippers.

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