Former Houston Rockets star Yao Ming has stepped down as head of China's
struggling national basketball league.

The eight-time NBA All-Star had been leading efforts to commercialize the
20-team league and to bring it out from under the control of government
bureaucrats and Communist Party officials.

Allegations of corruption have dogged the league in recent years.

Two teams were ejected from the league finals last month after being found to
have engaged in unsporting conduct over a series of turnovers that resulted
in a come-from-behind win that was judged as suspicious.

Managers and coaching staff from the team have been barred from the league
for up to five years.

Basketball remains enormously popular in China, largely because of Yao’s
storied NBA career.

That’s despite a year-long ban on NBA games being shown in the country after
a team executive angered Beijing with remarks supporting Hong Kong’s
pro-democracy movement.