Chinese Olympic champion Quan Hongchan landed her second endorsement with Duowei, a Huang Zitao-founded brand. Her commercial deals follow official rules, sparking talks over athlete commercial value distribution.
During his nine seasons in the NBA, Yao Ming suffered multiple serious injuries to his shoulders, knees, and ankles, and had to play through pain on numerous occasions just to meet the minimum eligibility requirements for retirement benefits.In September 2025, upon turning 45, he received his NBA player’s retirement pension as scheduled, with a monthly payment of $1,838—equivalent to just over 13,000 yuan.
Many people are bound to be surprised when they first hear this figure: for a top-tier center who once led the Houston Rockets to multiple playoff appearances as a key player and played in the NBA for many years, his retirement benefits don’t seem particularly high.In fact, this benefit is not a special perk reserved for star players, but rather a uniform set of rules established by the NBA for all professional players who meet the eligibility requirements. If a player does not meet the minimum years of service, they are not even eligible to receive it.Sun Yue, who entered the NBA at the same time as Yao Ming, played in the league for only one season and thus failed to meet the threshold for receiving a pension.
According to NBA rules, players can choose to begin receiving their retirement benefits at different ages; the later they start, the higher their monthly benefit amount. The benefit levels at ages 50 and 62 are significantly higher than those at age 45, and Yao Ming ultimately chose to begin receiving his benefits at the earliest possible age.
This pension is actually quite substantial; it serves as a safety net for all league players who have completed three full seasons, and it comes with corresponding high-end health insurance benefits. It is a tangible reward for the players’ dedication on the court throughout their careers. Since receiving these funds, Yao Ming has never publicly mentioned or shared any information about them.
This inevitably brings to mind the retirement security system for athletes in China,The public has always hoped for clear, explicit, and uniform standards—ones that do not require athletes to rely on personal connections or seniority, but rather ensure that anyone who meets the required threshold of dedication can fairly enjoy the benefits they deserve. Once such rules are implemented, they will also provide young athletes currently competing on the field with sufficient peace of mind.
There is still considerable room for in-depth discussion regarding the direction for optimizing the retirement support system for domestic athletes.
