RETIRED Chinese superstar Yao Ming is lining up investors to make a bid for the National Basketball Association’s Los Angeles Clippers if embattled owner Donald Sterling has to sell, reported on Friday.

Yao is just the latest celebrity to be linked to a potential Clippers bid since Sterling was engulfed in a scandal over racially charged remarks that became public in April.

ESPN, citing unnamed sources, said that Yao and another former NBA player, Grant Hill, were working separately to find investors to launch bids.

Celebrity gossip website TMZ and other US media outlets reported on Friday that Sterling has surrendered control of the club to his estranged wife, Shelly, who is in talks with the league to sell the team.

The Clippers are valued at nearly US$600 million by Forbes magazine and could fetch substantially more given the publicity surrounding the team and its location in a major US market.

Yao became an NBA star with the Houston Rockets, who made him the first pick in the 2002 NBA draft. He owns a team in China, the Shanghai Sharks.

Hill retired last year after a 19-season career that ended with the Clippers.

Other big names keen on the Clippers include software billionaire Larry Ellison, television powerhouse Oprah Winfrey, and unbeaten boxer Floyd Mayweather.

【新聞快訊】

北京時(shí)間5月24日，有消息稱姚明有興趣組織中國財(cái)團(tuán)收購NBA洛杉磯快船隊(duì)，在今天上午進(jìn)行的NBA姚明學(xué)校首期畢業(yè)典禮上，姚明在接受采訪時(shí)對這一流言進(jìn)行了回應(yīng)。

姚明說到：“現(xiàn)在有很多流言在那里傳，我沒有時(shí)間一個(gè)一個(gè)去應(yīng)付，沒有辦法一個(gè)一個(gè)都去答復(fù)，這樣會讓我們的工作沒有效率?，F(xiàn)在全球化的體育，各種各樣的可能都有。但是到目前為止，沒有什么實(shí)質(zhì)性的東西?！?/p>

早前有美媒體爆料，稱姚明有收購快船的意向。據(jù)ESPN名記比爾-西蒙斯的消息，2011年從NBA退役的前火箭全明星中鋒姚明，也是快船的潛在買家之一。西蒙斯表示，他已聽到消息稱，中國小巨人已在組建一支由數(shù)名投資者組成的團(tuán)隊(duì)，打算加入對快船的競價(jià)，嘗試買下洛杉磯球隊(duì)。如果姚明此舉能夠成功，那么他無疑將再次創(chuàng)造歷史，成為NBA第一個(gè)中國人老板。

快船老板因種族歧視言論受到重壓，已經(jīng)同意出售球隊(duì)，目前對快船感興趣的人非常多，其中就包括“魔術(shù)師”代表的古根海姆財(cái)團(tuán)，億萬富翁房地產(chǎn)開發(fā)商里克-卡魯索，由微軟執(zhí)行官史蒂夫-鮑爾默和投資人克里斯-漢森領(lǐng)銜的西雅圖財(cái)團(tuán)等等，可以說都在爭搶這支NBA球隊(duì)。