"About the same time that news of Yao Ming's retirement from the NBA began circulating Friday afternoon, Kevin Durant posted a blog on his website.

"I'm in China!" it was titled.

The Thunder superstar wouldn't have been if not for Yao.

He was the poster child for the globalization of the NBA. Other international players came before the Rockets' center, who decided to hang it up after eight injury-plagued seasons, but no one opened a market bigger than China. Yao made the NBA important to his 1.3 billion countrymen.

That was a game-changer for the NBA.

Ditto for players like Durant.

He made his first foray to the Far East two summers ago when he spent time in Hong Kong as part of a trip set up by the NBA. Then last summer, he went on a three-city tour of China that was part of a brand-expansion excursion set up by Nike.

It set up a pair of basketball courts at the Great Wall of China, where Durant held a clinic. The whole thing was quite the scene. Banners with the KD logo hung from parts of the more than 2,000-year-old landmark as a thick crowd gathered to get a glimpse of Durant."