In a bid to enter the North American market, home-dcor company Scisky signed a five-year sponsorship agreement with the NBA's Houston Rockets on Friday, with former Rockets great Yao Ming as the company's spokesperson.

Dai Jiabing, chairman of Lanzhou Scisky Investment CMI Holdings, said that the NBA is a highly professional and most influential basketball league in the world with billions of fans.

"The Houston Rockets is the most popular NBA team; it is beloved by people of all races and ages because of its winning and team spirit. I am sure this partnership will help us to convey our message about healthy living," said Dai.

Scisky, headquartered in Lanzhou, in Northwest China's Gansu province, is a global provider of home decorations, furniture and water-based high-tech building and painting materials. Its mission is to build non-toxic living environments.

As a newcomer to the North American market, Dai expressed hopes that a five-year partnership with the Rockets would help Scisky gain market share.

"I am happy to see the beginning of a new partnership; I wish both teams will achieve great results, no matter on the court or in business," basketball Hall of Famer Yao said.

Tad Brown, Rockets CEO, said that the agreement expanded the team's corporate base with Chinese companies to seven. Yao was credited by Brown for the NBA franchise acquiring yet another Chinese corporate sponsor.

"The Rockets' ability to grow globally through his sheer greatness was very evident from the beginning from playing the first China game to the number of games broadcast over the years in China," Brown said.

"The interesting thing is that because of the continuing close relationship we share with Yao, we continue to grow with Chinese basketball fans," Brown said. "That's the testament to his legacy, to the great players that come after Yao. He built the infrastructure of enthusiasm for the game in China; the best NBA players become loved by Chinese fans."

At the game and Yao's jersey-retirement ceremony on Friday night, the logo of Scisky was displayed on the screen as the company was the night's title sponsor, marking the beginning of the sponsorship with the Rockets.

mayzhou@chinadailyusa.com