"Small giant" Yao Ming (R) and girlfriend Ye Li at the closing ceremony of the Athens Olympics in 2004. [File Photo: Sina.com]

Houston Rockets center Yao Ming seems likely to walk down the aisle this August with fiancée Ye Li, a player on the Chinese women's basketball team.

The bombshell was dropped in report by Bill Ingram published in the Hoop World journal, where the rockets' manager Daryl Morey was quoted as saying that the couple will hold their wedding in August after Yao Ming has finished serial practices in July.

The "small giant" will later join the national team for some exercises and warm-up matches in September before returning to Houston to prepare for the new season, Morey said.

The manager said he believed Yao will look after himself well and do all of the necessary exercises during the summer vacation to tune up his physical fitness.

However the report didn't reveal whether or not Yao will appear in the Chinese team at a tournament to be held in Las Vegas and also attended by NBA sides Memphis Grizzlies, Sacremento Kings, Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks and Boston Celtics.