Sources: Rockets’ Yao set to retire

Yao Ming, one of the seminal figures in the globalization of the NBA, has decided to retire after nine injury-plagued seasons with the Houston Rockets, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Yao played just five games last season, and hasn’t been able to fully recover after having surgery in January to repair a stress fracture in his left foot. The veteran center informed the Rockets, the league office in New York and NBA China of his decision to leave the game within the past 48 hours, sources said.

Yao was set to become a free agent once the league’s lockout ends. He was once poised to become the league’s dominant big man, but lower-body injuries repeatedly sidelined him over the course of his career. He missed at least 25 games in five of the past six seasons.
A career is almost like a car race,” Yao told Yahoo! Sports’ Marc Spears in March 2010. “You push the gas to see how good the car is. It takes time to get from zero to 100 miles [per hour]. This is the same thing. You don’t want to hit a hard brake. This is a hard brake for me. If you want me to start up again, you probably need me to take some time.”

The injuries kept Yao from ever fully reaching his potential – and prevented the Rockets from continuing to build off their success in 2009.

“If he was never injured, he would have been one of the greatest centers ever,” said Rafer Alston, a point guard for the Rockets from 2005-09. “You can’t guard him. You had to foul him. He’s 7-6, so he has a height advantage. He had the jump hook over the shoulder.

“If he was healthy we would have gone far. He would have been one of the greatest centers of all-time if he was healthy.”

The Rockets acquired Tracy McGrady prior to Yao’s third season in the league, hoping to give their center a superstar complement. Injuries to both, however, limited the Rockets to just one playoff series victory in their tenure together.

“I feel very honored to have not only played with one of the greatest big men in our league, but to also call him my friend,” McGrady said. “I wish Yao continued success in all his ventures in life.”

The NBA loses one of its few remaining star centers with Yao’s retirement. Shaquille O’Neal, a rival and friend of Yao’s, ended his 19-season career in June.

“Yao will definitely be missed,” O’Neal said in an email. “He is in my mind one of the best centers ever to play. He is the one of the greatest athletes ever to come out of China, and I will miss him.”