Finally, Yao Ming had enough. And a career unlike any other came to an end.
Nearly a decade spent carrying the weight of expectations and demands could not hold him down, but with little confidence he could play without more of the injuries that had wrecked the second half of his career, Yao has told the Rockets he plans to retire, several individuals familiar with the decision confirmed Friday.
Yao, who became the face of China’s new outreach to the West and the NBA’s explosive growth in China, reversed his previous intention to try one more comeback, concerned that further stress injuries would hamper him long after his playing career.
NBA spokesman Tim Frank said the league “has not received official notification of his retirement,” preventing Rockets officials from commenting during the NBA lockouts. Yahoo! Sports initially reported Yao decision Friday. Yao did not return messages.
An eight-time All-Star, his impact as a global icon, national treasure and hope of a franchise went far beyond his role on the court.
“Michael Jackson was before my time. Elvis (Presley) was before my time,” said Rockets co-captain Chuck Hayes, Yao’s longest-tenured teammate. “But if I had to guess, it was like being around Yao Ming.
“He was big. Everyone wanted to see him. He graced us with his presence in the NBA. It was unbelievable. It was great.”
Yao, 30, played in just five games the past two seasons, missing 250 games over the past six seasons with bone injuries, most recently a stress fracture in his left ankle suffered Nov. 10 in Washington.
Boom to NBA in China
Yao’s first exposure to the NBA was a broadcast of the 1994 Finals between the Rockets and New York Knicks. Eight seasons later, the Rockets made him the first pick of the 2002 draft.
By the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, begun with Yao carrying his nation’s flag as he had in Athens for the Opening Ceremony, Yao’s impact as a beloved national hero was clear.
As Yao’s popularity in China soared, so did the NBA’s success in China, making it the second-most prolific market for the NBA after the United States. NBA commissioner David Stern said three to five percent of NBA revenue comes from China.
“Yao built the bridge for all of us,” Kobe Bryant said after the Olympics began with Yao hitting a 3-pointer before the United States rolled past an overmatched Chinese National Team.
“Yao is a key cultural milepost in our development,” Stern said in Beijing during last October’s China Games. “He gave the Chinese fans a huge reason to follow the NBA and become even more familiar with it and feel so good about themselves to have produced such a great player and person. Secondarily, it gave Americans a way to follow China through a different lens. It’s been wonderful.”
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