Yao Ming

Yao Ming (born September 12, 1980) is a retired Chinese professional basketball player who last played for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). At the time of his final season, he was the tallest active player in the NBA, at 2.29 m

Yao, who was born in Shanghai, started playing for the Shanghai Sharks as a teenager, and played on their senior team for five years in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), winning a championship in his final year. After negotiating with the CBA and the Sharks to secure his release, Yao was selected by the Houston Rockets as the first overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft. Yao was selected to start for the Western Conference in the NBA All-Star Game eight times, and was named to the All-NBA Team five times. He reached the NBA Playoffs four times, and the Rockets won a first-round series in the 2009 postseason. However, Yao missed 250 regular-season games due to foot and ankle injuries in his final six seasons.

   Early life and CBA career

Yao joined the senior team of the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA)at age 17.  When Wang Zhizhi left the Bayi Rockets to become the first NBA player from China the following year, the Sharks finally won their first CBA championship.

Entering the NBA Draft

Yao entered the 2002 NBA Draft，and was seleted by houston rockets.

NBA career

Initial years (2002–2005)

Injury-plagued seasons (2005–2011)

After missing only two games out of 246 in his first three years of NBA play, Yao endured an extended period on the inactive list in his fourth season after developing osteomyelitis([D.J.:,ɔstiəu,maiə'laitis]) in the big toe on his left foot, and surgery was performed on the toe on December 18, 2005.Then he had missed 21 games until recover.Early into his fifth season, Yao was injured again, this time breaking his right knee on December 23, 2006, while attempting to block a shot. And he was medically cleared to play on March 4, 2007, after missing 34 games.

On February 26, 2008, however, it was reported that Yao would miss the rest of the season with a stress fracture([D.J.:'fræktʃə]) in his left foot. He missed the 2008 NBA Playoffs, but he did not miss the 2008 Summer Olympics at Beijing, China in August.In July 2009, Yao discussed the injury with his doctors,. After weeks of consulting, it was decided that Yao would undergo surgery in order to repair the broken bone in his left foot. He did not play the entire 2009–10 season. On December 16, 2010, it was announced that Yao had developed a stress fracture in his left ankle, related to an older injury, and would miss the rest of the season. 

Retirement

On July 20, 2011, Yao announced his retirement from basketball in a press conference in Shanghai. He cited injuries to his foot and ankle, including the third fracture to his left foot sustained near the end of 2010. His retirement sparked over 1.2 million comments on the Chinese social-networking site Sina Weibo. Reacting to Yao's retirement, NBA commissioner David Stern said Yao was a "bridge between Chinese and American fans" and that he had "a wonderful mixture of talent, dedication, humanitarian（[D.J.:hju:,mænɪ'teəri:ən]） aspirations and a sense of humor." Shaquille O'Neal said Yao "was very agile. He could play inside, he could play outside, and if he didn't have those injuries He would not have such an early retirement."