HOUSTON, TEXAS (BNO NEWS) — Basketball superstar Yao Ming on Friday announced his retirement after nine years with the Houston Rockets of the NBA, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
Ming, 30, of Shanghai, China, who has suffered from recurrent injuries, played out his entire NBA career with the Rockets after being drafted number one overall in 2002. He had previously played for five years for the Chinese Basketball Association’s Shanghai Sharks, where he began playing as a teenager. He would later buy the team in July 2009 after the Sharks faced severe financial issues.
Since his appearance in the NBA, Ming, an eight-time NBA All-Star, was selected to the NBA Second Team on two occasions (2007 and 2009). He was also voted second in the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, which was awarded to Amar’e Stoudemire, although he would be unanimously chosen as part of the NBA All-Rookie First Team selection.
Ming had a huge impact for the NBA’s Asian audience, especially China, further globalizing the league’s market. Measuring 7 foot 6 inches (2.29 meters) and weighing 310 pounds (141 kilograms), he was the tallest active player during his career. Despite only missing two games due to injury during his first two seasons, he would be plagued by injuries over the next six seasons in which he missed a total of 250 games. He would miss the entire 2009-10 season and only played five games last season.
In 486 professional games in the NBA, Ming averaged 19 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.9 blocked shots, and 1.6 assists per game.
Ming is one of the most popular athletes in China, and one of the most recognized celebrities. He led Forbes’ Chinese celebrities list in income and popularity for six straight years, earning $ 51 million (357 million yuan) in 2008. Much of his income comes from multimillion dollar sponsorship deals, but he has consistently participated in charity events, donating $ 2 million for relief work alone after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
