Rockets center Yao Ming retires from NBA Goodbye, big guy

Rockets center Yao Ming decides to retire

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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 Ming played eight seasons in the NBA, all with the Rockets. Yao Ming played eight seasons in the NBA, all with the Rockets. Photo: Karen Warren, Chronicle Photo: Karen Warren, Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Rockets center Yao Ming retires from NBA 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

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.

He averaged 19 points and 9.3 rebounds in his career, increasing his scoring average in each of his first five seasons and missing just two games in his first three seasons. He averaged a career-best 25 points in 2006-07.

“People forget how great he was,” said ABC/ESPN announcer Jeff Van Gundy, who coached Yao for four seasons with the Rockets. “Then you add his humor, wit and his combination of skill and will. People will want to point finger of blame for his injuries. I choose not to do. It was confluence of unfortunate events that let him down. I remember how great he was. I remember some of those dominating performances.”

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.”

Yao played 77 games in the season after the Olympics and nine more in the playoffs. The Rockets beat Portland in the first round in 2009, the only playoff series won during Yao’s tenure. Yao played in three games against the Los Angeles Lakers, winning Game 1 in Los Angeles, before he suffered a stress fracture in Game 3, ending his season, and in many ways his career.

Legacy lives on

After extensive surgery to alter the operation of his left foot, he tried one more comeback last season, but was limited to no more than 24 minutes per game and barred from playing in back-to-back games. He was hurt in his fifth game, with the stress fracture eventually found in a different area from the previous injuries to leave little confidence he could expect to play without injury.

“When you look at the course of Yao’s career, stress fractures have been a part of his foot,” Rockets team physician Walter Lowe said in December. “To say he’s not at a risk to continue to have stress fractures would be crazy. He is at a continued risk.”

Yao said in March and again in May that he intended to return. A free agent, he said he wanted to sign with the Rockets. General manager Daryl Morey and owner Leslie Alexander wanted him back.

When Yao decided instead to give up the game, a unique career ended far earlier than he had planned. Its legacy, however, endures.

“He had so much impact on the court, but his impact off the court was even bigger,” former Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. “I thought it would be really difficult for him to come back. It was such a long road after the last time, and then to go down after five games, it was too much going against him. It’s a sad day.”

jonathan.feigen@chron.com

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