Yao Ming, the Chinese giant, announced his retirement from the NBA.
July 9, 2011- Yao Ming, the giant of a man from China, has decided to retire from playing basketball in the NBA because of injuries. The big man played nine seasons with the Houston Rockets and when he was not injured, his play was often times dominating, but too often his career was marked with injuryIn his first three NBA seasons he only missed a total of two games out of a total of 246. But since the 2005/06 season to date he has missed 250 of 492 games. He has had an assortment of problems with his leg and foot that have caused him to miss all but five games in the past two campaigns and that included all of the 2009/10 season.
Ming told the Rockets, NBA China and the league office in the US of this decision in the last 48 hours. He was to be a free agent this season after his contract was to end in Houston after earning $93 million while playing for the Rockets.
He was an all-star eight times and one of the best big men in the game standing 7-foot-6 who had incredible agility for a man of his size. He had a very good jump shot but because of his injuries he was never able to become the dominant player he always wanted to be. He averaged 19 points and 9 rebounds per game over his career.
