HOUSTON center Yao Ming will have surgery on his broken left foot this week and will likely miss all of next season, the latest blow to the Rockets’ faltering bid to return to the NBA’s elite.
Yao on Friday announced the decision and the team said there was no timetable set for Yao’s return, but that he is “expected to be available for the team’s training camp in 2010.”
Yao has been consulting with doctors and finally decided on a complicated procedure, similar to one performed on Cleveland’s Zydrunas Ilgauskas in 2001. The surgery involves a bone graft to promote bone regeneration. He’s also hoping to reduce the arch in the foot by realigning and restructuring the bones.
“This surgery will allow me to continue my career playing basketball and I look forward to returning to the court,” Yao said in a statement. “I am very grateful to have the support of teammates, friends and fans as I dedicate myself to making a completely successful recovery.”
Ilgauskas missed 58 games in the 2000-01 season with the same injury and had surgery Feb. 7, 2001. He returned to action Dec. 4, 2001, after missing the first 17 games of the season.
Dr. Tom Clanton, the Rockets’ team doctor, will perform the surgery on Yao, who is due to make US$16 million this season and holds the option for returning in 2010-11.
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, who called the 28-year-old Yao the franchise’s “cornerstone” just a month ago, said that he wasn’t conceding next season, but acknowledged the Rockets were probably have little choice but to build for the more distant future.
Last week, Houston acquired David Andersen in a trade with Atlanta. But he’s no Yao, a game-changing player and one of the NBA’s most valuable and recognized ambassadors.
Thanks in large part to Yao’s impact, the NBA launched NBA China in January 2008 and now has nearly 150 employees in four offices there. NBA games and programming are available on 51 television and digital media outlets in China and NBA merchandise is sold in about 30,000 retail locations.
Kobe Bryant has had the top-selling jersey in China for two straight seasons. Yao ranks 10th — most likely because most fans bought them in the first years after Yao broke into the NBA.
Houston drafted Yao with the No. 1 overall pick in 2002 and he averaged 13.5 points and 8.2 rebounds as a rookie. He was an All-Star starter in 2003 and has been voted the top center in the Western Conference each year since.
(SD-Agencies)