Friday, July 8th, 2011 at 1:52 pm  |  94 responses

Yao Ming Is Retiring

by Ryne Nelson

Yao is officially calling it quits after not being able to fully recover from numerous foot operations. It’s a bittersweet moment for NBA fans, as the League is losing a player who was both a great teammate and person.

Per Yahoo!: “Rockets’ Yao Ming has decided to retire from the NBA, league sources tell Y! Sports. He informed the league office within past 48 hours.”

Yao was a giant on the court and had a huge skill set to match. Yao’s the reason many Chinese fans focused their attention on the NBA, and now the League is devoting much attention to selling its game in China.

Thank you, Yao, for everything. We’re gonna play the Yao Ming song for a while…

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  • World

    WOW!!

  • ThaKidNoah

    That’s crazy he couldn’t even last 10 yrs in the league I guess being that tall has its cons oh well good luck to him maybe one day when he gets his body right he can still play again maybe for his hometown of china

  • Dave19

    Too bad… I wish him a good retirement.. Sucks to be forced out of the game like this.

  • Clay

    This sucks. He was at one point the best center in the game, even though it didn’t mean much to have that title and it still doesn’t. His skill set may have been the best in the game without including driving ability and athleticism.

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    He could’ve been the most dominant center in the NBA for a decade at least if it wasn’t for the injuries.
    My lasting memory of Yao will always be that first time he faced off against Shaq and blocked Shaq’s first field goal attempt. That just didn’t happen back then. NOBODY blocked a Shaq shot.

  • http://www.michaelcho.com M Cho

    Will miss the guy. Aside from his on-court prowess, the guy was deceptively funny with a dry sense of humour.

  • Dagger

    How is this bittersweet? This is all bitter. So sad to see his career end like this.

  • LP

    I really don’t think he is done. He is 30. He can sit for 2 years and fully heal and decide to come back and still be younger than KOBE, KG, and DUNCAN are right now….. (players that were in his prime group)… He has some basketball left.

  • http://sjfklaf.com Jukai

    Simply an unhappy moment for basketball. Good luck in the future, big fella.

  • Overtime

    Cosign Dagger.
    Want a role model? Look up and you’ll see Yao

  • http://redoftoothandclaw.ca/ niQ

    Was a good run Yao, one of the most efficient centers in the league. Going to miss him in the NBA =(

  • http://slamonline.com The Black Rick Kamla

    God Bless big man, we’ll miss you. I don’t think any other player of this generation has had a greater impact on the game of basketball, globally, than Yao Ming. And what he was ablet to do on the court should never be forgotten…at full strength there was simply no way to possibly guard the big guy. Sad too see two giants of the game, literally and figuratively, go out in the same year.

  • KBJ

    Damn those foot injuries are prematurely punchin all the nba bigs ticket..Odens next prolly

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    This is sad. Was hoping that he would come back eventually… No chance of that? WTF? I feel like if he could just run for 30 mins thats enough for him to be a threat for any team. Bummer… Send him to the Suns see if they can’t magically fix him like Hill and Nasty.

  • Oh Nose

    huge, huge, bummer

  • andre anglais

    on another note, could we get a more respectful tribute than those grainy photos and that awful, awful song? man, I am headed over to youtube to celebrate this man’s greatness. Yao, the NBA will miss you.

  • http://www.slamonline.com/ 1982

    Damn… I had hoped for the better. Great run.

  • Fat Lever

    Carried an entire nation for almost a decade. Played for his national team when he didn’t have to, and honestly shouldn’t have in hindsight for the sake of his career. But he felt compelled to represent.

  • tony scorpio

    Ill always remember the cover of his half-head w/stevie franchise. Ming dynasty forever.

  • marx

    (one hour later)……………..Greg Oden has also decided to retire

  • D12FSU

    well this sucks, its always sad to see a great talent have to retire early because of injuries, who knows how great Yao could have been

  • http://twitter.com/BeezKneezy LA Huey

    Bummer.

  • HAMMER

    My fav Yao Ming moment was the “Happy Birthday Kenny” on TNT. Hilarious. Best of luck post retirement Yao.

  • Piggy

    man sucks he couldn’t leave on his own terms

  • JD

    how is it bittersweet?its just bitter, theres nothing good about it

  • http://thahiphopcorner.com Kevin

    Sucks to see him retire, currently in the middle of an online debate of whether he’s a bust or not. I say he isnt, he was extremly productive not his fault he couldnt stay on the court

  • thyr

    this news is 9 years old

  • http://Slamonline.com JKG

    should be a Hall of Famer In my opinion

  • http://www.slamonline.com Wayno

    A shame, he was a great player when healthy. Hopefully he decides to make a comeback a few years down the road when he’s healed up.

  • David J. Moore, IV

    Bittersweet career. No. 1 overall pick, a lot of All-Star appearances, but no huge playoff runs or championships. Houston thrives off a big man being their nucleus. A guard cannot help Houston win. They already tried that with Steve Francis and T-Mac; you see how that ended up. :-(

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    This gives more appreciation to what bigs like Wilt, Kareem and Shaq were able to accomplish despite being ginormous human beings.
    Much respect to Yao for all he’s accomplished in such a short period of time and dude had as much to do with making basketball a global sport as Kobe, Bron and MJ.

  • http://idunkonthem.blogspot.com/ albie1kenobi

    *pour green tea on the ground*

    so is it too early to talk about his Hall of Fame credential?

  • http://slamonline dan

    this has to be the worst fecking video I have ever ever eveeeer seen

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    I can’t see him as a Hall of Famer based on play. But they consider other stuff too.

  • http://sjfklaf.com Jukai

    Poor kid…

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    Co-sign JKG.
    The greatest player of all time over 7’4″.

  • Will Lee

    damn…. Yao and Shaq retiring in the same summer? I will cry for that

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    The Philo, is that really saying much?

  • JV

    You can blame it on China

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    Ralph Sampson.

  • http://Slamonline.com CatKiller

    I’m glad he finally called it quits so now the rockets can finally move on and become contenders again. But I’m sad to see such an influential player leave the league.

  • bmorezbest

    i would say he is a hall of famer for him being an ambasador he was good while he played he still owes t-mac an apology for being out when they were tryna make a playoff run i was hopin he would give it another go

  • http://www.slamonline.com Wayno

    Based in his international influence on the game he should definitely be up for debate for the HOF.

  • Myung

    I’m a proud Asian, but I’m not one of those Asian pride dudes whose favorite players are all Asian. I’m proud of trail blazers like Tiger Woods, KJ Choi, Choo Shin Soo, Ichiro, Nomo, Hines Ward, Jeremy Lin, and Yao, but my favorite athletes are generally black or white and not Asian (with the exception of Hines Ward, who I went to UGA with). But I certainly appreciate Yao’s career and all he’s done for basketball globally and for Asians in particular. I was never a huge fan of his, but I will certainly still miss him. Not only was he a very good player, but he seemed like a really good dude. I definitely think he is a first ballot hall of famer. One of the items on my bucket list was to make the trek to Springfield, and I must say, once I actually made it there and looked at some of the men and women in the HOF, I was pretty shocked by some of the names. Then I remembered, the HOF is not the NBA HOF. It is the BASKETBALL HOF. That means coaches, announcers, and trail blazers (men and women alike) are inducted. Yao Ming is without a doubt a first ballot HOF-er. Like Allen said, he didn’t do enough stat wise to merit induction, but it doesn’t matter. If you consider the whole package, Yao will be going in the same year as Shaq (barring any comebacks by either player). No doubt about it.

  • James

    Cosign Albie1Kenobi: pour out a little green tea… I was looking forward to finally seeing Yao back on the court.

  • Myung

    I’m pouring out some Tsing Tao, Albie!

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    Myung:
    Eloquent.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Hines Ward and Tiger Woods aren’t black.
    I guess we really did lose them in the racial draft.

  • david

    Yao was better than Dwight damn it! when they played against each other any way.

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    David, by better, I hope you mean more offensively skille? He isn’t better than Dwight. If tiger is asian isn’t Kobe just as much? Or is kobe only a 1/4 Japanese?

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