The End Of The Road For Yao Ming?

I got home tonight and found the unfortunate news that Yao Ming suffered yet another stress fracture in his ankle:

Sports Illustrated:  Only Yao Can Make The Next Call

From reading all the various articles online, there is speculation that with the latest injury, Yao Ming's career could be over at the age of 30 years old.   This is based on Yao's previous comments that if he continued to have injuries, he would likely choose to retire.

Of course, nothing is set in stone.  Neither Yao Ming or the Houston Rockets have publicly commented on the latest injury yet, though I presume this will come in the next few days.

If this is the end of the road for Yao Ming, it will be a loss for the NBA, China and the Asian-American community.

Yao's presence greatly enhanced the marketability of the NBA in China and the NBA profited immensely from this.  Losing Yao is a blow because there is no other Chinese player (in the NBA or China) that had the appeal Yao had.   Yi Jianlian is the only current Chinese player in the NBA.  Despite have some talent and potential, Yi hasn't played anywhere close to Yao's level.  In fact, Yi has suffered his own share of injuries recently.  Other players like Sun Yue are just marginal players who may or may not get another shot to play in the NBA in the future.

If Yao retires, China may be hurt the most.  Yao Ming was the face of Chinese basketball for marketing purposes.  However, Yao Ming was also the undisputed best player for the Chinese National team.    The Chinese National team played ok without Yao during the World Basketball Championships in September.  Yi Jianlian stepped and had a solid tournament.  Other Chinese players also did reasonably well.  Yet, none had the impact Yao has had.

There has been many discussions over Yao Ming's NBA career that China needed to improve their basketball development process.  After all, with the exception of Yao, no other Chinese player has had a huge impact (Wang Zhi-Zhi, Bateer, Sun Yue, Yi Jianlian).   However, I think China always looked at Yao and thought:  "As long as Yao is around we'll be ok".  Unfortunately for China, the future may be now!

Lastly, if Yao retires, it will be a loss to the Asian-American community here in the United States.   Though Yao was not born in the United States, he was the first Asian player to play a high level in the NBA.  He brought an Asian face to the NBA, where the majority of players are mainly African American.  Lastly, in a country where Asian-Americans are not prominent in the media, Yao was a positive presence that many Asian-Americans could look up to and say "Hey, maybe I can make the NBA like Yao did."

In addition, Yao brought an entirely different side to Asian-Americans and Chinese culture.  Yao was born in China but had a great sense of humor that everyone loved.   If you look at the other Chinese players that have played in the NBA, none had this ability to endear themselves to different people.

Jeremy Lin has been garnering a lot of attention as one of the few Asian-Americans to play in the NBA. However, even the staunchest Lin supporter will agree that Lin is nowhere the player Yao Ming is.   Unfortunately, if Yao retires, the torch may be laid at Yi Jianlian and Jeremy Lin's hands.  Alas, I don't think either one is ready to pick the torch up.

Whatever ultimately happens, Yao Ming was a welcome bright spot in the NBA.  Hopefully he can heal up and play in the NBA for years to come.  If not, I wish him well in his future endeavors.