When you have a 7 foot 6 inch frame that weighs 310 pounds it puts a lot of pressure on your knees and feet. And after five years of injury-plagued seasons because of this, Houston Rockets center Yao Ming may never play in the NBA again. That’s pretty dramatic.
Yao Ming’s most recent injury is a broken left foot that he suffered during the second round of the 2009 NBA playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers. It is the same foot he broke a year before.
“At this point, the injury has the potential for him missing this next season and could be career threatening,” team physician Tom Clanton said, according to the Houston Chronicle. “One of the things we are trying to get is a consensus opinion on that, to make certain there is no option we are overlooking that would provide an earlier return or would be an option for treatment that he would prefer rather than doing additional surgery.”
In other words, if Yao Ming was a racehorse, he would be euthonized. However, it’s illegal to euthonize atheletes for getting injured. That’s why Mark Prior is still living today.
