Ralph Sampson and Yao Ming: NBA players who struggled with injuries in their careers – Part-2
Ralph Sampson
Ralph Sampson was one of the best big men in the history of National Basketball Association (NBA). He played as a centre in teams like the Houston Rockets (1983-1988), the Golden State Warriors (1988-1989), the Sacramento Kings
(1989-1991) and the Washington Bullets (1991-1992). From 1981-83, he remained USBWA College Player of the Year and Naismith College Player of the Year.
In 1985-86, he scored 18.9 points per game with 11.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists which was the best of his career. In 1986 West Conference final, he hit a memorable twisted turnaround shot which led the Rockets to win against the
Los Angeles Lakers. He was four time NBA- All Star from 1984-1987 and also won the NBA Rookie of the year award in 1984. In his career he got 7,039 points per game (PPG), 4,011 rebounds and 1,038 assists.
Even though he was very tall, he used to jump and run smoothly in the field and displayed one of the best defences in basketball. He got various injuries and underwent many surgeries including three surgeries of his knee. Because
of these, he missed quite a lot of games in 1987. He suffered mainly from knee and back injuries. These injuries shattered his structure and made him to get retired at an age of 32, in 1992. He would have a far better profile if he did not suffer from those
injuries. Later he served as a coach in a minor league. In 2002, he was given the honour of being one of the fifty best players in the history of Atlantic Coast Conference.
Yao Ming
One of the tallest NBA players, Yao Ming, was forced to join NBA by the Shanghai Sharks’ Deputy General Manager. After he entered NBA, few analysts predicted that he would not be able to make his mark in NBA. When he was picked
by the Houston Rockets as a centre, no one had thought of his success back then. With mammoth size of 7’6’’, he had averaged 19.0 points per game, 9.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists. His best season was 2006-07 in which he scored 25.0 ppg and a field goal percentage
of 51.67. He won three gold medals as a player of China’s National team in FIBA Asia Championships. He was an eight time NBA-All Star from 2003-09 and 2011.
He had usually suffered from foot and leg injuries in his career. In 1996, he broke a bone in his left foot and later broke his knee, resulting in his absence from many games. He suffered from a stress fracture in 2008 and to provide
the strength to his fractured bone, screws were placed in his foot. The recovery time of his injuries used to be four to six months but he did not care about that much and participated in Beijing Olympics.
The Rockets without Yao did not win the series the games in that season and later he missed the NBA 2009-2010 season. The stress fracture which he got during the NBA playoffs might have led to traumatic arthritis if it would not
have been healed. Even after a successful injury, he retired in July 2011.
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