Yao Ming out for the season with a stress fracture
In a heart-breaking turn of events for the Houston Rockets, it was announced on Friday night that Chinese superstar Yao Ming has been ruled out for the entire season.
Yao was on the sidelines all of last season, as he recovered from foot surgery and Houston were hoping that he could strengthen their squad this time around. The
30-year old played just five games this season before spraining his ankle.
On Thursday it was revealed in an MRI scan that Yao had a hairline fracture in his left ankle, a different bone than the one that has been bruised and is healing. As it turns out, this is not
something he or the team knew about 24 hours ago.
In an official statement the Rockets announced.
“An MRI performed today on Rockets center Yao Ming revealed a stress fracture of the Medial Malleolus in his left ankle. The fracture, which is related to his previous
injury of the Tarsal Navicular bone, presented itself during the course of his current rehabilitation program. There is no timetable for his return at this time.”
The announcement came just hours before the match against the Memphis Grizzlies .
The Houston Rockets physician Walter Lowe was of the view that surgery might be the only way out for the injury prone Yao; a move that could potentially end the
seven-time All-Star’s glittering career. Yao though is still in the process of taking second opinions, but if he resorts to surgery as a last gasp it could sideline him for at least 10 months.
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey admitted that this comes as a huge blow to the franchise, as they were itching to see the phenomenal player in action. However
he was still hopeful that Yao would recover and play for the team in the future, despite the latest setback.
Morey said, "We need to continue to talk to the doctors and see where that goes. Yao Ming's an All-Star center and when you look throughout the league there's not
very many of them. So if it looks like there's a good prognosis here -- and we're still learning how good that prognosis will be -- for sure we're going to look at Yao Ming past this season."
The latest development really casts a shadow on Yao’s career, as he proclaimed last season that if he could not get healthy he would seriously consider retirement. Daryl
Morey confirmed that Yao was not taking the news well, and the superstar was not presented in front of the media.
"How much he's been off the court, and how much he cares about his team-mates and the fans and the Rockets, probably is really tough for him," Morey said.
Rick Adelman, the Houston Coach, who saw his team romp to an easy win over the Grizzlies, said after the match that the news is difficult because the whole unit was
excited about Yao’s comeback.
"It's just really sad, and you have to really feel for him because he's worked so hard to come back and then to have this happen," Adelman said. "Last week, he was
talking about getting out to play pretty soon, and now to get the news, you really feel for him and feel for our team."
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