Yao Ming

Who is Yao Ming?

Yao Ming is a Chinese-born former NBA basketball player who spent eight seasons with the Houston Rockets. Yao Ming now serves as President of the Chinese Basketball Association. He is regarded as one of China’s most prominent players.

After consistently outstanding performances for China and the Shanghai Sharks in the early 2000s, he was selected first overall in the 2002 NBA draft.

The player went on to have an outstanding NBA career.

He was an NBA All-Star in every season he played until 2011.

Ming, on the other hand, never raised the championship ring.

Throughout his career, the enormous center from Shanghai remained at the forefront of his game.

He was naturally good at blocking and rebounding as a center, but that wasn’t the only thing that set him apart.

Childhood and Family

Yao Ming was born in Shanghai, China on September 12, 1980.

Yao Zhiyuan and Fang Fengdi are his parents.

His parents were also professional basketball players when they were younger.

Ming weighed 5 kg at birth, which is near twice the weight of a typical newborn child.

He was already familiar with basketball because both of his parents were former players.

He never witnessed his parents participate in league games, though, because they had to leave basketball games to do government-assigned work at the time.

Just a few years before Yao’s birth, China was through the Cultural Revolution, which Chairman Mao began in 1966 with the goal of socializing Chinese society from a backward semi-feudal structure.

Every Chinese, including Ming’s parents, felt this personally because the moment of structural shift is often quite difficult.

Although the eventual result of Mao’s campaign may not have been what he had hoped for, there were many good developments.

One of them was a state-sponsored sports school that produced Yao Ming, who dominated the NBA for over a decade.

He began attending sports school and practicing to become a professional basketball player when he was nine years old.

He mentioned that he began playing basketball for pleasure at first, but it quickly became an important part of his life.

 Professional Basketball Career

Yao began playing league basketball for the Shanghai Sharks junior team when he was thirteen years old.

He improved on his basketball talents in the years that followed, eventually making his CBA debut for the Sharks in 1997.

Despite the fact that several basketball officials and stakeholders had encouraged him to join the NBA, he originally declined their invitation.

Wang Zhizhi, on the other hand, followed him to the NBA draft in 2002.

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Basketball Career

There was strong media anticipation that Yao would be taken first overall in the NBA draft.

The Houston Rockets selected him first overall in the 2002 NBA draft, confirming his status.

Yao became the first foreign player to enter the NBA as a first-round choice without having played American college basketball.

Contrary to popular sports commentators’ predictions, Yao performed admirably from the outset of his NBA career.

In his debut season, he averaged 13.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.

Yao was also named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team as a result of his performance.

Yao played nearly every game for the Rockets until his fourth NBA season.

Furthermore, he has significantly improved his attacking game and has continued to score more points in recent encounters.

A career in the National Team

Yao Ming has also represented the Chinese national teams in a number of international competitions outside of his professional career.

He made his debut for them in the Summer Olympics in 2000.

Ming has also represented them in various tournaments like the Asian Cup, World Championships, and many more.

Although the Chinese national team never won a World Championship or an Olympic medal under him, they consistently performed well in Asian events.

Ming has three Asian Cup victories for China.

Injuries | Yao Ming

Yao suffered his first severe injury in his fourth season, limiting him to 57 games.

He experienced a foot injury that required toe surgery before he could fully heal.

Despite the inconvenience, Yao had outstanding stats, and his supporters voted him to the All-Star game.

Similarly, despite a knee ailment in his fifth season, he averaged 25.0 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.

Except for the latter portion of the 2008-09 season, Yao missed many games due to various significant injuries.

Despite making the All-Star game in every season he played in, he missed many of them.

Apart from earlier foot and knee ailments, Yao sustained serious foot and ankle injuries during his career.

Despite his desire to continue playing in the NBA, he was forced to retire in 2011.

On July 20, 2011, he announced his retirement at a news conference in Shanghai, China.

Achievements and Awards

Among his honors and achievements are:

• Champion of the CBA (2002)
• The Houston Rockets retired jersey number 11.
• Leader of the CBA’s comeback (2000-02)
• CBA Slam Dunk champion (2000, 2001)
• Second Team All-NBA (2007, 2009)
• MVP of the FIBA Asia Cup (2001, 2003, 2005)
• Leader of CBA blocks (2000, 2001, 2002)

Yao Ming’s Net Worth and Earnings

Yao Ming, one of the highest-paid sportsmen, has a net worth of between $100 million and $175 million.

According to Forbes, Ming made $51 million from games and other sources in a single season in 2008.

Yao has made approximately $93 million throughout his NBA career.

When he was signed by the Houston Rockets in 2002, he was paid around $4 million for his rookie season.

Similarly, for his second season, they promised him roughly $4.2 million.

As his performance improved, the Rockets kept him on the team and increased his salary on an annual basis.

Despite being unable to give his all due to repeated ailments, Ming earned more than $17 million in his final season in the NBA.

Aside from club revenues, a big portion of his money came from deals with several well-known businesses.

Ming instantly signed with Nike after being selected in the draft, and his affiliation with them lasted until the end of his rookie season.

He was also associated with firms such as Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Reebok, Apple, and McDonald’s.

Actively Participating in Good Deeds

Ming, as a socialist sympathizer, is deeply concerned about environmental and social issues and consistently seeks to work for the collective benefit, as evidenced by his participation in social works.

For the same reason, the Chinese Communist Party bestowed the Proletarian Award upon him in 2005.

Ming has frequently spoken out in support of environmental and animal conservation.

He made a film in 2012 to raise awareness about northern white rhinoceros and the need to conserve them from extinction.

Similarly, he is involved in a number of elephant conservation efforts.

He collaborated with the team that created the documentary film The End of the Wild, as well as with WildAid and the African Wildlife Foundation for the same reason.

Yao has also participated in numerous charities and humanitarian projects, including one in 2003 to prevent the spread of SARS, relief efforts during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, and so on.

He also founded the Yao Ming Foundation and has been active in a number of programs that help impoverished youngsters in China.

Yao Ming | Wife and Children

Yao is married to Ye Li, a former Chinese basketball star.

Ming first met Li when he was 17 years old, in 1997.

Despite his interest in her, Ye was confused about whether she wanted to establish a relationship with him.

Both were, however, in the early stages of their basketball careers, and everyone relished the rumor.

According to rumors, Ye later accepted his proposal by handing her team pins from the Summer Olympics in 2000.

Ye Li was born a year later in Shanghai, China, the same city where Yao grew up.

Li, who stands 6 feet 3 inches tall, was a member of China’s women’s basketball team at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Her relationship with Yao was established when she appeared with him during the closing ceremony of the same event.

After years of courting, the couple married on August 6, 2007.

Yao Qinlei, their daughter, was born. She was born in Houston, Texas on May 21, 2010.

Meme Story | Yao Ming

Yao Ming and his Rockets colleague, Metta World Peace, appeared together and spoke to reporters at a post-playoffs press conference in 2009.

He had no idea that the moment taken during that event would make him famous within the Internet meme culture.

Since 2010, his wonderful laugh after Metta uttered a joke has become a famous meme template.

In 2010, a Reddit member with the pseudonym Downlow designed and submitted the first template.

Soon after, many other members around the world found it amusing and began generating memes with his goofy expression on a variety of issues.

The meme template, commonly known as “Bitch Please,” has become an essential aspect of popular meme culture, and it is highly acclaimed even among young people who are unaware of Ming, the Player.

Some Interesting Yao Ming Facts

• In 2004, a documentary film titled The Year of the Yao was released, which primarily focused on his NBA rookie year.
• Ming provided the voice of a character in the 2009 Chinese animated film The Magic Aster.
• Ming founded the winery Yao Family Wines in Napa Valley, California, in 2016.
• In 2018, Yao Ming graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University with a degree in Economics.

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Social Media

Instagram username: @yao

@YaoMing on Twitter

Brandon Roy is a former NBA player from the United States who is now the boys’ head coach at Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington.