Another great NBA center has retired.

Last month, Shaquille O’Neal announced on twitter his retirement after dominating the NBA for 19 years.

Today, the 7″6′ Yao Ming has decided to retire after eight seasons playing for the Houston Rockets where he became literally and figuratively the largest symbol of the NBA’s growing expansion around the world and particularly in Asia.

Yao was the number one overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft and has been dominant in his healthy years. In fact, he and Shaq have some memorable battles together being the two best players at their position.

However, injury woes starting his 4th year in the league contributed to his decline missing 250 games over the past six seasons.

He has only played in five games since the 2008-09 season due to injuries.

He averaged 19 points and 9.2 rebounds throughout his career. He was an 8-time NBA All-Star and named to the All-NBA Team five times.

He is only 30 years old and yet he’ll be remembered as a historic icon. He might one day enshrined to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame not for his solid statistics but more for his global impact.

Check out the career highlights of the man known as “The Great Wall of China”:

Please read my related posts:

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Tags: 2011 NBA season, houston rockets, NBA, yao ming