Is Yao Ming in the Hall of Fame? Exploring NBA legend's orange jacket status
Yao Ming is arguably the most celebrated Chinese basketball player ever.
Yao was the first pick of the 2002 NBA Draft and helped the Houston Rockets re-establish themselves as playoff contenders alongside Steve Francis and Tracy McGrady.
Although his NBA career was cut short by injuries after only nine seasons, Yao's achievements were enough for him to be enshrined to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.
Yao joined Shaquille O'Neal and Allen Iverson as the former NBA superstars who made it to the 2016 batch.
Yao Ming's career in retrospective
Some basketball analysts actually doubted prior to the start of the 2002-03 NBA season if Yao Ming could actually make an impact in his rookie season.
At least in his NBA debut, the analysts seemed to be right as Yao was held scoreless in the Rockets' season opener against the Indiana Pacers.
Yao Ming's first NBA basket came in the Rockets' next game against the Denver Nuggets.
After a slow start, Yao dropped 20 points on a perfect 9-for-9 shooting against the LA Lakers — although Shaquille O'Neal didn't play that game.
He was eventually named the West starter for the 2003 NBA All-Star Game, beating O'Neal by about 250,000 votes.
When Jeff Van Gundy stepped in to replace Rudy Tomjanovich as Houston's coach, Yao shone brighter in the NBA.
However, a long injury history took a toll on Yao, and after nine seasons, he called it a career at a young age of 30.
Yao Ming became Asia's basketball inspiration
Despite the short career, Yao's success in the NBA became an inspiration for more players of Asian descent to show that Asians also belong in North America's biggest cagefest.
In fact, Houston recently drafted someone with an Asian connection, former second overall pick Jalen Green, a Filipino-American.
Speaking of Filipino-Americans, there's Utah Jazz's Jordan Clarkson, who is a part of the Philippines' national team.
However, the Filipinos are currently pinning their hopes on 7-foot-3 center Kai Sotto to become the first homegrown player from the Philippines to make the NBA.
Even Taiwanese national Jeremy Lin made waves previously, who sparked the "Linsanity" during the mid-2010s.
Although injuries slowed him down significantly in the NBA, the Linsanity finally bore fruit when he won the 2019 championship with the Toronto Raptors despite playing limited minutes.
Another Yao Ming HOF induction coming up
Being a trail blazer for Asian basketball in general, FIBA has also set up the induction of Yao Ming into its own Hall of Fame.
Yao headlines the 2023 FIBA Hall of Fame class, which includes fellow Asian basketball legends Carlos Loyzaga, Yuko Oga and Hendrawan Sony.
The newest FIBA Hall of Fame members will be formally enshrined during the FIBA World Congress that will happen in the Philippines later in August, just before the start of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, which the country co-hosts with Japan and Indonesia.