I will reserve judgment and analysis on the Yao Ming situation until it’s clear what exactly is the prognosis on his injury. Yao Ming’s agent and the China Basketball Administrative Center seem to be doin the same.

 Yao’s agent Zhang Mingji (Eric Zhang) has relieved, if somewhat even a little, some of the concerns and rumours going around about Yao Ming’s state.

“I heard some reports say Yao’s career might be over due to the worsening injury, I don’t think it’s the right time to say that.”

Similarly, the China Basketball Administrative Center has said its been informed of the news but nothing as critical as some of the claims that media outlets are claiming.  Director of the sports governing body, Hu Jiashi:

“We have got the news from Team Yao that his injury is not recovering well. But they did not say if Yao will miss the NBA season, not to mention the possibility of missing the World Championships next year.”

 Obviously the Rockets are still examining all the possibilities and hearing as many expert oppinions on the subject as possible before making any official announcements. On one side we have the increasingly tabloid-like sports media which have repeatedly claimed that this injury could be the end of Yao Ming’s career. On the other hand we have the direct parties such as the Rockets, Yao and his agent, and the Chinese basketball body that try to remain as cautious and optimistic as possible until anything is certain.

Most probably the result will be something in between – with Yao missing most of next season but hopefully will be back after that and be played sparingly in the regular season for the Rockets and for his home country in non-trivial matches to prevent from any further breakdown.