NBA: When China fell in love with Yao Ming’s Houston Rockets
- Yao’s debut was a long time coming, after talks with CBA and Shanghai Sharks, but he quickly became an NBA All-Star
- Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley featured along the way
No points and two rebounds. There have certainly been more illustrious introductions to the NBA than Yao Ming’s debut, which came against the Indiana Pacers on October 30, 2002.
“I learned that I still have a lot to learn, and I’m just a rookie,’’ Yao said through an interpreter after the game. “It’s a very long road and it’s difficult.’’
His first basket came days later in game two as the Houston Rockets beat the Nuggets 83-74 in Denver’s home opener.
Yao had already made history when he became the first international player to go first in the NBA draft.
That draft had been a long time coming – Yao had been touted for the NBA for several years but the Chinese Basketball Association and Shanghai Sharks stood in his way – and it went down to the wire, with approval coming just 15 hours before the draft and after three days of intense negotiations.
“The assurances we gave each other was that it’s a win-win situation,” Rockets legal counsel Michael Goldberg told Associated Press. “They know with training in the US, Yao Ming will become a much better player and help their national team.”