(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

BY JING ZHAO

ANCHOR JIM FLINK

You're watching multisource sports video news analysis from Newsy. 

“Yao's retirement almost made my Daddy burst into tears.” That’s one comment from a China Daily blog. Heated online discussion has followed Chinese NBA star Yao Ming’s official retirement. Here is his announcement from CCTV/CNN:

“At the end of last year, my left foot has a third fracture, so I had to leave the basketball field...So today, I need to make a personal decision, as a basketball player, I will stop my career -basketball career and I will formally retire.”

In Yao’s 9-year career in the NBA, he won popularity due to his great performance: averaging 19.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks over 486 games. Shaquille O'Neal gives his take to NBA-TV.

“You know, he was very agile, he could play inside, he could play outside. If he didn’t have those injuries, he probably could have been up there in the top five centers ever to play the game.”

And Yao’s influence has reached far beyond the basketball court. As James Sasser, U.S. ambassador to China in the late ‘90s, told the Washington Post, “Yao Ming gave the Chinese people and China a human face in the United States...” The Post goes on to say:

"Chinese fans in the United States packed arenas for a glimpse of the 7-foot-6 center with the smooth passing touch, and even those with little to no previous interest in the NBA attended his games to support the outsize figure entrusted with the hopes of his country’s 1.3 billion people.”

And Yao’s success has also helped build the NBA’s brand in his home country. MSNBC explains:

“Basketball courts have sprung up all over the mainland, while the streets of Chinese cities are lined with young fans decked out in the jerseys of their favorite NBA heroes. Sprite and Pepsi cans often have NBA players plastered on them … All of which is a roundabout way of saying that Yao’s career has been a financial windfall for the NBA...”

But all that profitability could be at risk -- an online poll suggests as many as 57% of Chinese basketball fans could stop watching the post-Yao sport. The New York Times says the solution is to grow basketball’s image in China beyond a one-star sport.

“...his retirement is forcing many Chinese to acknowledge that their country has relied on Yao alone for victory and national pride, ignoring shortcomings in the state sports system that leave China facing a future bereft of N.B.A. and Olympic basketball glory.” 

Transcript by Newsy.