Yahoo! Sports reporter Adrian Wojnarowski has learned from league sources that Yao Ming, who played all eight of his seasons in Houston as a member of some pretty good Rockets teams, will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2016. He will be inducted off the strength of both his NBA career and his playing days in China, and will be formally announced during this weekend’s NCAA Final Four festivities in Houston.
Ming was taken #1 in the 2002 NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets, and made an immediate impact both on the Rockets and in the NBA. As a 7-foot-6 center that could shoot from outside and dominate inside, Yao Ming revolutionized the center position, providing several other weapons that opposing teams had to prepare for, teams that were used to the interior-only dominance of guys like Shaquille O’Neal and Dikembe Mutumbo.
Ming retired in 2011 having averaged 19 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks per game during his career, which spanned 486 games.
