(FILE)

Houston Rockets All-Star center Yao Ming will miss the rest of the season because of a stress fracture in his left foot. Thirty-year-old Yao underwent surgery in January this year.

It's the ninth season since Yao started his NBA journey and the sixth in which he has had to deal with injuries. After a predicted 10-month recovery, whether Yao will retire or come back remains to be seen.

"I want to thank all the support people have given us," said Yao. "I know the recovery will take a long time. I'll use it to think about the choices I have made and I will make a decision about the future of my career when the recovery process ends."

When Yao was chosen as center of Houston Rockets in 2007, some critics thought that he would never be a first-class center. But Yao proved himself and earned a reputation as one of the most outstanding centers in history.

"He is a representative of the globalization of NBA," said NBA Commissioner David Joel Stern. Thanks in large part to Yao's impact, the NBA launched NBA China in January 2008, attracting an audience of more than 500 million.