Yao Ming‘s NBA career was cut short far too soon. The former No. 1 pick played just nine seasons — making the All-Star team eight times — and finished with the second-most blocks in Rockets history before a foot injury forced him to retire in 2011. But it was a rare treat to watch the 7’6 center from China in his prime, and later this summer, he’ll take his rightful place in the Naismith Hall of Fame, along with other notable 2016 inductees Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson.
His transition from the CBA to the NBA wasn’t always a smooth one. There was the language barrier for starters, and in his first-person essay over at the Players’ Tribune on Tuesday, he talked about a particular misunderstanding regarding his surname that followed him his entire career:
Everything went so fast my rookie year, but I remember the first few weeks very clearly. You always remember first impressions. On that day, my coaches were showing me my new locker. I was so excited to see my name on my new Rockets jersey. That was a big thing for me because I had never had my name on a jersey before. There were a lot of big things that were different when I came to the NBA, but I remember the little things like that the most. For example, everyone called me “Yao” — they thought it was my first name. In China, our surnames come first and our given names last. To my Chinese friends, I was Ming. Now I was just Yao. Once everyone started saying it that way, I never corrected them. I was too shy.
It’s an odd little oversight given that the Rockets organization apparently hired an expert on Chinese customs to come in and educate the team specifically to avoid this type of confusion. Nevertheless, Yao speaks fondly about his early days in Houston, in particular his friendship with Steve Francis, so it’s definitely well worth a read. The Hall of Fame induction ceremony is this Sunday, July 24, at 1:30 p.m. ET.
