The Houston Rockets already said that Yao Ming's recovery from a broken foot was behind schedule, but that setback might now cost him all of next season or worse.
"At this point, the injury has the potential for him missing this next season and could be career threatening," team physician Tom Clanton said, according to the Houston Chronicle. "One of the things we are trying to get is a consensus opinion on that, to make certain there is no option we are overlooking that would provide an earlier return or would be an option for treatment that he would prefer rather than doing additional surgery."
Yahoo! Sports first reported that Yao could miss next season.
The team is weighing different options. Yao suffered a hairline fracture of the tarsal navicular bone of his left foot in the Rockets' second-round playoff loss to the Lakers on May 8. The team initially said Yao would miss eight to 12 weeks, but a bone scan last week revealed that the fracture is not healing properly.
"We are not going to comment," Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said, according to the Chronicle, "until we have all the facts."
While Yao could face surgery to insert a pin in the foot, a bone graft or even realignment of the foot, but the team is trying immobilization for right now. They are hoping that the fracture heals on its own.
"I don't think that is necessarily a longshot," Clanton said, according to the newspaper. "It takes a lot of time. It may be best to take more time. Sometimes that is the best option."
The Rockets are encouraged because Yao is not feeling any symptoms of the fracture.
"He has no tenderness, no swelling, no redness," Clanton said, according to the Chronicle. "When he came back in, he was feeling like everything was perfect, and he would start rehabilitation and get ready to play. The findings on the CT were shocking for him and for us."
Yao missed 21 games in 2005-06 because of an infection in his left big toe, then broke a bone in his left foot in April. He broke his right leg in the 2006-07 season and sat out 32 games, then suffered a stress fracture in his left foot in 2007-08 and missed the playoffs.
He played in 77 games last season before injuring the same troublesome foot again in Game 3 against the Lakers.
Yao averaged 19.7 points and 9.9 rebounds per game last season and 17.1 and 10.9 in the playoffs before he went down.
Yao is due to make over $16 million next season with a player option for 2010-11 that would pay him over $17 million. He was the top overall pick by the Rockets in the 2002 draft.
The Rockets already expect Tracy McGrady to miss at least the first half of next season after microfracture surgery on his left knee.
Via ESPN.
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