Yao Ming to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame

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The Vertical has reported that longtime NBA center Yao Ming will be elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

From Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:

Former Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, a transcendent 7-foot-6 Chinese icon, has been elected for enshrinement into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2016, league sources told The Vertical

The honors committee considers finalists as determined by the North American committee, including Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson this year. These two greats will likely join Ming in the hall of fame this upcoming year.

Yao made five All-NBA teams in his nine-year career. He made the All-Star game all nine of his seasons, but fan voting started to take a bigger effect on his voting.  He averaged 19.0 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.

There is plenty of reason as to why Ming belongs in the Hall of Fame. For one, basketball is huge in China. With Ming  joining the NBA it brought a whole new plethora of fan viewership and helped spread the NBA global environment.

Ming went No. 1 overall in the 2002 NBA Draft and joined up with some fun players as his career went along. From the likes of Steve Francis, or Tracy McGrady, Ming always had some sort of talent around him which was also key to his own success. Ming went up against the like of Shaquille O’Neal early in his career which made his games even more enjoyable to watch.

Ming’s highlights shows why he was such a great player for his time. Ming was hampered with a nagging foot injury that cut his career shorter than planned. The same one that is effecting Joel Embiid right now, it was no surprise to see Ming retire early. He, in my opinion, was a lock for the Hall of Fame. It’s the BASKETBALL Hall of Fame, not the NBA Hall of Fame, and Ming had a global impact unlike any other.

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