Yao Ming’s mission for Chinese basketball and more. For more great storytelling and in-depth analysis, subscribe to the magazine—and get up to 94% off the cover price. Click here for more.

I knew that Yao Ming’s parents are very tall. Though his father, at 6’7, arguably contributed less than his mother, at 6’3, which is farther above the female mean in standard deviation units. But ...

HOUSTON -- Houston Rockets star Yao Ming is now a father ... Information from ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher and The Associated Press was used in this report.

“When I first started playing as a kid in Chengdu, all we watched was the Rockets, and Yao Ming was literally on every magazine (cover). So the first thing I did when I moved here was go to ...

Houston Rockets center Yao Ming has elected to have extensive surgery ... Ric Bucher is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN Insider. Information from The Associated Press was used ...

Twenty-three years ago, they had an 8.9% chance at grabbing the top spot yet still managed to leapfrog four teams to claim No. 1 in the Yao Ming draft. That worked out pretty well for the ...

Basketball legend Yao Ming, who retired from the NBA in 2011 after an incredible nine-year career with the Houston Rockets, has stepped down from his position with the Chinese Basketball ...

When he was selected by the Houston Rockets as the first pick of the 2002 NBA Draft, Yao Ming was quite a unique physical ...

Yao Ming, a 7’6 center from China, was discussed almost like an urban legend before his arrival in 2002 (he first appeared on radars at the 2000 Summer Olympics), and when the Houston Rockets ...

NBA star Yao Ming, architect Yoshio Taniguchi, and other dignitaries break ground for the Asia Society Texas Center on May 15, 2008. (Richard J. Carson/Asia Society) In the summer of 2002, when the ...