Yao Ming (R) of the Houston Rockets battles Johan Petro of the New Jersey Nets for a rebound during their NBA China Games series basketball game at the Guangzhou International Sports Arena in Guangzhou, Guangdong province Oct 16, 2010. [Photo/Agencies]

Chinese interest in the NBA soared after Yao was selected first overall by the Rockets in the 2002 draft.

The league now has 51 different networks broadcasting games in China. The number of viewers of NBA programming in China has risen 31 percent from the 2007-2008 season to a record of more than 2.1 billion, while traffic on the Chinese section of NBA.com has surged 60 percent in the same period.

Injuries are nothing new to China's best-known sporting export, who only missed two games during his first three seasons in the NBA.

Yao played 57 of a possible 82 games in the 2005-06 season because of an infection in his left big toe and a broken left foot suffered late that same season.

Limited to 48 games and 55 games over the following two seasons, Yao played 77 games in 2008-09 but suffered a hairline fracture in his foot during the Western Conference semi-finals against the Los Angeles Lakers that required surgery.