5 alternative NBA timelines for Yao Ming

Yao Ming was one of the most influential big men in the NBA in the 2000s. What if his NBA career went down one of these five alternate paths?

Chinese seven-footer Yao Ming will be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday evening as a member of the 2016 Class. Yao paved the way for basketball’s reach and popularity in China. He was an eight-time NBA All-Star, a five-time All-NBA selection, and nearly averaged a double-double in his nine-year NBA career with the Houston Rockets (2002-11).

Yao continued the great legacy of Rockets centers from Moses Malone to Ralph Sampson to Hakeem Olajuwon in his 11 seasons in Houston. He finished with 9,247 career points, 4,494 career rebounds, and 920 career blocks in his promising, but injury-riddled NBA career.

His time in Houston was undeniable great for him and the NBA’s brand. Unfortunately like many big men, leg injuries were what derailed the 7-foot-6 center from Shanghai. When healthy, he was a good of a center as any in the NBA. Here are five alternative NBA timelines for the soon-to-be Hall of Famer Yao.

5. What if he entered the 1999 NBA Draft?

Yao would be the No. 1 overall pick by the Houston Rockets in the 2002 NBA Draft, but what if he entered the NBA Draft three years earlier in 1999? The 19-year-old Yao was supposedly pressured by his general manager with the CBA’s Shanghai Sharks to enter the 1999 NBA Draft, but a lousy deal that was later nullified kept Yao in China for three more seasons.

That deal would have had Yao paying 33% of his earnings to his agency. For an international star like Yao, that was a ludicrous slice of the pie for an agency to make off its client. No wonder he stayed in the CBA until he was 22 years old.

Had Yao entered the 1999 NBA Draft, where would he have gone in the first round? Youth and playing overseas may have kept him from being a high-end lottery pick, but size and potential made him seem like a worthy gamble in the mid-to-late first round.

Three teams picking in that ranve immediately jump out as potential Yao landing spots in the 1999 NBA Draft: the New York Knicks, the Rockets, and the Atlanta Hawks. New York had the No. 15 pick that year and selected French center Frederic Weis. He never made it to the NBA.

Yao as Patrick Ewing’s eventual successor in Madison Square Garden probably keeps Pat Riley in New York. Maybe New York doesn’t go on to be a train wreck in the next 15 seasons? He would have been bigger in New York than Kristaps Porzingis.

Houston was picking No. 22 in 1999, selecting senior power forward from New Mexico Kenny Thomas. The Rockets could have monitored Yao’s minutes earlier in his career by signing him at 19 as opposed to 22. Perhaps this adds longevity to Yao’s NBA career and Houston wins an NBA Championship in the mid-2000s?

Atlanta had three mid-first round picks in 1999: No. 17, No. 22, and No. 27. The Hawks were on the fall as an organization around this time. Its three first-round picks didn’t pan out in the form of Cal Bowdler, Dion Glover, and Jumaine Jones.

Atlanta would miss the Eastern Conference Playoffs for nine straight seasons until Al Horford’s rookie year with the Hawks in 2007-08. Yao would have been a media market that China was familiar with from the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. Fellow 1999 first-round pick by the Hawks in Jason Terry could have helped Atlanta make the NBA Playoffs in the early 2000s with Yao in the frontcourt.

Next: 4. What if he'd been drafted by the Golden State Warriors?