Via Adrian Wojarnowski of Yahoo! Sports:
“The realization has hit them that this is grave,” one NBA general manager said.
For now, the Rockets have privately told league peers it could be a full season before Yao might be able to return to basketball. Multiple league executives, officials close to Yao and two doctors with knowledge of the diagnoses are describing a troubling re-fracture of his navicular bone. Three pins were inserted a year ago, but the foot cracked in the playoffs and isn’t healing.
“It sounds like he’s missing most of next season, if not the entire 82 games,” one league executive who has had recent discussions with the Houston front office told Yahoo! Sports. “That’s all that [the Rockets] will concede quietly, but they know it’s probably much worse.”
The Rockets were on the verge of beating the Lakers and bam - Yao Ming goes down with a broken foot. Now we're learning the injury is more severe than previously thought. Not only could Yao miss all of next year, his career is in jeopardy.
Looks like the Rockets might have to hold on to Tracy McGrady after all.