There have been 6 Chinese players in the NBA, and Yao Ming is undoubtedly the best one. In 2002, Yao Ming entered the NBA as a champion, and after several years of experience, he grew into a high-quality center who averaged 20+10 doubles per game, which also won him a big contract, so how much did he make in total?
Due to injury, Yao Ming had to retire at the age of 30, he spent only 9 seasons in the NBA (2002 to 2011), earning a total of $93.39 million. Yao Ming's NBA career average contributed 19 points, 9.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.9 blocks per game, you can compare the total salary of players with similar NBA career data per game, you can roughly understand what level Yao Ming's salary belongs to.
Chris Bosh, who averaged 19.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block in the NBA career, earned $242 million, Amare Stoudemire, who averaged 18.9 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 blocks, and DeMarcus Aldridge, Paul Gasol and others, who averaged about Yao Ming, but they all made more money than Yao Ming like Bosh, Xiaosi and others. Therefore, it is unfair to measure Yao Ming's career by total salary, after all, he has only played for 9 years.
In fact, we can analyze Yao Ming's annual salary and see what level his annual salary is at in the league every year, and we can feel his growth trajectory and the team's high affirmation of his development ceiling.
For the first four years of his career, Yao Ming signed a four-year, $18.04 million rookie contract with annual salaries of $3.86 million, $4.15 million, $4.44 million and $5.59 million, respectively.
The 2005-2006 season, Yao Ming's fourth season in the NBA and the last year of his rookie contract, averaged 34.2 minutes per game, averaged 22.3 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.5 steals and 1.6 blocks, shooting 51.9% from the field and 85.3% from the free throw line.
The 25-year-old Yao Ming played a very bright performance, many statistics have reached a career high, he was also robbed by many teams, but Yao Ming finally chose to renew his contract with the Rockets, and the two sides signed a five-year, $75 million maximum salary contract, which took effect in 2006 and expired in 2011.
In the 2006-2007 season, Yao Ming averaged 25 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2 assists, 0.4 steals and 2 blocks per game, shooting 51.6% from the field and 86.2% from the free throws. His average score per game is as high as Joe Johnson's, the two are tied for seventh in the scoring list, ranking tenth in the league in terms of blocks per game, and Yao Ming's annual salary of $12.46 million this season ranks 30th in the league.
In the 2007-2008 season, Yao Ming averaged 22 points, 10.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.5 steals and 2 blocks per game, shooting 50.7% from the field and 85% from the free throws. This season he ranks sixth in the league in rebounds per game and sixth in blocks per game, and his annual salary of $13.76 million ranks 23rd in the league.
In the 2008-2009 season, Yao Ming, who had been devastated by injuries in the first two seasons, finally played a relatively complete season, but due to the negative impact of injuries, his status declined, averaging 19.7 points, 9.9 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.4 steals and 1.9 blocks, shooting 54.8% from the field, shooting 86.6% from the free throws, and this season his average rebounds ranked ninth in the league, and his average block per game ranked seventh in the league, with an annual salary of $15.07 million. Ranked 19th in the league.
In the 2009-2010 season, Yao Ming was reimbursed for injury season, he did not play a game, did not have any data to score, but he still got a high salary of $16.38 million, ranking 15th in the league.
In the 2010-2011 season, Yao Ming returned to play 5 games, but what no one expected was that the game on November 10, 2010 turned out to be Yao Ming's last game in the NBA, that game he played for 6 minutes, did not score, got 1 rebound and sent 1 block and then left the game injured, and later the team doctor confirmed that he suffered a stress fracture in the middle of the ankle again and announced the season reimbursement.
Yao Ming played 5 games this season, played a sharp decline in playing time due to injury, averaged only 18.2 minutes per game, averaged only 10.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 1.6 blocks per game, shot 48.6% from the field and shot 93.8% from the free throw line, which was his worst season in the NBA, but the highest annual salary season - $17.69 million, ranking 9th in the league. At the end of the season, Yao Ming announced his retirement due to injury troubles, which made many fans feel uneasy.
In a nine-year NBA career, Yao Ming received an annual salary of $17.69 million in the highest year, which is 2.31 million U.S. dollars away from the annual salary of $20 million. If you look at it from today's perspective, you may think that Yao Ming is a player of a very average level, but if you think about it is the salary of more than 10 years ago, and then look at Yao Ming's salary, you may be able to feel Yao Ming's strength.
In those years, there were very few players who could get more than $20 million in annual salaries, Yao Ming had an annual salary of more than $15 million for 3 seasons, which already belonged to the second gear of the league, if there was no injury, he might be able to go to a higher level, play a more amazing performance, get a bigger contract, and win more honors... It's a pity there are no ifs in this world!