Per Ric Bucher…

Houston Rockets center Yao Ming has elected to have extensive surgery on his fractured left foot that almost certainly eliminates his chances of playing next season but offers hope that he can resume his NBA career and not fracture the foot a career-ending third time.

After consultation with a battery of doctors, Yao, 28, has decided to undergo a bone graft to heal the existing fracture and have his arch surgically lowered to reduce the stress on his foot.

Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas had a fracture in the same part of the foot, had a similar combination of surgeries and has played the last eight seasons without suffering another fracture.

For a while, it looked as if the Houston Rockets were the team most likely to usurp the Lakers at the top of the Western Conference, but now that they’ve lost Yao Ming for a season and Ron Artest to free agency, things aren’t looking so good. If Tracy McGrady can come back healthy, the Rockets will still be a playoff team in the West, but they’re not a threat to go to the Finals.

Let’s hope not, but according to the Rockets’ team physician, it’s a possibility.

“At this point, the injury has the potential for him missing this next season and could be career threatening,” team physician Tom Clanton said, according to the Houston Chronicle. “One of the things we are trying to get is a consensus opinion on that, to make certain there is no option we are overlooking that would provide an earlier return or would be an option for treatment that he would prefer rather than doing additional surgery.”

While Yao could face surgery to insert a pin in the foot, a bone graft or even realignment of the foot, but the team is trying immobilization for right now. They are hoping that the fracture heals on its own.

“He has no tenderness, no swelling, no redness,” Clanton said, according to the Chronicle. “When he came back in, he was feeling like everything was perfect, and he would start rehabilitation and get ready to play. The findings on the CT were shocking for him and for us.”

This is obviously a huge blow to the franchise. Yao was expected to miss 8-12 weeks, but the CT revealed that his foot was not healing properly.

Injuries have derailed an otherwise stellar career. Yao missed just two games in his first three seasons, but since then, he has only appeared in 72% of his team’s regular season games.

Yao Ming’s sore ankle turned out to be a hairline fracture in his foot, and he’s out for the rest of the playoffs.

The Houston center limped off the court late in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 108-94 victory over the Rockets on Friday night. Yao missed Saturday’s practice to get treatment and the team said the 7-foot-6 All-Star would be re-evaluated on Sunday.

But the Rockets announced later Saturday night that further examination of Yao’s injury revealed a hairline fracture. The Rockets say Yao will need 8-12 weeks to recover, though no surgery is required.

This news puts a damper on what was shaping up to be a good series between the Lakers and the Rockets. I don’t see Houston keeping up with Kobe and Co. without their big man.