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It’s Wednesday, and that means its time for another patented ShakedownSports conspiracy theory. Today’s topic: Yao Ming’s broken foot.

(prepare to have your mind blown)

After leading the Rockets to 12 straight wins, the team suddenly announced that Yao will miss the rest of the season with stress fracture in his foot. That seems a little fishy. And doesn’t it seem even fishier that with the Beijing Olympics only five months away, doctors say the injury will take at least four months to heal.

Here’s the theory. Yao had been playing with the stress fracture for a while. The team knew about it, but as long as Yao was willing to play through the pain they were willing to let him keep going. The hope was that he could play through the playoffs and then have surgery after the season.

Unfortunately for the Rockets, the the Chinese government found out about the injury. A quick call was placed to David Stern in which China threatened to stop the pipeline of money coming in to the NBA if Yao were unable to play in the Olympics. No more Yao Ming lunchboxes, no Bill more Walton dubbed over on Chinese TV, no more Yi Jianlians getting shipped across the ocean. It would all be gone, and Stern would be left trying to introduce basketball to poor children in Bangladesh.

The commissioner knew he had to act fast. He canceled lunch with his old pal Russ Granik and called the Rockets. He carefully informed them of the situation and what they must do. I don’t know how Stern did it, but he managed to convince the Rockets to end Yao’s season. Perhaps he promised to compensate them with future lottery rigging, perhaps he just reminded them that this was a risk they took on when they decided to draft Yao.  In the end the Rockets did what was in the best interests of the NBA, and the best interests of the Chinese Olympic team.

I know what you’re thinking: “I have to call the Chinese embassy to complain.” Well, I’m here to help. The embassy’s number is 202-328-2500. Enjoy.

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