Houston Rockets center Yao Ming broke a bone above his left eye when he collided with another player while practicing for the Chinese national team earlier this week.

Yao received eight stitches above the eye and is expected to miss at least several of the national team's five exhibition games against a traveling NBA All-Star team, a Chinese Basketball Association official told the official Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday.

News photos showed the 7-foot-6 Yao with a bloodied bandage on his left eyebrow after the collision Monday. It is expected to take Yao about a week to recover.

Yao is a member of both the NBA All-Star team and China's national team, but was to play for the Chinese squad in this exhibition. The first is scheduled for Wednesday night in the northeastern city of Qinhuangdao.

Yao, one of the first Chinese players in the NBA, was the No. 1 draft pick last year. He was runner-up to Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire for the NBA Rookie of the Year award after averaging 13.5 points and 8.2 rebounds a game.

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