Knicks guard Jeremy Lin has caught the attention of not only fans and coaches but also of President Barack Obama over the past couple of weeks, and the hype does not appear to be ending anytime soon. It was revealed Thursday that Lin will play in the NBA All-Star Weekend Rising Stars Challenge after being a late addition to the roster.

After commissioner David Stern initially said Lin would not be added, the NBA reversed course. Lin scored 136 points in his first five starts, the most of an NBA player since the merger with the ABA in 1976. The traditional pairing of rookies and second-year players has been modified in format in order to mix up the game.

Jeremy Lin is on the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated.

♦ During Wednesday night’s Knicks game, MSG Network aired a sign that depicted Lin’s face above a fortune cookie, with the words The Knicks’ good fortune. That sparked some controversy in the social media world, as Lin is the first American-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA. In response to reports that indicated the sign was a network graphic, the network tweeted Thursday: What happened briefly last night was not an MSG graphic, it was one of many fan signs in the area.

♦ China and Taiwan want a piece of the pie when it comes to Lin. “Linsanity” has offered a hefty marketing promise, and at 6-foot-3, Lin has become a role model for average-sized basketball players everywhere. Wang Dong, a Shanghai-based sports commentator for Dragon TV, told CNN, “Lin gives hope to regular-sized players. He shows that regardless of size, height and weight he could make his presence felt in the NBA. He shows that we Chinese can boast of more than just giant players like Yao Ming.”

♦ Fernando Valenzuela, the former Dodgers left-hander who burst onto the scene in 1981 as an unheralded rookie from Mexico, has hopped on the Linsanity bandwagon. Valenzuela’s success gave to birth to “Fernandomania,” and the hype around Lin has some similarities.

♦ In the wake of Rockets center Yao Ming‘s retirement, the NBA plans to have Lin visit China this summer. The constant buzz around Lin has piqued the interest of David Shoemaker, NBA China CEO.

“What we’ve seen, the huge enthusiasm and the frenzy around Jeremy is just serving to act as a further catalyst to grow the sport of basketball and to grow the NBA in China in a very short period,” Shoemaker told CNN.

♦ The New York Daily News reports that Manhattan-based Shake Shack is now offering the “Jeremy Lin-Mint,” a chocolate and cookie milkshake to further enhance the Linsanity that appears to have captivated the nation. The shake will be provided at all six New York City Shake Shacks, in all five boroughs, excluding Citi Field, through Feb. 19.

When a player retires and is good enough to warrant it, the discussions about whether or not that player deserves to be in his sport’s Hall of Fame begin almost instantly. (See: Randy Moss.)

So when Yao Ming announced his retirement due to injury this summer, the talk was that although he was an eight-time All-Star in the NBA, his injuries and early departure from the game would likely keep him out of joining the all-time greats in Springfield.

However, there may still be a way that the 7-foot-6 giant of a man, both in stature and influence, could find a way to still make the Hall of Fame and much earlier than he would have been eligible.

According to a report by NBA.com, “representatives from the Chinese Basketball Association and media in China signaled plans to nominate Yao in the contributor category and bypass the usual five-year waiting period for retired players.”

Yao could make the perfect contributor candidate for the Hall, given the way he spread the NBA and basketball to China during his time in the league. According to the report, David Stern once said of Yao, “his dominant play and endearing demeanor along with his extensive humanitarian efforts have made him an international fan favorite and provided an extraordinary bridge between basketball fans in the United States and China.”

The list of people who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame as contributors includes the sport’s inventor James Naismith, former Harlem Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon, Lakers owner Jerry Buss and ESPN personality Dick Vitale.

According to a report from Yahoo! Sports‘ Adrian Wojnarowski, Rockets center Yao Ming will retire rather than make another attempt to return from a lower-body injury. Selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 draft, the 7-foot-6 Yao played eight seasons in the NBA and averaged 19.0 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks. But he missed 178 games over the last five seasons as he battled a variety of injuries. Last season, he played only five games before being forced to the sideline with a tendon strain in his left leg.

There was a mild outcry when Minnesota’s Kevin Love wasn’t named to the NBA All-Star team Thursday night, but the forward got his due when commissioner David Stern tabbed Love to replace the injured Yao Ming. West coach Gregg Popovich will determine who actually starts the game.

“I was totally shocked, I had absolutely no idea,” Love told the Star-Tribune. “I’m truly humbled. I’m truly blessed. It’s a goal of mine my whole life, and I’ve reached it. I was very happy.”

The Rockets announced that center Yao Ming will miss the remainder of the 2010-11 season due to the stress fracture in his left ankle, the Rockets announced. It will be the second straight year in which the star center is unable to play, as he sat out the 2009-10 season while recovering from surgery to repair a broken left foot. The Rockets are still deciding with their center whether he will undergo surgery on the ankle that would render him unable to play for the next seven to 10 months.

For the story from The Associated Press, click here.

Rockets center Yao Ming left Wednesday night’s game against the Wizards with what trainers say are sprained tendons in his left ankle, Yahoo! Sports reported. Early indications showed that the injury is not serious, and Yao was scheduled to undergo further testing on Thursday to determine the extent of it.

The injury, Yahoo! Sports reported, came one day after the Rockets organization had discussed increasing the center’s minutes. Yao has been plagued with injury throughout his NBA career. The Rockets also have Brad Miller and Jordan Hill listed as second and third centers on the active depth chart.

Yao is averaging 10.2 points per game this season to go along with 5.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game in five games for Houston.

Welcome to Friday’s Morning Mashup. For the latest news, start at our WEEI.com home page or click here for the top stories from our news wire.

WHAT’S HAPPENING LOCALLY FRIDAY:
NHL: Bruins at Capitals, 7 p.m. (NESN)
NBA: Bulls at Celtics, 8 p.m. (CSNNE, ESPN; WEEI)

SATURDAY:
NHL: Blues at Bruins, 7 p.m. (NESN)

SUNDAY:
NFL: Patriots at Browns, 1 p.m. (CBS)
NBA: Celtics at Thunder, 7 p.m. (CSNNE; WEEI)

AROUND THE WEB:

♦ Despite being coach at Florida International University, Isiah Thomas doesn’t mind letting everyone know he would prefer to be in New York. In an interview with ESPN, Thomas was asked if he thought about eventually replacing 69-year-old Donny Walsh as Knicks president. Thomas replied, “Every single day of the week.”

Thomas had hoped to lure LeBron James to New York but was removed as Knicks president and coach in 2008, two years before James became a free agent. Now, James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and Thomas all are in South Florida. “I do find it ironic that we all ended up here in Miami instead of us all ending up in New York,” Thomas said. “But it’s a four-year deal [for James].”

♦ ESPN reported that Heisman Trophy favorite Cam Newton was being offered to at least one school for $180,000 by an agent when he was transferring from junior college. Newton’s family denies having anything to do with it. Dan Wetzel at Yahoo! Sports writes that this is the way the system works, and, if the story is true, Auburn got a bargain.

♦ Meanwhile, Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez got off lightly when the NCAA only said that he was guilty of failing to “monitor” his program instead of something more serious. Bob Wojnowski in the Detroit News writes that Rodriguez still has a long way to go to right the Wolverines ship.

♦ With the Rockets 0-4 and center Yao Ming being coddled due to doctor’s suggestions that his minutes be limited, frustration is building in Houston. In the Houston Chronicle, Richard Justice writes that its time to leave Yao on the floor for more than 6-7 minutes at a time and see what he can do.

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On Nov. 5, 1986, the Bruins fired which coach after an 8-3 loss to the Sabres, replacing him with former Bruins winger Terry O’Reilly?

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Rockets 7-foot-6 center Yao Ming said he “might choose to call it quits” after next season if he does not fully recover from his foot injury. Yao, who missed all of last season after having surgery on his broken foot, told Xinhua News Agency he doubts he will play at the 2012 London Olympics.

Oft-injured Rockets center Yao Ming, who missed all of last season with a fractured left foot, reportedly could miss the first two months of the upcoming season.

Although initial reports stated he would be ready for the season opener, his rehabilitation from the injury could force him to wait longer than expected.

The 7-foot-6 center from China has averaged 19.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per game in his career after being selected No. 1 overall in the 2002 draft.

Tuesday’s news that Houston Rockets All-Star center Yao Ming may miss the entire 2009-2010 season with an injury that could ultimately be career-threatening injury (which was reported in the Houston Chronicle and Yahoo! Sports) shouldn’t be all that shocking.

Yao suffered a hairline fracture in his left foot in the second round of the NBA playoffs against the Lakers on May 8. Originally expected to be out eight to twelve weeks, a bone scan last week revealed the fracture is not healing.

Yet the 7-foot-6 Yao is not a stranger to foot and leg injuries. In 2005, he missed 21 games because of an infection in his left big toe, and then broke his left foot later in the season. The following season, he broke his right leg and sat out 32 games. And in 2008, a stress fracture in his left foot caused him to miss the playoffs.

Not only is this bad news for the Rockets, but for China as well. Yao put China on the map as a legitimate international basketball powerhouse when he reached the NBA in 2002. He carried the Chinese Olympic team in the 2008 Olympics before it fell to the U.S. Yao means more to China than most things in America. He is more than China’s biggest athlete — he might be China’s biggest celebrity. He has surpassed Jackie Chan on the superstar level, and was No. 1 on the annual Forbes’ Celebrity 100 List for China.

Yao had been in China trying to recuperate the leg, but returned to the U.S. to have it tested before receiving the bad news. The Shanghai Daily News reported he will miss the Asian Basketball Championship, which starts on Aug. 6 in Tianjin. So we know he will be out at least for the beginning of the season.

So what does this mean for the Rockets — and the future of international basketball? Well, Yao did have surgery on the same leg in 2008 and came back four months later to play in the Olympics. So he is not a lost cause, yet. As for Houston, they’re also expecting All-Star Tracy McGrady to miss half of next season as well because of surgery on his left knee, which could pose a few problems. They still have Ron Artest unsigned and will need to make a decision, or a trade, soon.

Maybe Yao can rally — he’s only 28. As he did in 2008, he could come back again to make China proud and save the Rockets in the process. At least they can only hope.