Yao Ming's teammate recalls the past: Felt somewhat angry about being traded by the Rockets, and Francis later completely fell apart.

On March 2nd Beijing time, "Old Cat" Mobley, a teammate of Yao Ming during his Rockets days, talked about old times on a podcast, discussing the trade that sent him and Francis from the Rockets to the Magic. He admitted he was somewhat upset with the Rockets over this trade, and Francis's mentality later completely collapsed. Here is what Mobley shared—

"Steve (Francis) didn't handle the mental adjustment of being traded from the Rockets to the Magic as well as I did. But fortunately, me, Steve, and Cato all went to the Magic together. The year we joined the Magic, the team actually played quite well. The previous year they had Tracy McGrady and only won about 20 games or so—no disrespect to T-Mac, I don't know him, but that team was really bad. After we arrived, we had a very good season that year."

"The coach at the time said, 'We need to play the rookies more, develop the young guys.' But that was my contract year! I was shooting threes at a top rate in the league, around 44%, 45%. Our rookie was Dwight Howard, Grant Hill played the three, I played the two, and Francis played the one. Hedo Türkoğlu was still coming off the bench. The lineup was really strong."

"Then the coach insisted on changing the lineup. I was thinking, we're playing well right now, what are you doing? I immediately thought: I need to get out. I proactively requested a trade from the Magic. The GM at the time gave me an option to go to Sacramento. So I was swapped for Doug Christie."

Mobley stated he was still somewhat angry about the Rockets trading him.

"We were the ones involved in designing the Rockets' jerseys, the ones who cut the ribbon and laid the foundation with the team. I never imagined being traded, and neither did Francis. We both felt we were Rockets for life. And then they just traded us. At the time, I thought it was ridiculous, really like being slapped awake. Outsiders just say, 'Well, you're getting paid,' but they don't understand—it was never about the money."

"The city of Houston, that community, was family to us. The grocery stores, bars, restaurants—everywhere we went, it was family. And they just pulled us out of our home. It's like Luka Dončić in Dallas now—you rip someone out of where they're rooted, how is a young person supposed to deal with that? Loyalty, trust, all shattered. Later, Francis completely fell apart. It hurt me, but there was nothing I could do."