Well it seems that the rickety rocket is ready to blast off.

According to ESPN.com Tracy McGrady has been cleared to take an indefinite leave from the Houston Rockets after the former All-Star’s representatives and Rockets management agreed to work together in search of a trade for the disgruntled guard, according to sources close to the situation.

Sources close to the process told ESPN.com that multiple phone discussions Monday between Rockets general manager Daryl Morey and coach Rick Adelman in conjunction with McGrady’s lead agent, Arn Tellem, led to a mutual agreement that both sides would try to hatch a workable trade before the league’s annual trading deadline on Feb. 18.

“Whoever gets me is going to get a hungry … player,” McGrady told the Houston Chronicle. “I don’t care if I go to the damn moon. It doesn’t matter. I’ve been hungry since I came back from my surgery.”

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VIA ESPN:

Rockets center Yao Ming had surgery Tuesday to repair a broken bone in his left foot.

The team announced the surgery was performed at Memorial Hermann Hospital by Dr. Tom Clanton, the Rockets’ team physician, along with Dr. Bill McGarvey.

Surgeons grafted bone onto the tarsal navicular bone and realigned his foot to reduce stress on the repair. The seven-time All-Star is slated to remain in the hospital for several days.

“Everything went according to play, and we were able to achieve not only fixation of the broken bone but also realignment of the bones to improve the stress pattern on his foot,” Dr. Clanton said in the statement. “We expect him to be immobilized in a cast and using crutches for at least 6-8 weeks.”

Yao is expected to miss the 2009-10 season, but be ready to go for training camp in 2010.

Yao suffered the hairline fracture late in a May 8 playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Rockets said late last month that the injury had not healed and he was out indefinitely. Last Friday, the 7-foot-6 center announced that he’d have the surgery.

The injury had raised questions, especially in his native China, about Yao’s playing future. But on July 8, he said through his agent that he was “optimistic about the future and I will return to playing basketball when my foot has fully healed.”

Yao played in 77 regular-season games in 2008-09, his most injury-free year since 2004-05, when he played in 80. Before last season, Yao missed chunks of the previous three seasons with leg and foot injuries.

In 2006-07, Yao missed 32 games after breaking his right leg. He sustained a stress fracture in his left foot in 2007-08, underwent surgery and sat out 26 games.

Yao is due to make more than $16 million next season, with a player option for 2010-11 that would pay him more than $17 million.

He has averaged 19.1 points and 9.3 rebounds in his career.

VIA ESPN:

The newly minted NBA champions made what amounts to a daring trade Thursday night, shaking up the league’s second day of free agency by essentially swapping out on-the-rise swingman Trevor Ariza for the versatile, physical and famously unpredictable Ron Artest.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Artest have struck an agreement in principal on a multiyear contract that, according to sources close to the process, will total roughly $18.7 million over three years or $33.5 million over five years, depending on which contract structure Artest ultimately prefers. But they had to let Ariza go to create the financial flexibility to do so.

It was Artest, not surprisingly, who was the first to announce his forthcoming partnership with Kobe Bryant and his long-awaited move to the glamour capital of the Western Conference, sharing the news with CBSSports.com and writing in a text message to ESPN.com: “I am happy to say I am goin’ to L.A.”

ESPN The Magazine’s Chris Broussard reported late Thursday that the financial aspects of the deal have not been finalized, in part because Artest’s camp wants more time to weigh its options. Wednesday is the first day players can sign new contracts for the 2009-10 season, after the league announces the new salary-cap ceiling and luxury-tax threshold.

A five-year contract, which Broussard reported would include a player option on the fifth season, would bring Artest added security in case of injury. The shorter three-year deal, though, would enable Artest to return to free agency at 32, with full Larry Bird rights and the potential to sign a more lucrative deal with the Lakers or another team.

Either way, L.A. has made a surprising splash, when it was widely expected the Lakers would merely try this offseason to re-sign Ariza and Lamar Odom.

ESPN.com reported Wednesday that Ariza was growing frustrated by the Lakers’ reluctance to start his new contract higher than the projected mid-level exception for next season of $5.8 million and giving strong thought to signing elsewhere.

VIA SI:

Houston Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo said his lengthy career is finished after a knee injury knocked him out of the Rockets’ playoff game Tuesday night against the Trail Blazers.

“For me, basketball is over,” he said.

Mutombo, an 18-year NBA veteran, appeared to get tangled with Portland center Greg Oden and came down hard on his left leg late in the first quarter of Game 2.

He stayed prone on the court under the Blazers’ basket for several moments before he was taken away by stretcher. A preliminary examination revealed a knee strain and he was ruled out the rest of the game.

Afterward in Houston’s locker room, the 7-foot-2 veteran was on crutches and fighting back tears.

“Nobody ever thought they’d be carrying the big guy out like a wounded soldier,” he said.

Check out the Houston Rockets impersonation of the NBA vet below:

Share your thoughts about the Gentle Giant in our comments section!

Houston we have proooblem. UGK’s Bun B had a very strong reaction to the news that Rafer “Skip To My Lou” Alston was traded from The Rockets to the Orlando Magic: Click to listen.

Stay tuned for more of the Urban Daily’s exclusive interview with Bun B where he discusses the last UGK album, 4 Life, sippin’ syrup and why the Internet is the Anti-Christ.