Earlier this month, 6-foot-10 Chinese center/forward Yi Jianlian made his debut with the Dallas Mavericks and helped the reigning NBA champions with their first road victory of the season. The sell out crowd at the American Airlines Center went nuts every time he touched the ball! Regrettably, he actually made a foul in his season debut, but rebounded back (no pun intended) with scoring his first 29 points as a Maverick in that game. This will be his fourth NBA team, having played for the Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets and Washington Wizards in the past.
In his first NBA draft with the Milwaukee Bucks, his own agent warned the team to not pick him because Milwaukee did not have a large Asian-American Community. However, The Buck’s general manager said they only drafted the best players available to them. Yi’s own representative requested that he be traded to another city with a large Chinese presence. Officials from China had concerns that he would not get sufficient play time to improve his game. Owner of the Buck’s franchise, senator Herb Kohl, traveled to China to assure of it, and Yi was signed to a multi-year rookie contract in 2007.
In 2008, he was traded to the New Jersey nets, who strongly felt he was a going to be a real good player as they were also excited that his debut with them opened up a new fan base. A couple years after, he was traded to the Washington Wizzards, and only lasted there for a bit because an extension to his offer was not made. Following that, The Dallas Mavericks signed him to a 1-year contract this month, and immediate placed him on the D-league affiliate, the Texas Legends. He quickly showed them he was ready to play, and was recalled out of the D-league just after two successful games.
Last year, Yi helped the Chinese national team secure a spot in the 2012 London Olympics in the Asian Championships. Keep a look out for him on the courts!
