When it comes to the legend of Chinese basketball, a key figure that cannot be avoided must be Yi Jianlian. Even netizens who don't know much about basketball have more or less heard of Yi Jianlian's name.
Since leaving the Lakers in 2016, there has been more and more speculation about some of his careers. Now that so many years have passed, how is Yi Jianlian now? After leaving the Lakers, is Yi Jianlian's development in China still smooth?
Yi Jianlian, born in 1987 in Heshan City, Jiangmen City, Guangdong. Since he was a child, he has shown superhuman talent in the field of basketball, and in 1999, Yi Jianlian's height had exceeded 1.94 meters, which was particularly outstanding among children of the same age.
With the advantage of height, he has been the director of the school basketball team since he was a child. It was also in 1999 that he signed up for the street basketball competition in Shenzhen at that time with a few friends who played well.
However, as an amateur at the time, he was quickly eliminated from the competition and did not even make it through the first round.
But with his height advantage and some experience gained on the school basketball team in the past, his performance in the game attracted the attention of an amateur sports school coach at the time.
This sports school coach is named Dai Yixin, and he is also the Bole who excavated Yi Jianlian back then. In this Shenzhen event, Dai Yixin saw Yi Jianlian's potential, and then contacted Yi Jianlian's parents, wanting him to participate in Shenzhen's sports school training.
Since then, Yi Jianlian has officially embarked on a basketball career. In 2000, Yi Jianlian's height at that time had exceeded 202 meters, among Chinese basketball players, is already a rare existence.
Coupled with the training in the past period, he has gradually accumulated some experience in the field of basketball. On October 29 of the same year, Yi Jianlian was selected by Guangdong Hongyuan South China Tiger Club and officially became a member of the club's youth team.
In May 2002, Yi Jianlian participated in the Adidas ABCD training camp held by Beijing Sport University in China at that time, and won the event and won the MVP together.
Another thing worth paying attention to in this year is Yi Jianlian, who participated in the CBA league as a newcomer to the Guangdong Hongyuan team at that time.
And with his outstanding performance in the game, he won the runner-up in the finals and the champion of the regular season, and the runner-up in the slam dunk contest. Almost overnight, he made a name for himself and became the best rookie in the league.
By the time of the 4th season of the 2nd year, he met the league CBA and was loved by the coach. With his outstanding performance, he made a total of 28 appearances for the Guangdong team this season, grabbing 59 rebounds, an average of 9 points per game7 points.
For many years in a row, he has won the attention of countless fans in the basketball world with his outstanding individual performance, and he himself has become the youngest player in CBA history and has provided the most value in the Finals.
Until 2011, in the 12th season, the CBA club officially announced that Yi Jianlian had completed the registration of players for the new season and signed a one-year contract with the Guangdong team.
The youngest best value player in CBA history, after playing for the NBA for 4 seasons, is finally going to return to China to represent the Guangdong team in the CBA league.
In January of the second year, the Dallas Mavericks announced that they had signed a one-year contract with Yi Jianlian. However, this year, due to NBA official reasons, Yi Jianlian temporarily stayed in Guangdong to play, but he had an accident during a game and was forced to postpone his follow-up work after suffering a knee injury.
In 2013, Yi Jianlian helped the Guangdong team win the 8th championship in CBA history, and after many years, he was once again elected MVP of the finals.
In August 2016, Yi Jianlian represented the Chinese team in the competition, and the Chinese men's basketball team ended its journey to the Rio Olympics with five consecutive defeats in the group.
Although in this group stage, Yi Jianlian's average playing per game can reach 328 minutes, the overall contribution score is also 204, but this defeat still made many fans angry.
Intriguingly, less than two months after the end of the Rio Olympics, on October 24, 2016, Yi Jianlian offered to terminate his contract with the Lakers.
Only one day later, on October 25, Beijing time, the Lakers officially announced through social platforms that the team had laid off Chinese player Yi Jianlian, causing a burst of speculation from the outside world.
In the next two years, Yi Jianlian rarely appeared in the public eye, and it was not until November 16, 2018 that there was new news.
At that time, the Chinese men's basketball team announced a 16-person training list, and many fans found that Yi Jianlian's name was on the list of 16 people.
In the past, the fans who have been waiting for Yi Jianlian to return to the rivers and lakes and lead the Chinese men's basketball team to glory again are excited.
After almost half a month, the official website of FIBA officially worked, and the Chinese men's basketball team was on the 12-player list after the merger of red and blue, and fortunately for fans, Yi Jianlian was also on this list.
In 2019, Yi Jianlian's career took a new turn again. This year, Zhou Peng, the former captain of the Chinese men's basketball team, was forced to withdraw from the 2019 Men's Basketball World Cup because of an injury.
Yi Jianlian was appointed as the captain of the national team for the first time and led the Chinese men's basketball team to the World Cup. In the following years, Yi Jianlian was still active in the basketball world, but many fans also found that compared with his peak, Yi Jianlian's results were indeed not as good as before.
But many fans still have great hopes for Yi Jianlian, and everyone thinks that Yi Jianlian will return to the top sooner or later.
Until August 29, 2023, Yi Jianlian suddenly released information through social platforms saying that he had ended 21 years and would officially retire from his career, causing countless fans to lament.
Compared with his career, Yi Jianlian's personal life is actually much simpler. Yi Jianlian has experienced many ups and downs in his career, and he was also the most high-profile basketball player at his peak, until he left the Lakers because of poor form, and then returned to the national team, the ups and downs in the middle are embarrassing.
Unlike his career, his personal life has always been a regular development. Yi Jianlian had few scandals in the past, until he was 27 years old, he married a football baby from Brazil.
At that time, the outside world was still very shocked by the combination of the two, but Yi Jianlian's wife, that is, the football baby from Brazil, was very beautiful and tall.
It is indeed a very good match for men and women to stand together, Yi Jianlian's wife used to be a mascot in the Brazil World Cup in her early years, and she is also a very good beauty.
The two entered the palace of marriage in 2014, and a year after they got married, the family of two officially announced that they had entered the family of three, and the couple also had a lovely child.
When Yi Jianlian was not retired, he often took his wife to social activities, and sometimes participated in many business activities with his wife, and the life of the two seemed very happy.
In the years after retiring, Yi Jianlian and his wife often went out to play together, and took their children to see the outside world. Within a few years, the two welcomed the second child in the family.
After the birth of the second child, Yi Jianlian also began to spend more time with his wife and children, although many netizens at that time believed that Yi Jianlian's performance in his personal career after 2016 was much worse than before, and it was likely that he wanted to focus more on his family.
So many fans have also expressed dissatisfaction with this, but judging from some of Yi Jianlian's own interviews, he personally still enjoys his current life very much.
It is also very important for Yi Jianlian to consciously reduce business activities, put more time and energy on the family, and hope to grow up with his children and run the family more happily with his wife.
Yi Jianlian was 36 years old when he retired, and for him, he can indeed enter such a stage of life. For him, playing hard at a young age, whether for the club or the national team, he has created brilliance, and he is worthy of it, and that is enough.
As he wrote in his retirement statement posted on the platform, goodbye is not the end but a new beginning. In the past 21 years, he has spent the past 21 years with basketball, and for Yi Jianlian, basketball has become an inseparable part of his life.
Although he officially announced his retirement, for Yi Jianlian, the hard work of his career will be the most unforgettable and valuable experience in his life.
As he said, it doesn't matter if you win or lose, it's all about love. During his career, because of his love and hard work, after retiring, he will spend more time in his personal family life.
In fact, there is no need for fans to be too harsh, as an athlete, Yi Jianlian's achievements during his career are obvious to all. And as a husband and father, he is also conscientious and responsible. The only thing netizens and fans can do is to bless him and hope that he can get better and better in the future.