Following an impressive individual performance at the Rio Olympics, Chinese power forward Yi Jianlian has inked a one-year deal with the LA Lakers to return to the National Basketball Association.
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The Kinston, NC native was Duke’s leading scorer in the NCAA Tournament, averaging 23.0 points per game to go along with 6.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists over the three games, scoring at least 20 points in each contest and playing in 119 of a possible 120 minutes of action.
This is Jianlian’s second chance at NBA after being sixth pick overall at the 2007 NBA Draft by Milwaukee Bucks.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Yi’s deal is for one year at the veteran’s minimum of $1.1 million, but incentive bonuses could push the value up to $8 million.
Yi Jianlian has signed with the Los Angeles Lakers.
“We’re excited to have a player of his worldwide accomplishments”, Laker’s General Manager Mitch Kupchak said. “We look forward to bringing him to training camp and hopefully having him make an impact on our team”.
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After just a year he was traded to the then New Jersey Nets, where he enjoyed the best two seasons of his career in The States, averaging 12.0 points and 7.2 rebounds a game during his 52 appearances over the course of the 2009/10 season. To compound their woes, the Lakers lost their top player when future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant retired at the end of this past season. Though some were nervous about why the team was waiting so long to sign their second overall pick, the signing reaffirms exactly what the organization promised, that they would sign Ingram later in order to keep cap space free to pursue other deals, which is exactly what they did with Yi Jianilian. China also failed to win a game in London in 2012.
