Yi Jianlian, who was born in 1987, started his career at the age of 15, representing Guangdong Hongyuan in the CBA League.
Previously, he was drafted by the Bucks in the NBA draft in 2007. He played a total of 5 seasons in the NBA, averaging 7.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
Then returned to the CBA, and on August 29 last year, Yi Jianlian officially announced his retirement, ending his 21-year basketball career.
Yi Jianlian's career is very successful, he can be said to be the first person in CBA history, and he has also left his glorious resume on the NBA court.
Yi Jianlian was not idle after retiring, and he started his real political career.
As early as 2022, he was already a member of the CPPCC in Dongguan City. At that time, he was still on the CBA field, and even because he needed to participate in the CBA competition, he did not go to the CPPCC meeting in Guangdongguan City.
It wasn't until February last year that he came to the meeting for the first time as a member of the CPPCC, and this time there was Yi Jianlian's appearance.
Now that Yi Jianlian has retired, he has more time and energy to plan his political career, before he sat with Yao Ming at the meeting of the Chinese Basketball Association, was appointed as a member of the executive committee of the Basketball Association, and also served as the full-time leader of the Chinese men's basketball team.
Yi Jianlian and Yao Ming's resumes are similar, both of them played from the CBA to the NBA. Yao Ming was elected as a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Shanghai in 2011 after retiring, and was elected president of the Chinese Basketball Association in 2017, starting a radical reform of the CBA, and was re-elected in 2022.
Yao Ming had different opinions on the reform of the CBA during his tenure, but the results of the national team deteriorated, and even the opportunity to participate in the Olympics was lost.
Looking at Yi Jianlian and Yao Ming's transformation from players to their identities after retirement, I feel that both of them are walking the same path. Yi Jianlian is following in Yao Ming's footsteps, and maybe one day Yi Jianlian will become the helmsman of the Chinese Basketball Association.
But fans are more concerned about Yao Ming's daughter Yao Qinlei, who was born in the United States in 2010.
At that time, the issue of Yao Ming's daughter's nationality caused a major reaction in the fan group, and Yao Ming had to come out to explain it himself.
Yao Ming said that although she is an American citizen, when she is 18 years old, she has the right to choose freely, and it is up to her to decide whether to choose the United States or China.
Some fans are saying that Yao Ming is really good, his daughter is from the United States, and he is working hard for the cause of Chinese basketball by himself.