Yi Jianlian

Yi Jianlian, all 7-foot-something of him, carried the weight of Chinese basketball expectation for years. Nicknamed the Chairman, he made the NBA jump, suiting up for the Bucks, Nets, Wizards and Mavericks, before becoming a CBA mainstay with the Guangdong Southern Tigers. The NBA chapter never quite caught fire, and I always wondered how much of that was injury and how much was the impossible hype back home. What I admire is that he kept anchoring China's national-team ambitions regardless. Moving with that frame the way he did is its own gift. He shouldered a country's hopes and stayed standing.

Yi Jianlian (Chinese: 易建联; pinyin: Yì Jiànlián [î tɕjɛ̂nljɛ̌n]; born October 27, 1987), nicknamed "the Chairman" is a Chinese former professional basketball player who last played for the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He also played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwaukee Bucks, the New Jersey Nets, the Washington Wizards, and the Dallas Mavericks.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Name (English)

Yi Jianlian

Name (Japanese)

易建聯

Reading

いー・じゃんりゃん

Born

October 27, 1987 (age 38)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Scorpio / Rabbit

Origin

Heshan, People's Republic of China

Blood type

Private

Height

211 cm

Agency

Private

Occupation

basketball player

Elementary school

Private

Junior high

Private

High school

Private

University

Guangdong University of Technology

Spouse

Private

Children

Private

Parents

Private

Siblings

Private

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%98%93%E5%BB%BA%E8%81%AF

Tags

• basketball player

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.