Guangdong Southern Tigers (2002–2007) After returning to China in 2002, Yi signed a professional contract with
Chinese Basketball Association side
Guangdong Southern Tigers and averaged 3.5 points and 1.9 rebounds per game in his first season. He also averaged 7.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in four games during the playoffs, and won the Rookie of the Year award. Yi was featured in
Times August 2003 article titled "The Next
Yao Ming". In Yi's final season in the Chinese Basketball Association before he entered the
2007 NBA draft, he averaged a career-high 24.9 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, but his team lost to the
Bayi Rockets in the playoff finals. In early 2006, however, Yi announced that he would enter the
2006 NBA draft although he eventually decided to withdraw, saying he was "not good enough to compete in the NBA and needed more experience." Later that year, the
Guangdong Southern Tigers announced that Yi would enter the
2007 NBA draft. Yi chose
Dan Fegan as his agent to represent him in the NBA draft and flew to Los Angeles to participate in pre-NBA draft camps. Before the draft, Yi was predicted by many to be picked anywhere from third to twelfth. On June 28, 2007, Yi was selected by the
Milwaukee Bucks with the sixth overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft, despite Fegan warning the Milwaukee Bucks not to pick Yi and not allowing them to be one of the teams invited to Yi's pre-draft private workouts in Los Angeles. Fegan did not want Milwaukee to select Yi because the city of Milwaukee did not have a large Asian-American community. However, Milwaukee's general manager
Larry Harris said they had only drafted the best player available to them. Three days later, head coach
Larry Krystkowiak and Harris met with Yi, attempting to influence him to play for Milwaukee; however, Yi's representatives requested that the team trade Yi to another team with a city that had a large Chinese presence. Chinese officials also required that any team Yi played for would have to give him sufficient playing time for him to improve for the
2008 Summer Olympics. and he assured Chinese officials that Yi would have sufficient playing time. On August 29, 2007, the Milwaukee Bucks and Yi agreed to a standard, multi-year rookie contract. He recorded nine points and three rebounds in a debut loss to the
Orlando Magic. He played his first home game in Milwaukee three days later and scored 16 points while grabbing eight rebounds in a 78–72 win over the
Chicago Bulls. The game was also Yi's first game to be televised nationally in China, where it was watched by an estimated 100 million viewers.
Yao Ming praised Yi's play in his first few games, saying, "If you compare us in our third NBA games, you will see that Yi's statistics are far better than mine." The game between the two was watched by over 200 million people in China, making it one of the most-watched games in NBA history. Yi was named the NBA Rookie of the Month for December 2007 after averaging 12.1 points and 6.6 rebounds per game that month, while scoring a career-high 29 points on 14-of-17 shooting in a win over the
Charlotte Bobcats on December 22. On January 30, 2008, he was selected for the rookie team in the
Rookie Challenge at the
2008 NBA All-Star Game. On February 2, 2008, Yi faced Yao for the second time when Milwaukee played at home against Houston, which Krystkowiak dubbed the "Chinese Super Bowl". However, both players struggled during Houston's 91–83 victory over Milwaukee. Yao scored 12 points while Yi injured his shoulder during the game, finishing with just six points. Having already missed eight games with other injuries, Yi managed 66 out of a possible 82 games in his rookie season, One of Milwaukee's assistant coaches,
Brian James, later said that "the injuries he had bothered him more than people realized, and he couldn't play through them."
New Jersey Nets (2008–2010) On June 26, 2008, Yi was traded by the
Milwaukee Bucks along with
Bobby Simmons to the
New Jersey Nets in exchange for
Richard Jefferson. New Jersey's team president
Rod Thorn said that "we feel strongly he's going to be a real good player," Yi stated that he didn't expect to be traded, but that it was "an honor to join the Nets." Through his first 37 games with New Jersey, Yi averaged 10.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per game while shooting 39% from behind the three-point line, which was well above his average from the previous season. But on January 9, 2009, Yi broke the pinkie on his right hand and was expected to miss four to six weeks. Thorn called it "lousy timing" because "he'd been playing well," but Yi said "(I'll) just take my time. I'll come back." However, after averaging only six points on 36% shooting after his return, Yi was removed from the team's starting lineup. His final averages for the season were 8.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, as well as a 38% shooting accuracy from the field and 34% on three-point field goals. Yi's agent
Dan Fegan suggested New Jersey played better when Yi played more minutes and took more shots, and asks "who's accountable?" New Jersey's head coach
Lawrence Frank said that "you have to be patient. He's only 21", and Yi assessed his season by saying he was "still too much up and down." In the
2009–10 season, Yi returned to the starting lineup for New Jersey. Starting in every game he played but one, Yi suffered several injuries during the season which made him miss 30 games. He sprained his medial collateral ligament on November 4, 2009, had a laceration on his upper lip on December 8, 2009, and sprained his left ankle on 8 March 2010. His final averages for the season were 12 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, as well as 40% shooting accuracy from the field and 37% on three-point field goals. Yi ended the
2010–11 season averaging 5.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. Washington had until June 30, 2011, to extend Yi's contract but decided not to do so.
Return to the Tigers (2011) During the
2011 NBA lockout, Yi signed a one-year contract to return to the Guangdong Southern Tigers. Unlike most NBA players who went to the Chinese Basketball Association during that time, he received an option to return to the
NBA once the lockout had been resolved.
Dallas Mavericks (2012) On January 6, 2012, Yi signed with the
Dallas Mavericks to a one-year contract after starting the season with the
Guangdong Southern Tigers. He was immediately assigned to Dallas'
D-League affiliate team, the
Texas Legends. Yi benefited from the new collective bargaining agreement rules which allowed players with more than two years of NBA experience to be assigned to the D-League with the players' consent. On January 9, 2012, after playing two games for the Texas Legends, averaging 23 points and 12 rebounds per game, he was recalled by Dallas. The team faced the
Oklahoma City Thunder in the playoffs and in game 3 of the playoff series, Yi played in his first NBA playoffs game, where he scored two points for the team in five minutes.
Third stint in Guangdong (2012–2023) Yi re-joined the Guangdong Southern Tigers for the
2012–13 CBA season and went on to win a fourth championship that season. On August 22, 2016, Yi signed a one-year, $8 million contract with the
Los Angeles Lakers, returning to the NBA for the first time since 2012. Lakers head coach
Luke Walton considered Yi to be the team's best-shooting big man during the preseason, but did not provide Yi with much of a role. Yi averaged 3.0 points and 2.5 rebounds in 10.7 minutes per game over six contests with the Lakers during the preseason. Feeling he would have better opportunities elsewhere, Yi requested a release from the Lakers prior to the start of the regular season. The Lakers waived him on October 24, 2016. In October 2016, Yi returned to Guangdong after spending training camp with the Los Angeles Lakers. On August 15, 2020, Yi helped the
Guangdong Southern Tigers in winning their 10th
CBA championship after a 123–115 win in game 3 of the CBA Finals over the
Liaoning Flying Leopards, but Yi had suffered a
ruptured Achilles tendon during the game and was expected to miss a major part of 2020–21 CBA season due to rehabilitation. The 2022–23 CBA season was Yi's final basketball season where he made the decision to retire on August 30, 2023. He wrote on
Sina Weibo: "Time flies; in the blink of an eye, basketball has been by my side for 21 years. After much contemplation, I have made the decision to officially bring my basketball career to a close. I will cherish the memories of the past while continuing to move forward, embracing new chapters in my life. Goodbye, my beloved basketball." == National team career ==