DALLAS _ Chinese star Yi Jianlian has agreed to a one-year contract with the Dallas Mavericks. The 7-foot, 250-pound center will report to the Texas Legends of the D-League, where he will work on conditioning and his game with Legends coach Del Harris.
Harris was the coach for Yi and China’s 2008 Olympic team.
Once Yi is deemed prepared to make the move to the NBA, the Mavs will call him up.
The Milwaukee Bucks used the sixth pick of the 2007 draft to select Yi. In 242 career games with the Bucks, New Jersey and Washington, Yi averaged 8.5 points and 5.3 rebounds in 24.1 minutes, and shot 40.5 percent from the field.
Yi’s best season was in 2009-’10 when he averaged 12 points and 7.2 rebound sin 31.8 minutes for the Nets. In 63 games last year for the Wizards, Yi averaged 5.6 points and 3.9 rebounds in 17.7 minutes per game.
Yi is not yet in the states and the Mavs aren’t sure when he will arrive and when he’ll officially sign his contract.
-- Dwain Price
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@dwainprice
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