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Yi to skip NBA season opener for nationals

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-19 19:36

Yi Jianlian, the power forward for the New Jersey Nets, will miss the NBA team's season-opener on Oct 28 to play for his native Guangdong in China's National Games, as reported by Yahoo.

The Nets will have three preseason games and their season-opener during China's National Games, held from Oct 16-28. Yi is likely to miss more games because of the time needed to fly to the US and get prepared. Yi averaged 8.6 points and 5.3 rebounds in 61 games in his second NBA season with the Nets last season.

Club officials said they are ready to allow their forward to play for his local team.

"We're looking at it very closely," Kiki Vandeweghe, Nets general manager told Yahoo Sports. "We're trying to make a good decision, make sure we abide by the rules and make sure we are always accommodating in supporting our players and their home countries."

The Guangdong team was not available on Friday for comment but its officials said earlier that the decision is up to the Nets to make.

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Held every four years, the National Games is the most important multi-sport event in China. Nearly 50 delegations will compete in 33 sports and 12 teams will vie for the gold medal in men's basketball. Guangdong, the defending champion, is tagged as the biggest gold contender.

Yi is not the first Chinese player to miss NBA games due to the National Games.

Wang Zhizhi, the first NBA player from China, left the Dallas Mavericks in the 2001-02 NBA season to play for Bayi at the 9th National Games and helped secure the championship for the team.

But all-star center Yao Ming didn't manage to come back and play for his Shanghai team at the National Games four years ago due to a scheduling conflict while playing for the Houston Rockets.

Yi has missed the majority of the summer camp and preseason games with the Nets this year as he returned to China to play for the Asian Basketball Championships.

His national teammate Sun Yue, formally an LA Laker, did the same this summer and later found out he was waived by the NBA champions.