Yi Jianlian has announced his retirement.
易建联于日前正式宣布退役。
After being drafted as the 6th overall pick at the 2007 NBA draft, the 35-year-old has gone on to be a leading player in the CBA in the decade following Yao Ming's retirement.
在2007年NBA选秀大会上以第6顺位被选中后,这位35岁的球员一直是姚明退役后十年里CBA的领军人物。
In a statement on social media Yi wrote: "Time flies. In the blink of an eye, basketball has been with me for 21 years.
易建联在社交媒体上的一份声明中写道:“时间飞逝。眨眼间,篮球已经陪我走过了21年。
After careful consideration, I decided today to officially bid farewell to my basketball career."
经过慎重的考虑,今天,我决定正式告别我的篮球职业生涯。”
He made his debut in the CBA for the Guangdong Southern Tigers in 2002, two years before he was selected into China's National Team.
2002年,易建联代表广东华南虎队首次亮相CBA,两年后被选入中国国家队。
In 2005, he became the youngest MVP in CBA history, and was then picked up by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2007.
2005年,他成为了CBA历史上最年轻的MVP,在随后的2007年,他在NBA选秀大会上被密尔沃基雄鹿队选中。
In that year, Yi's Bucks and Yao's Houston Rockets faced each other for the first time.
也是在那一年,易建联效力的雄鹿队和姚明效力的休斯顿火箭队在赛场上首次相遇。
That match was called by some "the game for a billion people" since between 150-250 million people in China watched it.
那场比赛被一些人称为“十亿人关注的比赛”,因为当时中国有1.5亿到2.5亿人观看了比赛直播。
That's more viewers than the NFL Super Bowl, despite it being a regular season game.
尽管只是一场常规赛,但收看比赛的人数甚至超过了NFL超级碗。
Over the next five years, he split his time in the NBA between the Bucks, the New Jersey Nets, the Washington Wizards and the Dallas Mavericks before returning to the Guangdong Southern Tigers in 2012.
在接下来的五年里,易建联先后效力于雄鹿队、新泽西网队、华盛顿奇才队和达拉斯小牛队,后于2012年回到广东南虎队。
During his stay there, he helped the team win seven CBA titles.
在效力广东队期间,他帮助球队赢下了7座CBA冠军奖杯。
In 2002, he picked up Rookie of the Year when he was only 16 years old.
2002年,年仅16岁的他还获得了CBA年度最佳新秀。