It’s really tough! Yi Jianlian has been retired for 5 years, but his former teammates are still getting big contracts in the NBA.

He was a player in the same draft as Westbrook, and he was once a teammate with Yi Jianlian. Now Westbrook has been reduced to a role player who can only sign a non-guaranteed basic salary, while Yi Jianlian has retired for 5 years. At the age of 37, he can still get a two-year, $18 million contract in the NBA. No one expected that this traditional center would follow the trend of the times, survive the changes of the times, and become one of the players with the most successful transformation. He is Brook Lopez.

Da Luo is one year younger than Yi Jianlian, and also participated in the NBA draft one year later than the latter. Yi Jianlian was the sixth pick in 2007, but he only played one season before being traded to the Nets by the Bucks. This year, the Nets also selected Da Luo with the tenth overall pick. In the following two seasons, Yi Jianlian and Da Luo were the Nets' starting inside combination.

At that time, Daluo was still a very traditional center with many scoring methods and was known as a low-post killer, but he had no long-range shooting ability. Yi Jianlian's long-range shooting threat could open up space for him, allowing him to get one-on-one opportunities in the interior.

In the first season of cooperation, Daluo averaged 13 points and 8.1 rebounds per game and was selected for the All-Rookie First Team, while Yi Jianlian averaged 8.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, and his performance was remarkable. In the second season of cooperation, Daluo averaged 18.8 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, while Yi Jianlian had the best performance of his NBA career, averaging 12 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Unfortunately, injuries continued and he was eliminated from the NBA after two seasons.

Los Angeles has embarked on a sunny road, averaging about 20 points per game in many seasons. Even though he suffered serious injuries in two seasons and was sidelined, he still maintains his position as the Nets' starting center. He was selected to the All-Star team in the 2012-2013 season and received a four-year contract extension of US$60.83 million. Just when he was looking forward to the future, a storm that was very unfriendly to traditional centers suddenly struck.

In the 2014-2015 season, the Splash Brothers led the Warriors to win the championship, breaking the traditional concept that shooting a large number of three-pointers cannot win the championship. A year later, the Warriors achieved the best record in history of 73 wins and 9 losses, allowing the small ball trend to sweep across the league. More and more coaches began to focus on three-point shooting tactics. Big men with long-range shooting ability got more and more opportunities, and the traditional post-standing insiders were gradually eliminated.

Under the tide of the times, Daluo is also actively looking for changes. In the first eight seasons of his NBA career, he only took 31 three-pointers in total, and only made 3 hits. However, in the ninth season, he took 387 three-pointers and made 134 three-pointers. His three-pointer shooting rate reached 34.6%, which is close to the level of some guards.

His three-point performance is not a flash in the pan. Since then, his three-point shooting rate has been close to 35% in many seasons, and his three-point output is still very high. What is even more surprising is that he, who was initially regarded as a defensive colander, has turned into a master of frame protection through continuous efforts. A center who can defend and shoot three-pointers is a top championship puzzle in the small ball era.

In 2018, he could only sign a $3.4 million contract, but it only took him one season for his value to skyrocket, averaging 12.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, plus 2.2 blocks and 36.5% His three-point shooting percentage allowed him to get a four-year, $52 million contract in the summer of 2019. The Bucks took a fancy to his ability to open up space and paired him with Antetokounmpo, who likes to hit the inside, and finally won the championship in the 2020-2021 season.

Da Luo is a very respectable NBA player. His career shows how to adapt to the times through continuous evolution. In the first few years of his career, he did not shoot three-pointers and his defense was not good. Unexpectedly, when the small ball era came, he actively changed and became not only the most popular outside shooter One of the threatening centers, he has also become a master of rim protection. He was selected to the All-Defensive Second Team in the 2019-2020 season and the All-Defensive First Team in the 2022-2023 season. He quickly adapted to the transformation from a core player to a top role player and was able to survive for a long time in the highly competitive NBA.

When his old teammate Yi Jianlian has retired for 5 years and Westbrook of the same generation is forced to sign a non-guaranteed basic salary contract, it is really amazing that the 37-year-old can still get a two-year, $18 million contract. I look forward to him helping the Clippers set sail in the new season!