Report says Yi Jianlian likely to play for Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks team can breathe a sigh of relief now?

BEIJING (AFP) - Basketball star Yi Jianlin will likely play for the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks, Chinese state media reported Monday, contradicting reports last week that the move had been ruled out.

Officials with the Guangdong Tigers, Yi's Chinese team, said the earlier reports were wrong, the Beijing Daily Messenger said.

"Yi will play for the Bucks after all," it quoted the team's vice general manager Liu Hongjiang as saying, giving no reason for the apparent turnaround.

Yi's camp made it clear before the June 28 NBA draft that they did not want the seven-foot (2.12-metre) power forward to play for Milwaukee, one of the NBA's smallest markets and a city with a tiny Asian population.

Worried that his development might be stifled there, Yi's handlers would not even allow him team officials see him train before the draft, but the Bucks selected him with the No 6 pick anyway.

Last week, Guangdong Tigers owner Chen Haitao was quoted by state media as saying the team would block Yi's move to Milwaukee and that he "definitely" would not play there.

But Chen said that report was wrong and that Yi would not return to play in the Chinese Basketball Association, according to the Daily Messenger. It said Guangdong Tigers officials offered no further details.

The Bucks have offered assurances that Yi's development would not be stifled and various media reports have said team officials plan to visit China soon to woo the 19-year-old.

Yi is considered a key part of the national team that China hopes will perform well at next year's Beijing Olympics, and Chinese officials are said to be keen to maximise his development beforehand.