No one can agree on how much the Lakers are signing Yi Jianlian for in free agency

The Los Angeles Lakers are all but certain to sign former sixth overall pick Yi Jianlian to play for them on a one-year deal this season, according to multiple reports. What those multiple reports can’t seem to agree on is just how much Jianlian will be making for his trouble.

The People’s Daily, China was the first to report salary figures, saying that Jianlian’s contract would pay him $1.14 million this season. However, Marc Stein of ESPN reported on Wednesday morning that the Lakers’ were close to signing Jianlian for significantly more, in the range of a one-year deal worth approximately $8 million.

So done deal, right? Wrong. Mark Medina of the L.A. Daily News’ reporting conflicts with Stein’s. Medina reports that the Lakers deal with Jianlian “has not been finalized, though the current plan entails signing Yi to a one-year deal on a non-guaranteed contract worth the veteran’s minimum plus various incentives.”

The veteran’s minimum is a lot closer to that first figure than the one Stein is reporting, so something weird is definitely going on here. If the two sides haven’t actually agreed on a deal, maybe there is some confusion between sources on how much Jianlian will actually be paid.

Ultimately the Lakers most likely weren’t going to use their cap space otherwise, so how much they pay him this year may not end up mattering a tremendous amount. But it is interesting that we don’t seem to have an exact salary figure locked down for Jianlian yet, despite how close this deal seems to fruition.

Stay tuned to Silver Screen and Roll for more on this story. You can follow this author on Twitter at @hmfaigen.