I'm good at basketball too

Chapter 181 The Grizzlies' Bargaining Chip

Why is Li Ran so determined.

Because looking at the entire league, there are not many teams that can match Li Ran's current state.

Li Ran is now a player holding a rookie contract as an FMVP.

Just this one, [-]% of the teams are stuck.

The current famous star who does not have an annual salary of tens of millions, the Nuggets simply cannot match it.

Isn't it a joke to ask them to trade for Li Ran with middle-class or basic-salary players?
Li Ran is less than 20 years old this year, and he is already the FMVP.

Almost everyone believed that as long as there were no major changes in Li Ran's career in the future, his lower limit would be the top three players in the league.

However, the Grizzlies are players who can get enough chips.

Because several of the Grizzlies' current main players are still under child labor contracts.

And these players have already played their worth.

The content of the Grizzlies' offer is: Rudy Gay + Michael Conley + OJ-Mayo + next year's unprotected first-round pick in exchange for Li Ran + Yi Jianlian + Livingston.

As last year's No. 18.7 pick, Mayo was the player with the highest scoring average of 400 points per game among the rookies last season except Li Ran. His salary this season is [-] million US dollars.

Conley was the No. 07 pick in 4. His salary this year is 388 million US dollars. Last year, his data has reached 12+5.

Rudy Gay, as the Grizzlies scoring leader last year, was the No. 06 pick in 8. This year happens to be the last year of his rookie contract, and it is only $328 million.

He averaged 18.8 points per game last year.

For the Nuggets, it was an offer that emptied almost all of the Grizzlies' potential and they couldn't refuse.

Conley can perfectly make up for the lack of the team's first position after Billups gets old.

OJ Mayo and Gay are both the leaders of the league's potential new stars.

Looking at the entire league, there are only two teams that can show the same sincerity and price as the Grizzlies.

Among them was Lei Ting, who had just assembled the three young men of Thunder.

The Thunder's current lineup is very stable, and there is no need to exchange Durant for Li Ran.

Of course, they also stepped in and proposed to exchange Wei Shaodan for Li Ran.

This transaction was directly thrown into the trash can by the Nuggets management.

After receiving the offer and learning about Li Ran's role in it, Masai Ukiri didn't hold any grievances against Li Ran.

Because in theory, this offer from the Grizzlies has directly made the Nuggets the top player in the league's history for so many years, and its paper strength is also among the top.

Think about next season, the Nuggets will have players like Billups, Conley, OJ Mayo, Rudy Gay, Anthony, O'Neal, and Nene. .

This is almost enough to make up two NBA starting-level lineups.

As for why Yi Jianlian and Livingston were added, Masai Ukiri thinks it is just for balance.

The UAE's performance last season was remarkable, but Livingston didn't have much playing time.

And they are one of the few Nuggets players who have a contract. In order to balance the salary space, only the two of them are suitable.

In the end, the Nuggets agreed to the deal under the personal decision of Nuggets owner Stanley Corankie.

Stanley Corankie is in pain and happiness now. Of course he can know how terrifying the Nuggets will be next season, but in the next few years, if he wants to maintain the Nuggets lineup, he will need to spend a lot of money. The sea has gone.

Not to mention anything else, the Grizzlies sent these three child laborers, whoever is worthy of a ten million contract after the end of the rookie contract.

In this way, the luxury tax alone is enough for Stanley Corankie to drink a pot.

However, as a well-known sports businessman in the United States, Stanley Colanky knows how tempting a dynasty is.

Worth the luxury tax.

This transaction was completed at such a speed that most people in the league could not have imagined.

The media also quickly rated this deal that shocked the entire league.

The Nuggets are rated A+, and they have strengthened their team again. Next season, no one thinks that any team can win the championship from them.

The Grizzlies have a B rating because this trade almost completely negates their rebuilding efforts over the past few years.

For three full years, all the potential rookies selected through hard work were sent out. Next season, the team will rely on Li Ran and this year's No. [-] pick Curry.

This is undoubtedly a gamble for the Grizzlies.

But only Li Ran and Steve Kerr knew that this was a gamble that would never fail.

To be more precise, Li Ran actually cheated his old club.

It is not appropriate to say that it is a pit, after all, no one knows whether OJ Mayo in this time and space will be suspended.

After the Grizzlies traded, they quickly signed another player.

Iverson, who was very unhappy with the Pistons last season, joined the Grizzlies with a one-year basic salary contract of 350 million.

The Grizzlies deal was still going on, and when Li Ran was about to go to the Asian Championships, the Grizzlies made another important deal.

They first signed the "big Q" Quentin Richardson in the free agent market, and then used Richardson as a bargaining chip to trade star power forward Zach Randolph from the Clippers.

Because of the need to make room for the new No. [-] pick, the Clippers did not hesitate to abandon Randolph, who had the best team statistics last season.

And the Grizzlies, just like in history, have assembled the black and white bears of Gasol Jr. + Randolph.

"What? Want the starting position? Of course, with AI's ability, playing on the bench is an insult to him." Li Ran said to Cole with a smile.

"By the way, Li, the team's coach for next season hasn't been found yet. Do you have any good candidates?"

Last season, the Grizzlies changed three full head coaches. This season, after Cole took office, he believed that the current coach Lionel Hollins was not enough to play the best abilities of Li Ran and Curry, so he He was fired without hesitation.

In fact, Cole intends to serve as the team's general manager and head coach at the same time, but Cole has no experience as a head coach, so he decided to ask Li Ran's opinion first.

"There are not many well-known coaches who are idle in the league now, but if they are placed outside the league, I really have a candidate to recommend."

"who is it?"

"My former coach, John Calipari, the head coach of the Memphis Tigers, just ended his contract with the University of Memphis this year and is going to the University of Kansas. Do you want to think about it?" Li Ran smiled like a little fox.

If Calipari is fooled into the team, next season, Cole, who is obedient to him, his younger brother Curry, and the former head coach Calipari. . . . .

The Grizzlies have actually become their own team.

Three days later, the Grizzlies successfully cut off the famous NCAA coach John Calipari, who had already negotiated with the University of Kansas, with a five-year, 5 million contract.

(End of this chapter)