NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

On July 1st, the first day of the free agency period, a large number of core players signed contract extensions with their respective teams. These contracts were basically negotiated well in advance, but the teams only officially announced them on the day when they could officially announce and sign the contracts.

Top stars like Nowitzki, Nash, and Bosh, as well as less established but still talented players like Kirk Hinrich and David West, have all signed new contracts with their teams.

In addition, players from the 07 draft class, such as Durant and Horford, also signed contract extensions with their teams a year in advance. It can be said that the first day of free agency was quite lively, with teams throwing out more than $10 billion in checks on that day.

But what about the first day of free agency? There were a lot of big deals and contracts, but so far there haven't been any transfers that will change the landscape of the league. The only big-name transfer is David Lee joining the Warriors to form the Bay Area Twin Towers with Aldridge.

However, it is clear that David Lee is far from being good enough in terms of star power, ability, popularity, or influence, and is completely insufficient to satisfy fans' desire for gossip and their expectations for the free market.

Meanwhile, among these signings, few people noticed that Salt Lake City had already officially announced that it had reached a contract with Boozer and that the two sides would continue to cooperate, but it did not officially announce the signing today.

The matter seemed to have been shelved, with only a few scattered pieces of information following up on the situation between Boozer and the Jazz.

In short, Boozer regretted his decision. He felt that $8000 for 5 years was too little and asked the team to increase the price. However, the Jazz were not easy targets and directly rejected Boozer's request for a higher price.

But at this point, the Jazz clearly hadn't realized that Boozer had already colluded with Lin Tian. They didn't publicize the matter and wanted to resolve it quietly through negotiation and get rid of Boozer.

After all, if the team exposes this, it will definitely affect the relationship between the two sides. They still need to cooperate, so it's best to resolve it peacefully if possible.

Thus, the two sides began a completely new round of negotiations.

However, everyone's attention was not on them; everyone was waiting for other major transfers to happen, so the matter between the Jazz and Boozer received even less attention and did not cause any stir.

For the next week or so, the teams made minor adjustments and there were no major transfer announcements.

But everyone knows this is the calm before the storm.

Because apart from Milicic and Bosh, the other three guys from the 03 draft class didn't get contract renewals!

What exactly are those three up to?

Immediately, all sorts of comments flooded in.

Some say the three will reunite on a brand new team, while others say Anthony and Stoudemire have fallen out and the Knicks will trade Stoudemire to bring in Wade.

Some say Riley has freed up more than $5000 million in salary cap space, preparing to acquire all three players at once. Others say James appeared in his hometown of Cleveland to bring his talents back to his hometown.

But what really happened remains a mystery to fans, who can only wait and see. They can only guess that something big is going to happen in the league!
As for the facts?

These three guys have indeed been considering joining forces.

The current disagreement lies in: where to join forces, how to join forces, and how many people to join forces.

The only thing that is certain now is that Anthony was unhappy with the Knicks. After Lin Tian retired, the trio of him, Stoudemire, and Felton was not very successful. In the first year, they were eliminated in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and in the second year, they were eliminated in the first round.

The fans' furious verbal attacks and insults were all directed at Anthony!
Because of his overly individualistic playing style and incompatibility with the team, fans are losing patience with him.

After all, this is New York, and the fans here are notoriously impatient and sarcastic.

Two years of poor performance have been enough for fans to destroy Anthony with their criticism.

Therefore, Carmelo Anthony has decided to leave after his contract expires!

He wanted to stay away from places of trouble.

Besides being unable to bear the boos from the fans, he also wanted to forge his own path and break free from Lin Tian's shadow and care as he grew stronger.

He wanted to prove that he was still a top player in the league even without Lin Tian!
This need became even more apparent after James won the MVP award last season.

Anthony is determined to leave!

But at the same time, he didn't want to play with James, because he knew that if he were with James, he would still have to play second fiddle to him.

He wanted to beat James to prove that he was the better player from the 03 draft class, instead of being overshadowed by James on the same team.

As for James, firstly, he had no intention of staying with the Spurs any longer, and he didn't like Popovich.

This old man's desire for control is too strong! James believes that Popovich's airtight tactical system and machine-like tactics have affected his development and statistics, and hindered the performance of his personal abilities.

He hated that the old man would explode at any time and give him a good scolding. He disliked Popovich's tendency to restrict how many times the ball was dribbled, who to pass to, and which direction to run in every possession.

He doesn't like this kind of repressive playing style.

This style of play might maximize the abilities of role players, allowing them to unleash 120% of their energy, but James doesn't like it!
Therefore, he will definitely not stay with the Spurs, and he also does not want to return to Cleveland.

He thought Cleveland was too small and too run-down. Although many people considered him a Cleveland native, only James knew that he was treated like a country bumpkin by the people of Cleveland when he was still unknown. Before he made a name for himself, the people of Cleveland brought him the most humiliation.

He even harbored some hatred for Cleveland.

So unless he has no other choice, he really doesn't want to go back to the place where he grew up.

He hopes and is willing to work with these two, but he doesn't want it to be Cleveland; he wants to form a team somewhere new.

Of course, he also had a little something to think about: in Cleveland, the Cavaliers were Wade's team, and he wanted to have a team of his own.

Wade's attitude was rather ambiguous. He knew that his team could not accommodate both of them at the same time, and the team's salary cap could only accommodate one more person. Therefore, he never said who he would rather play with or who he needed more.

He simply welcomed them and kept chatting with them privately, hoping to attract one of them.

This guy is incredibly smooth. Whether it's LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony, he uses a combination of flattery and deception, making grand promises like "team leader," "Cavaliers' soul," and "son of Cleveland." He's willing to give any kind of promise.

Because he has only one bottom line: he will not leave Cleveland!

He hopes to spend the rest of his life in this city and finish his entire professional career here.

In short, these three guys have a lot more tricks up their sleeves in private than anyone else. None of them are easy to deal with, and they all have their own ideas.

Then, the first truly explosive transfer of the offseason was born!

In mid-July, after much deliberation, James finally made up his mind! He decided not to waste any more time with his two teammates. He didn't go to Cleveland, nor did he try to persuade Wade to leave Cleveland.

James first announced that he would be appearing on an ESPN show, and then, on the show, James said to the screen, "I've decided to take my talents to Dallas!"

James turned around and joined another team in Texas.

Dallas Mavericks!
5 million in 8000 years!
LeBron James signed a five-year maximum contract with the Mavericks, with a player option for the final year.

Last season's MVP has switched to their state rival.

This is unprecedented in the entire NBA.

It's safe to say that LeBron James genuinely dislikes Popovich and San Antonio, and is willing to endure being subjected to endless insults every time he visits San Antonio, rather than leave for Dallas. His choice of Dallas, besides Wade's ambiguous relationship and his unwillingness to leave the Cavaliers, was also due to Cuban's lucrative offer.

James and Nowitzki can run pick-and-rolls, and the two of them can destroy all opponents with pick-and-rolls. Nowitzki's ability to catch the ball and shoot after a pick-and-roll is definitely in the top three in the entire NBA, if not the best!
He and James are a perfect match!
Meanwhile, the Mavericks also have Jason Terry, an excellent killer and top assassin, on their bench. This guy's shooting ability is also top-notch, and he also has a calm mind and passing skills that JR doesn't have, making him a complete upgraded version of JR.

Besides these two, the Mavericks' overall structure is also quite healthy. Although they had to trade Kidd at a reduced price to free up salary cap space in order to sign James, they can still field a very reasonable and strong starting lineup!
After all, with Nowitzki, Terry, and James on the team, it's naturally quite easy for them to gather role players to build their roster around them.

With James joining the Mavericks, the team's odds of winning the championship skyrocketed overnight, quickly rising to the top of the league!

The power of James' transfer is evident!
The move for James to join Dallas naturally sparked a frenzy of discussion and a huge uproar. Fans were scrambling to figure out why James made this choice, and they were also speculating about how well James and Nowitzki would play together next season.

As for fans in Dallas and San Antonio?

The fans in these two places were already bitter rivals, and the atmosphere was already tense, with them always ready to fight. After James's actions, the relationship between the two sides was completely broken, and they became mortal enemies!

Of course, Dallas fans have an absolute advantage. They managed to snag San Antonio's star player, just like how the blond guy stole their beloved in front of their nemesis. Dallas fans were incredibly proud of themselves!
They haven't had such a triumphant victory against the Spurs in the past 20 years.

No wonder so many people love minotaurs; this kind of extreme pleasure is much more exciting than taking out a gun and shooting holes in someone's head!
The reason why James's move to the Mavericks caused a stir in the league was not simply because he was the previous year's MVP joining his arch-rival, but also because of the way he chose to do so.

It was broadcast live on television, a first in NBA history and even in the history of sports in general.

No one has ever done this before.

Those who dislike James seized on this point and launched a barrage of criticism against him, saying he was immature, that he only cared about showing off, and that he was a child who hadn't grown up yet.

The San Antonio fans were heartbroken, saying they had never seen such a heartbreaking betrayal. They had given James everything, only to be met with his callous betrayal.

This betrayal was even more painful than Duncan joining Orlando.

Who can blame them when LeBron James is more popular?

This time, it wasn't just the San Antonio fans who mocked James; many retired veteran players, commentators, and reporters from all walks of life criticized James's actions as immature and ridiculous.

Miller went even further, saying, "Luckily, I wasn't the one hosting that show, or I would have definitely yelled at him to his face!"

Spurs legend David Robinson, nicknamed "The Admiral," said: "This is an insult! A blatant insult! If I hadn't retired, I would have beaten LeBron James to death next season! I will not allow anyone to insult my team like this!"

Popovich, who rarely comments on player transfers and didn't say anything when Duncan left, couldn't hold back this time: "He can leave. It's normal for people to part ways amicably if they have different ideas. I didn't hinder him in any way after I learned that he wanted to leave."

"But he shouldn't have hurt us this way. That's not something a mature person would do. I will rebuild a top-tier roster as soon as possible, with Chris and others at the core, to create a championship-caliber team! I will win a championship before LeBron!"

The climax of the incident came when dozens of Spurs fans posted a video online.

They threw several of James' jerseys on the ground and then set them on fire, burning them completely. One of the jerseys even had James' signature on it.

"LeBron, we're locked in a life-or-death struggle!"

This is the answer the people of San Antonio gave to James.

James' decision to join the Dallas Mavericks and team up with top power forward Dirk Nowitzki this season after winning the MVP award last season has been seen by many as a cowardly choice.

This guy's reputation is plummeting across the United States.

A large number of fans turned into haters, and a large number of casual observers also turned into haters.

James' reputation has plummeted to the lowest point of his career.

From this perspective, James is destined to endure countless boos and insults next season, and he will have no way out next season.

If he fails to win the championship, if he fails again next season, the ridicule from fans and industry insiders will likely engulf him completely.

He's only allowed to succeed next season; failure is not an option!

The day after the Dallas Mavericks' resounding victory, with the fate of LeBron James settled, the entire league came alive.

It was like the first domino was knocked down, and everyone started moving.

Another team that made a quick move was the Cavaliers, who first sent Zydrunas Ilgauskas and a first-round draft pick to the Wizards in exchange for a trade exception, thereby freeing up enough salary cap space.

Then Wade also announced a pay cut, not signing the highest-level maximum contract with the team. Wade's pay cut also allowed the Cavaliers to save enough salary cap space, which enabled them to acquire Carmelo Anthony!

Like James, he also has a 5-year, $8000 million contract, with the final year being a player option.

Carmelo Anthony and The Flash have teamed up!

Perhaps due to the negative impact of James's actions, Anthony's performance during the transfer process seemed much better.

He even shed tears in front of reporters, expressing his reluctance to leave New York and his friends, but he said that people always have to move forward and make progress, and he wanted to get rid of Lin Tian's shadow and powerful influence.

So Anthony chose to join the Cavaliers!
It's worth mentioning that after being sent to the Wizards and quickly bought out by them, Big Z signed a minimum salary contract with the Cavaliers again, turning around and coming back.

Upon seeing this situation, Stern quickly updated the league terms!

“A player who is traded and then bought out may not return to his original team in any form within one year.”

This clause, also known as the "Big Z Rule," has cemented Big Z's place in NBA history through this incident.

Just as the Cavaliers and Mavericks were engaged in an arms race, each acquiring a max-contract player, the Bobcats also began to make their move, secretly signing Boozer to a 5-year, $8000 million contract.

Although at the same time the signing was completed, Jazz player Sloan launched a tirade, denouncing Lin Tian and Boozer as a bunch of snakes and rats, colluding with each other, shameless and utterly shameless!

Unfortunately, fans' attention is currently focused on the 03 draft class, discussing the huge commotion they've caused.

In addition, Salt Lake City is one of the least popular teams and cities in the league, and people are happy to see them suffer losses and be cheated. Therefore, Sloan's protest was almost ignored and did not bring any attention or effect.

Lin Tian, ​​on the other hand, successfully brought Buzer under his command!
Of course, in order to clear enough salary cap space, Lin Tian did give Bird some benefits. He gave up a second-round draft pick and then packaged Tyrus Thomas together and sent him to Indiana.

Although Muhammad is gone, Bird essentially got a second-round draft pick for free, giving him another chance to try his luck. Meanwhile, although Thomas has repeatedly proven himself unreliable, he still has the physical attributes to back him up, so who knows what might happen if we give him another shot?

The Bobcats' moves didn't end there. After Lin Tian secured Boozer, the team's salary cap was completely filled, and they were right at the salary cap limit.

In addition to the minimum salary, the team currently has a full mid-level exception contract with an average salary of approximately $600 million and a bi-annual exception with a salary of $200 million per year available.

The first person Lin Tian targeted was Lamar Odom of the Lakers!

At this time, Lamar Odom was at the happiest in his career. His team had won two consecutive championships, he was about to win the Sixth Man of the Year award, and he was deeply in love with Khloé Kardashian. He was riding high on success.

But this time, Odom wasn't so happy. (End of Chapter)