First in scoring

Chapter 518 516. A Must-Do Deal

The next afternoon, a birthday party was being held in a resort estate in Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles.

The party was lively, unlike Kobe's birthday which was deserted. The Bobcats' duo, the owner and assistant coach Randy Brown, the Lakers' Big Three and some players, Ronaldinho and Haaland who were vacationing in Los Angeles, the Bulls' three-two defense and some players, Nash... and O'Neal, all came, as well as these people's families, as well as people from the entertainment, political and business circles who came to join in the fun.

The protagonist of today's party is Yao Ming.

But when Zhang Yang, Kobe, Yao Ming and O'Neal sat together, the atmosphere was very subtle.

The others were having a great time playing cards, drinking and flirting with girls, and the four of them sat together staring at each other.

Sharks: I should have delayed it. How could I say, "I would rather die than be a substitute for the little giant"? I should have said it after this party! How embarrassing...

Old Blacksmith: The fat guy is clinging to Zhang San? Damn the fat guy! Why can’t he cling to me? Was he traded? No! I’m sure that even if the fat guy is a free agent, he will cling to Zhang San!
Zhang San: I thought we would see a combination of Little Giant and Big Shark, what a pity, but...Little Duncan has also made progress! Big Shark is his substitute!
Little Giant: I feel sorry for it, too. Eh? Why do you say that?

Zhang San, you usually love to chat, don't you? Why are you silent today? Knock! What does your expression of watching a good show mean? Today is my buddy's birthday! Can you give me some face?
Yao Ming could no longer point fingers at O'Neal, so he had to take the initiative to say to him, "Shaq, it's great that you came to the East. I can play against you twice more every year..."

O'Neal immediately responded: "Yes, I think so too. It's much more interesting to be your opponent than your teammate."

Zhang Yang rolled his eyes. It was really boring to see these two smart guys together and Kobe being such a taciturn person.

Last night, the Bobcats, Bulls, Suns, Clippers and Trail Blazers completed a five-party deal with a total salary of over 100 million yuan, which ignited the free market that had been dormant for half a month. Now if you go online, you can see that sports forums and portals are all discussing this deal.

The core player surrounding the transaction was O'Neal.

The Suns sent O'Neal to the Clippers in exchange for Al Thornton, the 07th pick in the first round of the 14 draft, and Ben Wallace from the Bulls.

The Trail Blazers traded Blake and Reeve LaFrentz's expiring contracts worth $1217 million in exchange for the Clippers' Marcus Camby, who has three years left on his contract worth a total of $3 million, and the Bobcats' Mike Miller.

The Clippers sent out Al Thornton and Camby in exchange for Blake and LaFrentz.

The Bulls sent out Ben Wallace in exchange for Brad Miller.

The Bobcats sent out two Millers in exchange for O'Neal.

There was no more excitement to watch, so Zhang Yang stood up and let Kobe get closer to the two giants, and found Jordan who was chatting and laughing with AJ executives.

This summer, the 'Zhang Yang Fourth Generation' took advantage of the momentum of winning the championship and sold out, which made the executives and small bosses happy.

Seeing Zhang Yang hesitate to speak, Qiao Tu said: OK! Let's go and punish him!
Jordan glanced at the executives, walked to the beach with Zhang Yang, and said, "I want to ask why you suddenly sent Mike and Brad away for O'Neal without discussing it with you?"

Zhang Yang shook his head and said, "Whether you should tell us about the trade in advance is a matter for your management. I am just a player. I want to know why Brad was sent to the Bulls. Mike and Brad's contracts combined are enough to trade for O'Neal, right? I believe the Suns will not reject them both. With Gentry's tactics, Mike can play fast breaks and Brad can play positional warfare."

Jordan also shook his head: "It's not that we want to send Brad to the Bulls, but the Suns only accept a deal with Ben Wallace."

Zhang Yang was puzzled for a moment and asked, "The Great Shark's face?"

Jordan nodded: "Yes, Kerr doesn't dare to cut O'Neal, but he can't keep O'Neal. Now everyone knows that it was a very wrong decision for him to trade Marion for O'Neal, but he still doesn't dare to trade O'Neal to a team casually. He is as useless as a general manager as he was when he was playing."

Zhang San resisted the urge to roll his eyes: I just beat you up before, it’s been so many years and you’re still talking bad about me behind my back.

He asked another question: "I heard that O'Neal refused to go to the Bulls. If we don't join, the trade between O'Neal and Wallace will not go through, right?"

In less than a day after the transaction was completed, many details were quickly dug out by the media.

The Suns and the Bulls had actually reached an agreement in late August that Shaq and Ben Wallace would swap teams, but when Steve Kerr communicated this with O'Neal, O'Neal's reply was, "I'd rather die than be a substitute for Yao Ming. If you trade me, I'll retire."

Steve Kerr is truly a genius. He told the Bulls management the exact words. Maybe it was the friendship of his old club?
After learning of O'Neal's reply, the Bulls management became hesitant about the deal. If Ben had the same contract as O'Neal and it was a one-on-one trade, they would have taken the gamble without hesitation. Even if O'Neal directly announced his retirement, they would not lose too much.

But Ben's salary is more than 500 million less than O'Neal's, and they have to send Tim Thomas to balance the contract. After Joe Smith left, Tim Thomas is a very important space inside player for them. Jordan knew what Zhang Yang was talking about, and responded: "The exchange between the two teams is indeed not going to go on, but Kerr's most important task this summer is to send O'Neal away. I heard from my old friends in the Bulls that the Suns and the Bulls are looking for a third party, and Kerr is actively trying to help the Bulls reduce the risk... At this time, the choice question came to us. If Yao's starting center + O'Neal's substitute center combination is established, our pressure will be great. After discussing with Bernie and Rick, I decided to take the initiative to join. If we can get O'Neal, it will be good to defend Yao. Kendrick still can't handle it alone."

Zhang Yang thought about it, Yao Ming playing for about 30 minutes + O'Neal playing for about 20 minutes, and there are rumors that Tianzun has been staying in Chicago this summer to watch the opera and flirting with the Bulls... Oh my god!
Jordan continued, "After we joined, the original trade offered by the Suns was that we would send both Mike and Brad to the Bulls, and the Bulls would send Wallace and Thomas to the Suns. But Bernie and Rick both rejected such a deal. Brad was fine, but they didn't want to give Mike to either the Bulls or the Suns. Later, we brought in the Trail Blazers, who had salary space. They were very interested in Mike and were willing to give up their space."

Zhang Yang asked curiously, "This is equivalent to giving the Trail Blazers a player for free. Will the Bulls agree?"

Jordan smiled and said, "It doesn't matter whether the Bulls agree or not. O'Neal agreed. Bernie guessed right. As long as we join and are the ones who want to get O'Neal, O'Neal will definitely be interested because you are there."

"If that's the case, then why don't we kick the Bulls out and trade with the Suns and Trail Blazers alone?"

Jordan also looked a bit annoyed when he heard this, and replied: "It's still the same reason, because he is the Big Shark, Kerr has to give O'Neal respect, even if O'Neal himself doesn't want it, he has to give it."

Zhang Yang also looked annoyed: "Okay, I get it. Trading the Sharks for Ben is not an option, it is a necessary condition... Is this how all of you managers make deals?"

Jordan shrugged: "When I was a player, I didn't understand why some transactions were made and why they were done in that way. But after I became the president of a team for the first time in 01, I realized that some things cannot be decided by the president or the owner alone."

Zhang Yang: "What about the Clippers? How did they join in?"

Jordan: "That part is the operation of the Trail Blazers. They want other teams with space to help share the space they need to eat. Camby's salary next season is 1100 million, LaFrentz's expiring contract is a little more than 1200 million, plus Blake's 400 million, and the Clippers are brought in. After the Trail Blazers eat Mike's 913 million salary, they actually only consume less than 400 million in space, and there are more than 400 million in space left. Didn't they make another deal this morning?"

Zhang Yang remembered that there was a deal in a corner that no one cared about this morning. The Trail Blazers sent another high school student from the 05 class, Martell Webster, to the Timberwolves with a three-year, $3 million contract, along with a 1500 Lotto protected first-round pick, in exchange for Andre Miller.

Miller's career was also quite bumpy. He was the 99th pick in the 8 draft. He performed well during his rookie contract and won the assists title in his third year. However, the Cavaliers looked down on him. In the summer of 3, he was almost given away to the Clippers by the Cavaliers just after winning the assists title.

In those years, the Clippers used up their rookies and discarded them without renewing their contracts. In the summer of 03, not only did they not offer Miller a contract extension, they didn't even execute the qualification clause. Miller directly became an unrestricted free agent. At this time, the Nuggets gave him a 6-year contract, allowing the assist king to save some face.

But the good times didn't last long. In 06, when Andre Miller had survived the Nuggets' growth period and the Nuggets were moving forward, he was traded for Iverson.

He played well in the 76ers. In August last year, the 8ers gave him a three-year contract extension in advance. He was 76 years old at the time and had four years left on the contract. He would be 3 years old after the four years were over. He declared, "I will live in Philadelphia all my life."

As a result, 10 months later, he was sent to the Timberwolves by the 76ers before the draft. The Timberwolves lacked everything except young potential players, and the 76ers just needed young potential players.

Now, less than three months after being traded, and before he even played a single game for the Timberwolves, Miller was traded again...

Zhang Yang thought of something and said with a smile, "I don't know if Miller bought a house in Minneapolis. If he did, he would have lost a lot."

Bald Qiao: ??? You thought about it for a long time, and you just said this? No, what kind of brain circuit is this?

However, seeing that Zhang Yang was starting to go off topic, Jordan knew that the matter was over.

He responded, "It's not a bad idea to buy a house now. He is also a player with a salary of tens of millions. The location of the house he buys will not be bad. Now is the lowest time for housing prices. When the economy improves, it will definitely go up. I have bought a lot of properties in good locations in New York. Do you want to buy some too?"

Zhang Yang: "Forget it. You can talk to my dad about this. He might be interested. But Paul Allen is so decisive! For the 33-year-old Andre Miller and Mike who only has one year left on his contract, they just sent Webster and Blake away, and also took on Camby's big contract. They could have freed up a lot of space next summer. Don't they have any way out?"

Jordan: "For Paul Allen, running the Trail Blazers is just a game. He doesn't care about the 'way out'. Even if he fails, he will just have to pay a few more years of luxury tax..."

The matter was already understood. Zhang Yang did not continue chatting with Jordan. He went to play cards with Ronaldo, Ha, and Xiao Feina. He brought several thousand US dollars with him. He did not believe that he would lose every time!

After Zhang Yang left, Randy Brown came to Jordan and said, "Michael, Jack is becoming more and more mature. Two important players who won 70 games and the championship last season were sent away, and they were both so calm."

Jordan shook his head. "This is not a good thing. If the Suns owner had not ordered Kerr to send O'Neal away but to give O'Neal dignity, we would not have joined such a deal and would have waited for Mike and Brad to leave after their contracts expired... Bernie called me after the deal was completed and told me one thing. He believed that after Alan left, Jack's sense of belonging to our team had obviously decreased, and he cared less and less about other people. Now he only cared about Raymond. I think he guessed right."

Randy Brown: "No wonder you are so patient this time. In the past, you would definitely say 'I'm the boss and I'm willing'..."

(End of this chapter)