Chapter 209 Signing with the Lakers
The remaining four teams all have their own strengths and weaknesses. The New York Bears have had a bad record for more than ten years. The only factor to consider is the advantage of being the largest city in the United States.
The Chicago Bulls spent huge sums of money last season to form the Big Three of Wade, Butler and Rondo, but the results proved not to be very good. They barely entered the playoffs in eighth place in the Eastern Conference and were swept by the Cavaliers in the first round.
After the season, the Bulls decided to push the entire existing lineup to rebuild. Rondo had been waived a few days ago, and Jimmy Butler was released to the Bulls earlier along with the 16th pick in this year's first round.
Signed and traded to the Timberwolves in exchange for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and this year's seventh overall pick in the first round.
Wade is the only one left in the Big Three, and Wade's buyout is also under negotiation. As long as both parties can negotiate a suitable price, Wade's contract will be bought out and completely rebuilt.
Wang Feng also knows the situation of the Bulls in the next few years. They have always been at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. It was not until the 21-22 season that they finally returned to the playoffs and were eliminated 1:4 in the first round.
Finally, there are the Boston Celtics.
Compared with the above teams, the Celtics' biggest advantage is that the team is strong.
Last season, the Celtics advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference during the regular season. Although they were swept by the Cavaliers, they were the strongest team in the Eastern Conference behind the Cavaliers.
Wang Feng remembers that this summer, the Celtics will make big moves. First, they will spend a huge sum of money to sign All-Star small forward Gordon Hayward for 128 million U.S. dollars over four years, and then trade with the Cavaliers to use the team.
Core point guard Thomas Jr., a first-rounder, Jae Crowder and Ante Zizic were traded to acquire Kyrie Irving.
After the deal was concluded, the Celtics became the favorites to win the Eastern Conference title, the only team with a chance to challenge the five-star Warriors.
Of course, everyone knows what happened next. Hayward was accidentally injured in the Celtics' first opener and ended the season. In the following seasons, he continued to be injured and stopped. His average annual salary of 30 million became garbage.
contract.
As for Irving, he is not much better. Not to mention the constant injuries, the Celtics performed better without him than with him. He was always mediocre in the Celtics for two seasons and finally chose to jump out.
Leaving the contract.
…
In addition to the above six teams, other teams have also provided offers, including the Philadelphia 76ers, Oklahoma City Thunder, New Orleans Pelicans, Denver Nuggets, etc.
Most of these teams are small ball markets. Although Philadelphia, where the 76ers are located, is a metropolis, they are not willing to provide Wang Feng with a super maximum salary, and the offer they gave was US$94 million over four years.
94 million for 4 years. Last year, Harrison Barnes renewed his contract with the Mavericks for this price. Wang Feng didn’t even bother to take a look.
"From this point of view, although it seems that there are many teams to choose from, there are actually not many suitable teams..."
Wang Feng shook his head slightly.
"No matter where you want to go, I still say, make your choice as soon as possible." Bill Duffy looked serious. "The longer you delay, the fewer teams there will be to choose from."
…
In the days that followed the draft, the league continued to break big news, one after another, one after another.
The most high-profile among them was the Golden State Warriors who lost to the Cavaliers in the Finals.
On July 1, the Warriors reached a contract extension agreement with Stephen Curry. Curry signed a five-year contract worth US$201 million, becoming the first US$200 million player in NBA history, significantly surpassing and setting a new record.
Conley holds the largest contract in NBA history.
On July 4, Kevin Durant chose to opt out of his contract and re-signed a two-year, $53 million contract with the Warriors. This contract was also a 1+1 contract and was one step closer to last year's contract.
The salary cut is nearly $9 million.
Durant's move is to free up salary space for the Warriors to renew the contracts of Ying Guodala and Livingston.
The latter two then signed three-year US$48 million and three-year US$24 million contract extensions with the Warriors respectively.
It can be seen that Durant is desperate and has a do-or-die attitude.
A few days ago, Wang Feng made it clear through his agent that he would not renew his contract with the Cavaliers. As long as the Warriors can maintain their current lineup, they will definitely win the championship next season!
In the next few days, big contracts broke out frequently every day.
The Clippers reached a five-year, $173 million contract extension with power forward Blake Griffin.
New Orleans Pelicans extend point guard Jrue Holiday to a five-year, $126 million contract.
The Boston Celtics signed forward Gordon Hayward for $128 million over four years...
In a series of chaotic contract renewals and transactions, people discovered that Wang Feng, who should have been frantically scrambled by various teams, had never made any move.
"What happened? Where exactly does Wang Feng want to go?"
Previously, media broke out that the Boston Celtics were very interested in Wang Feng and had already provided a maximum salary offer. Many people thought that Wang Feng was likely to go to the powerful Celtics or even become the star of the Green Army.
Thomas Jr. has publicly spoken out to recruit Wang Feng.
Unexpectedly, a few days later, the Celtics signed Hayward, completely locking up the team's salary space.
There is no need to worry about which one is better, Wang Feng or Hayward. After spending the same price, but getting a relatively inferior one, many people do not understand this.
However, local media in Boston later revealed that Wang Feng had rejected the Boston Celtics not long ago, so the Celtics urgently used funds to sign Hayward to ensure the team's strength.
Wang Feng actually rejected the Celtics? So where does he want to go?
Fans around the world are puzzled.
Fortunately, Wang Feng did not keep them waiting for too long.
On July 7, the Los Angeles Lakers officially announced that Chinese forward Wang Feng and the Lakers have reached an agreement. Wang Feng will sign a four-year, 118 million contract with the Lakers, with a player option in the fourth year.
In the next four years, Wang Feng will wear the No. 1 purple and gold jersey and play for the Los Angeles Lakers.
As soon as this news came out, it immediately caused an uproar in the alliance.
"Wang Feng actually wants to go to the Lakers?"
As one of the most successful teams in NBA history, the Los Angeles Lakers have always been one of the most watched teams in the league, and have produced top superstars one after another.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, Black Mamba Kobe.
Chapter completed!