lakers championship

Chapter 121 Alliance Structure
On July 7, the door to the NBA free market opened, and teams from all walks of life waited for the opportunity to move.

On the 1st, Durant met with the Thunder lobbying team consisting of Westbrook, Nick Collison, and Royal Ivey.The entire meeting lasted about 5 hours, and the two sides had a cordial and friendly communication. Durant said on the spot that he would carefully consider whether to return to the Thunder.

After the Thunder, Durant met again on the 2nd. The luxury recruiting team composed of the Warriors owner, general manager, head coach Kerr, Curry, Thompson and others had a good chat.

Afterwards, Durant met with the Clippers recruiting team again. Clippers owner Ballmer cried excitedly on the spot, but in a blink of an eye Durant announced on the player forum that he would take the most difficult path - joining the Warriors.

Durant joined the Warriors and completely changed the league structure.

After the biggest suspense in the free market was settled, the teams signed and renewed their contracts quickly.

勒布朗3年1亿留守骑士，火箭和哈登重新签订了一份4年1.18亿美元的合约。雷霆也和威少重新签订了一份3年8500万美元的合同。

The Hornets renewed Batum's contract at a high price of 5 million in five years, and Conley accepted the Grizzlies' five-year, $1.2 million contract.

Al Horford accepted the invitation to join the Celtics, and Howard filled the vacancy to join the Eagles.

Basically, the signings and renewals of all teams have been carried out very smoothly, but the Lakers, who have the largest salary space in the league, have not made big moves for a long time.

The only news they have is the signing of two high-ranking rookies, Tianyang 4 years 2662 million US dollars, Ingram 4 years 2382 US dollars, the last two years of their contracts are team options.

除此之外湖人还以为2年1285万美元的价格续约中锋塔里克–布莱克，以4年5000万美元的价格续约乔丹–克拉克森，以3年324万美元的价格签约二轮秀中锋伊维察·祖巴茨。

The five-person contract, plus the five-person contract of Louis Williams, Nick Young, Julius Randall, Larry Nance, and Mercy Shiping, only consumes 6090 million US dollars in salary space, which is far from the labor agreement. There is still a gap of $8400 million from the stipulated $2310 million 'poor line'.

This summer, Kobe retired. It is said that the stars no longer have scruples about coming to the Lakers. The Bass brothers and sisters also wanted to sign a big-name player, but they did not expect that the top priority turned into filling the "poor man's line", leaving 3 Tens of millions of dollars of space is useless.

Regarding the Lakers' dilemma, ESPN experts said that the problem began with exchanging Tianyang at a high price, and then triggered a chain effect, resulting in a heavy price for getting Ingram.

In this way, the Lakers have neither the competitiveness to win the championship nor the potential for rapid rise, but any free agent who is interested in winning the championship will not join the Lakers.

Such an analysis is barely reasonable.

Therefore, Tianyang immediately became the target of some Lakers fans.

The fans accused Tianyang of making wild words at the rookie conference, declaring that he would lead the team to the playoffs that season, which gave the Lakers an unrealistic image and aroused the resentment of free agents.

Fans criticized that Tianyang's four-year rookie contract of $4 million has caused so much damage to the Lakers' salary structure that the Lakers cannot provide a basic salary of 2662 million to recruit top free agents.

The fans were dissatisfied. Tianyang immediately dated a Hollywood model after the rookie meeting conference. Even if it is not convenient for training, he should stay in the training hall and cultivate a tacit understanding with his teammates.

In short, it was all Tianyang's fault. Tianyang delayed the rebuilding process of the Lakers.

The fans also scolded Jim Bass and Kupchak by the way, saying that the two were in a daze, and it was fine to have nothing in the free market for several years, and they paid such a high price to get Tianyang.

Tianyang saw all the dissatisfaction of the fans, but he didn't respond.

He's busy, has been busy advising management, and signing those free agents is more appropriate.

On July 7, the Lakers announced that they would sign free agent center JaVale McGee for two years and $4 million.

At the signing ceremony, Kupchak said that the reason for signing McGee was because McGee communicated well with his teammates, especially Tianyang, and the Lakers were willing to promote a team with a better atmosphere.

But this signing was severely criticized by most Lakers fans.

Fans criticized SkyOcean for interfering with the management's work with personal preferences, and actually gave McGee, who was about to miss the ball and averaged 5.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game with the Mavericks, a contract of $300 million per year.

A total waste of money and might as well have spent $1400 million to sign Mozkov.

On July 7, the Lakers officially announced that they had officially completed a deal with the Chicago Bulls, using the signing rights of Ater Majok in exchange for point guard Jose Calderon and two future second-round picks.

At the signing ceremony, Kupchak said that Calderon has rich experience, and his basketball skills and professionalism will serve as a good example for young Lakers players.

This deal calmed the angry and dissatisfied Lakers fans.

In this summer when the top salary is full of running, Calderon's annual salary of 771 million US dollars can be regarded as an ancient and clear stream, and there are two second-round picks, which also add a glimmer of hope to the future of the Lakers.

The most important thing is that Ater Majok's signing rights are useless, and the Lakers basically earn nothing.

Of course, if it weren't for the bulls to clear the space, they wouldn't be so lucky.

Lakers fans also point out that the last time they traded the rights to a second-round pick (Marc Gasol) who never played for the Lakers for a Spanish player, the Lakers made it to the NBA Finals...

After the addition of Calderon and McGee, the number of guaranteed contract players in the Lakers lineup has increased to 13, and the salary has reached 7020 million US dollars, which is only 1380 million US dollars away from the "poor man's line".Subsequently, the Lakers signed Thomas Robinson at a price of $1 million for one year, and recalled Anthony Brown, a 150nd-round pick for 15 years, from their NBDL team defender.

So far, the Lakers have formed a new 15-man lineup after Kobe retired.

They are center Tarek – Black, JaVale – McGee, Ivica – Zubac; power forward Julius – Randle, Thomas – Robinson, Larry – Nance; small forward Ingram, Mercy Ping, Nick Young; shooting guards Li Tianyang, Louis Williams, Anthony Brown; point guards Jose Calderon, Jordan Clarkson, Marcelo Huertas.

The poor line of this list has not yet been filled, and Kupchak said that he will further seek trades and sign free agents during the season.

But the Lakers fans are very dissatisfied on the whole, because such a lineup, in an environment full of strong enemies in the West, is simply a sheep entering the tiger's mouth. The playoffs promised by Tianyang is tantamount to nonsense.

As for the 17th championship, it is even in the foreseeable future.

During the long off-season, the Lakers successively signed some players to play in the summer league, but they still failed to find suitable talents.

Fortunately, Tianyang's injury is recovering well, and he has already started recovery training in September.

At the beginning of October, after the start of the preseason, Tianyang still did not play, but he has warmed up through normal running, shooting, dribbling and layup before the start of each game.

On October 10, the Lakers official Twitter announced that after 25 days of recuperation, Tianyang will return in the Lakers' first game of the new season against the Houston Rockets.

This tweet was forwarded 3 times by various media, commentators, NBA players, and fans in less than 1 minutes.

Bill Simmons, a well-known commentator who was the most optimistic about Tianyang before the draft, publicly stated: "Tianyang's comeback will change the league structure just like Durant joining the Warriors."

　Writing this kind of chapter is so troublesome, I keep checking the news.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)