NBA: James wants to team up with me

The 2016 NBA Draft, as in previous years, was held on June 6 at the Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets in New York.

This year's draft has attracted widespread attention, especially from Chinese fans across the ocean.

The reason is very simple. There are two Chinese players participating in this draft, namely Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin.

These two players represent the strength of the new generation of China. They are the players who have the best hope of entering the NBA and gaining a foothold after Yao Ming, Wang Chong and Abdul-Jabbar. Among them, Zhou Qi is the most popular because of his outstanding static talent. He is 2 meters tall and has an astonishing wingspan of 17 meters, which is comparable to the Spurs' emerging defensive expert Rudy Gobert.

Chinese fans are looking forward to the Lakers selecting Zhou Qi in the draft, so that Wang Chong and Zhou Qi can form the Chinese twin stars in the Lakers.

As the draft progressed, Chinese fans got what they wanted.

The Lakers' first-round pick in 16 was sent to the Warriors last year in a trade involving Klay Thompson, and their second-round pick was only at the end.

Originally, Wang Chong thought it would not be the Lakers' turn to select Zhou Qi. After all, in the original historical process, the Rockets selected Zhou Qi with the 13th pick in the second round, and in this time and space, the Rockets' second-round pick is ranked higher.

But what Wang Chong didn't expect was that the Rockets did not choose Zhou Qi, but instead used the seventh pick in the second round to select small forward Patrick McCaw.

Then Zhou Qi's draft pick fell to the Lakers' second round.

Seeing this situation, Wang Chong did not hesitate and directly chose Zhou Qi.

If you think about it, this isn't surprising.

The fact that Zhou Qi was able to join the Rockets had a lot to do with Yao Ming’s operations behind the scenes.

Although he has excellent static talent, he is poor in both confrontation ability and enthusiasm, and is not highly regarded by NBA scouts.

The Rockets signed Zhou Qi more to give face to Yao Ming, and at the same time they were also looking forward to whether Zhou Qi could really play well and bring them some surprises.

But the result was exactly as the scouts had judged. Zhou Qi's thin arms and legs simply couldn't survive the high-intensity confrontation in the NBA. In his two years with the Rockets, he only played 19 games in total, averaging 1.3 points and 1.2 rebounds per game. After being frustrated, he ran back to China to develop his career.

Wang Chong chose Zhou Qi for the same reason as Yao Ming.

Although Zhou Qi has a feeling of being a hopeless person, it is very despairing that by 2024, the only player in the entire Chinese men's basketball team who can be considered slightly is Zhou Qi, and the other planned player Li Kaier.

Wang Chong wanted to do something for the Chinese men's basketball team, so he asked the Lakers to sign Zhou Qi. He wanted to personally supervise Zhou Qi's daily training and growth. With such static talent, Zhou Qi should still have certain development prospects.

If Zhou Qi can't get up like this and has to switch to become a Polish center in the future, then Wang Chong will have no choice. At least he has made efforts for it.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that there are not many potential players among the 16 players who can be bought at a bargain price.

There are two players in this draft who were ranked later but were able to play well. One is Pascal Siakam, who was picked 27th in the first round, and the other is Malcolm Brogdon, who was picked 6th in the second round.

The draft picks for both players were low, but the problem is that the Lakers still can't reach them with the picks they have.

Wang Chong's ability to turn stone into gold in the past has made other teams in the league dare not trade draft picks to his team unless the Lakers are willing to offer chips much higher than the market price.

So in this year's draft, the only thing the Los Angeles Lakers got was just Zhou Qi.

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The draft is over, and the free market opens in early July.

The 2016 free market is packed with superstars, because there are so many players who have signed 1+1 contracts with teams in the past two years. This has led to the three major stars, Wang Chong, James, and Durant, all being able to opt out of their contracts and become free agents, and judging by the current situation, this possibility is very high.

In addition to these three, the contracts of Wade and Howard of the Heat, Andre Drummond of the Pistons, Bradley Beal of the Wizards, Al Horford of the Hawks and others have also expired.

The entire free market is extremely lively.

Lakers fans are optimistic about the Lakers' prospects in the free market.

First of all, there is no doubt that Wang Chong will renew his contract with the Lakers.

If Wang Chong is guaranteed a maximum salary contract extension, the Lakers will also be able to free up a considerable salary space due to the expiration of Kobe's 2500 million contract, enough to sign a top superstar with a maximum salary.

In this situation, Lakers fans even want Kobe to retire directly.

This season, Kobe has proven that he is no longer able to adapt to the high-intensity NBA games. His scoring and shooting percentages are clearly lagging behind, so much so that some people believe that if Kobe hadn't been holding them back in the finals, the Lakers would have been able to defeat the Bulls and win the championship if the 2500 million had been replaced by an All-Star player.

Given Kobe's status, if he renews his contract with the Lakers, even if he can no longer be an effective fighting force, it will at least be a contract worth tens of millions.

But in this way, the Lakers will not be able to snatch other star players in the free market.

This idea reached its peak after the local media in Los Angeles published an article predicting the Lakers' offseason player signings.

According to this media's inventory, the Lakers' salary space is enough to sign any player in the free market, and the first one to bear the brunt of this is of course the Celtics' star Kevin Durant.

After being with the Celtics for many years, he never saw any hope of winning the championship, especially after Wang Chong went to the West, the Bulls formed the Big Three in the East, which made Durant feel deeply desperate.

Over the past year, Boston reporters have tried to ask Durant more than once about his thoughts after his contract expires, but have failed to get a positive response from Durant about staying.

Obviously, the failure to win the championship has made Durant want to leave.

If Durant wants to compete with the Bulls in the East, joining the Lakers and teaming up with Wang Chong is a shortcut for him to win the championship.

Wang Chong + Durant?

This configuration is so dreamy that Lakers fans can't help but imagine it.

What the hell? Kobe? Who is this? The name sounds familiar.

So do the Lakers have any ideas? Of course they do.

Stockpiling superstars has always been the tradition of the Lakers. In ancient times, the combination of Chamberlain, West and Elgin Baylor of the Lakers can be regarded as the earliest Big Three combination.

The Lakers' lineup has never been bad since then, from the combination of Magic and Skyhook to the later OK combination, and then to the Kobe and Howard Lakers F4.

Now, even if we put together a historical top scorer combination of Wang Chong and Durant, it would not be a big deal.

After the Lakers management noticed this opportunity, they contacted Wang Chong immediately.

There is no way. Due to the restrictions of the contract signed with Wang Chong, the Lakers management needs Wang Chong’s approval before making any signings.

But after hearing this suggestion, Wang Chong felt a little bored.

Isn't this just a replica of the Five Star Warriors?

With Durant, it will be easy to win the championship.

Honestly speaking, Wang Chong had become a little bored with winning championships over the past few years, but this year's matchup with the Bulls in the finals finally piqued his interest.

But Wang Chong's impression of Durant is much better than that of James. At least Durant's playing style is not as all-encompassing as James', and his scheming is completely different from James. He is more like a child who has not grown up.

After thinking about it, Wang Chong replied to the Lakers management in this way.

"First, I don't care whether Durant comes or not. It doesn't make much difference to me. I don't object if you want to sign him, but I won't take the initiative to recruit him. You figure it out on your own."

"Second, I promised Kobe that I would help him win another championship before he retires, so Kobe must continue to sign with the Lakers this season. The size of the contract is between you and Kobe. If you want to sign Durant, it's up to you to decide who should take a pay cut."

"Third, the Lakers currently have a lot of players with good potential. If Durant comes, the sharing of ball rights will affect the growth rate of young players to some extent. So if he comes, Durant can only sign a 1+1 contract."

As soon as Wang Chong stated these three conditions, even the Lakers management took a breath.

Boy, you're so proud.

After all, Durant is the only top scorer in recent years who can keep up with Wang Chong in terms of scoring. He is recognized as one of the top five superstars in the league. Isn't he treated with courtesy and respect wherever he goes?

Hearing Wang Chong's tone, it seemed like he was a little disdainful.

But Wang Chong really doesn't care, because as long as the Lakers maintain their current base, Wang Chong, Klay Thompson and Jokic, who will grow up in a year or two at most, will dominate the league once again. Do they really need Durant to add icing on the cake?

Wang Chong is more looking forward to Durant joining other teams to form a super team that can rival the Bulls, which will also bring him some freshness.

With Wang Chong's approval, the Lakers began to contact Durant.

Before that, they still have to communicate with Kobe first, because Kobe, who has to play for another year, also needs to renew his contract.

From Kobe's point of view, he certainly hopes that Durant will join. The stronger the Lakers are, the more likely he is to win his sixth championship before retiring.

During this period, Kobe no longer cared about ball possession or his status as the team leader.

The loss in the finals has made him realize clearly that he is old. No matter how stubborn and unyielding he is, he has to admit it.

Therefore, Kobe's current idea is that as long as he can win the sixth championship and not be a bench substitute who can't even play, it will be fine. This is a better position than O'Neal's position of winning the sixth championship in Wang Chong's team in his twilight years.

As for the contract renewal issue, Kobe also showed great magnanimity. The Lakers management can talk to Durant first, and after making sure that the talks are done and a contract agreement is reached, they can pay him according to the remaining salary space.

Kobe, whose total salary in his career is as high as 3.4 million, is not short of money at all. There is not much difference between million and several million for him.

Just like that, things began to develop in a direction that Wang Chong had never expected.

A few days later, Wang Chong received news from the Lakers management that Durant agreed to join the Lakers and was willing to take a pay cut and sign a 1+1, $5000 million per year contract with the Lakers, with an average annual salary of 2500 million.

Durant is actually willing to take a pay cut to join the Lakers, and the amount of the cut is not a small amount, the total amount is close to 10 million.

It seems that he really wants to win the championship to the point of being obsessed.

Wang Chong finally understood why the Five-Star Warriors were formed in the first place.

With Durant's arrival, the Lakers' championship in the new season will be a foregone conclusion.

-

In the few days after the free market opened, the league did not make any major moves, but the turmoil behind the scenes was well known to everyone.

On July 7, the first major contract extension in the league took place.

James opted out of his contract and re-signed a two-year, $2 million contract with the Bulls, with an average annual salary of $5800 million.

James stayed with the Bulls and preserved the current championship lineup, and his contract extension was a pay cut because given James' age, a maximum salary extension would be around 2 million for two years.

Bulls fans are relatively satisfied with the result of James' contract extension. Although James snatched the FMVP from Curry in the finals, it is undeniable that without James they are no match for the Lakers led by Wang Chong.

After James renewed his contract with the Bulls, the team will still be the strongest championship contender next season and have the capital to compete with the Lakers.

Two days after James renewed his contract, Wang Chong also announced that he would opt out of his contract and signed his first long-term contract with the Lakers, worth $4 million over four years, with an average annual salary of $1.4 million, an absolute maximum salary contract.

This is the case when Wang Chong did not have bird rights with the Lakers, otherwise the contract would be even bigger.

Wang Chong renewed his contract with the Lakers for four years, which made Lakers fans feel relieved.

No matter how the team's next signings are, or whether they can get top stars like Durant, as long as Wang Chong is there, they will always be one of the favorites to win the championship.

The new broadcasting contract came into effect, causing the team's salary cap to increase significantly, and sky-high contracts continued to appear.

Before Wang Chong and James, the Grizzlies reached a contract extension agreement with point guard Mike Conley for 5 years and 1.53 million. Conley's 5-year, 1.53 million contract also set the record for the largest contract in NBA history. Although the average annual salary of this contract is 3060 million, far less than Wang Chong's 3500 million, the contract period is one year longer, and the total amount is still higher than Wang Chong's.

Teams across the league are constantly signing and renewing contracts, and sky-high contracts are constantly being signed.

And at this critical juncture, the real depth bomb came.

After the Boston Celtics star player announced that he would opt out of his contract and become a free agent, he reached an agreement with the Los Angeles Lakers to join the Lakers for 2 million over two years. Next season, he will join forces with Wang Chong to launch an attack on the championship.

Once this news was announced, it immediately caused a strong shock in the alliance!

When James saw this news, he couldn't help but feel dizzy and almost vomited blood.

"The alliance's sky... is about to collapse!"