NBA: James wants to team up with me

The Bulls asked around for price but got nothing in return. Not only did they fail to trade Gasol, but they also made him feel resentful.

As the Bulls' strength has decreased instead of increased, there is no team in the league that can stop the Lakers.

The NBA 2017-18 season officially began at the end of October.

At the beginning of the regular season, the Lakers showed their super dominance and swept all the teams in the league.

Throughout the regular season, the Lakers achieved a record of 66 wins and 16 losses, leading the league. Although the record is slightly worse than last season, it is still the leading position in the league. The main reason for the decline in record is the overall injury factor of the Lakers.

Durant was affected by injuries this season and played in only 64 games, averaging 25 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists per game.

Klay Thompson's attendance rate has also decreased this season. He played 68 games in the regular season, averaging 19.4 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists per game, and his performance was as stable as ever.

Wang Chong averaged 31 points per game and once again won the league's scoring title, winning the title 12 times in his career. There is no dispute about his title as the world's strongest scorer.

The only pity is that with Wang Chong, Durant and Thompson sharing most of the ball, Jokic's performance this season is still mediocre. His double-double stats of 12 points and 10 rebounds per game look very good, but it is not as good as Jokic's averaging 18.5 points, 10.7 rebounds and 6 assists per game in the same period.

In the playoffs, the Lakers, who were ranked first in the Western Conference and even in the league, swept their opponents like cutting melons and vegetables and made it to the Western Conference Finals. Their opponent in the Western Conference Finals was not the Spurs as they had faced in the previous two seasons, but the Los Angeles Clippers.

Like the original 17-18 season, the Clippers, who have both Harden and Paul, although lacking players such as Tucker and Gordon, also have players such as Jordan Jr., so their strength is indeed good. In the regular season, they were second only to the Lakers with 62 wins. In the playoffs, they eliminated the Spurs in the second round and successfully met the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.

However, Wang Chong is not Curry, and the Lakers are not the Warriors. Although the Clippers are quite strong and presented a wonderful city derby game to Los Angeles fans in the Western Conference Finals, the final series score between the two teams was 4:1. The Lakers easily defeated the Clippers and advanced to the finals.

The Lakers' opponent in the finals is still an old face, the Chicago Bulls.

This is not surprising. The Bulls with Curry + James + Gasol Jr. are invincible in the East. In fact, if it weren't for Wang Chong and the Lakers' sudden emergence, winning three consecutive championships would be a piece of cake with their configuration.

But unfortunately, it’s fate and reality that is so cruel.

The combination of Curry and James is slightly ahead of the Clippers in terms of hard power, which allowed them to win two games during the finals, but it was limited to the victories in these two games.

4:2, the Lakers defeated the Bulls again in the finals, successfully defended the championship, and achieved the feat of two consecutive championships.

After the Lakers won two consecutive championships, they saw that a three-peat dynasty was beckoning.

Wang Chong officially achieved his tenth championship in his career, and is only one step away from the eleventh championship of The King of the Rings Bill Russell!

But what Lakers fans never expected was that after the finals, Durant chose to opt out of his contract and made a public statement in advance that he would not renew his contract with the Lakers.

This is undoubtedly sensational news. The duo of Wang Chong and Durant can be regarded as the strongest partnership in NBA history. The two of them even surpass the OK combination of Jordan and Pippen, O'Neal and Kobe.

But the two of them only worked together for two years before parting ways.

The performance of the Lakers management's public relations team was also very intriguing. They sincerely thanked Durant for his contributions to the Lakers over the past two years and wished him continued success in his career, but they didn't even say a word to retain him.

After the free market opened, the Lakers immediately completed the contract extension with their center Nikola Jokic for 5 million over 1.48 years, an absolute maximum salary renewal.

This contract has made many Lakers fans dissatisfied, because Jokic averaged 12+10 double-doubles, how could he get a maximum salary contract? You know, after signing this contract, Jokic's starting salary next season will be close to 2500 million US dollars. How can they have salary space to introduce other big-name players?

The original Big Three combination of Wang Chong + Durant + Thompson suddenly became a duo combination of Wang Chong + Thompson. Wouldn’t the three consecutive championship defense be ruined?

But a few days later, according to a well-known media source, Durant's departure from the Lakers was not actually his own wish, but the Lakers themselves were unwilling to keep Durant.

Although Durant could have chosen to exercise his player option and stay with the team, a forced melon is not sweet, especially for a top star in the league like Durant. If he let people know that he had to stay and win the championship even though he was not welcomed, he would be truly humiliated.

According to insiders, the one who was unwilling to keep Durant was Wang Chong, and the reason was very simple and crude.

"We need to give Jokic more ball rights and room to grow. The current distribution of ball rights within the team is unscientific and not suitable for Jokic's growth. For the future development prospects of the team, the team lineup needs to be adjusted."

Simply put, Wang Chong chose to drive Durant away in order to keep Jokic.

The question is, what is Jokic's merit and ability to receive such high praise from Wang Chong?

For a time, the previously unknown Jokic became the focus of everyone's attention. After all, most of the players that Wang Chong admired in the past had performed quite well, but it was the first time that Wang Chong was willing to give up a top superstar like Durant in order to keep Jokic.

In fact, it is a bit difficult for Wang Chong to judge who is stronger between Jokic and Durant when both of them are at their peak.

Judging from the honors and achievements he has achieved, Jokic should be better. After all, he led a Nuggets lineup that was not particularly outstanding. There was no All-Star player on the team except him, but he was able to win the championship. This alone is more valuable than Durant's two championships with the Warriors.

In addition, Jokic has won a total of three regular season MVPs throughout his career, far exceeding Durant's one regular season MVP.

If we take a closer look at various abilities, the only thing Durant has the upper hand in is probably scoring ability. After all, as one of the strongest scorers in NBA history, Durant's scoring ability is still better than Jokic.

Therefore, on the whole, peak Jokic is still slightly better than peak Durant, and there is nothing wrong with that.

But at this stage in 2018, Jokic, who is still in the growth stage and has not yet reached his future peak, is definitely far inferior to Durant, and it will be difficult for him to surpass Durant in at least two or three years.

So Wang Chong gave up Durant. In addition to the reason that Jokic has better development prospects, the more important reason is that he felt a little bored.

The Lakers with Durant joining the team is really too strong. Wang Chong has dominated the league for more than ten years and won ten championships. He has long felt the loneliness of a master. The stronger his teammates are, the more bored he will feel. Instead, he looks forward to having strong opponents to bring him some excitement in the game.