NBA: James wants to team up with me

Chapter 47 A sensational signing in the league, Marlon Payton joins the Lakers!

The battle between the Lakers and the Nuggets made many media reporters explode.

Anthony actually lost to Wang Chong in a solo duel? This is big news!

Anyone who has watched the game knows that this time Wang Chong did not rely on the strength of his teammates. He defeated Anthony one-on-one on the court, especially on the offensive end, with various unsolvable mid-range shots and shots. Anthony has no temper at all.

In turn, Wang Chong's defense made Anthony very uncomfortable. The first half was slightly better, but in the second half, the shooting percentage began to decline rapidly due to the exhaustion of physical fitness. It was simply terrible.

The final result turned out to be that Wang Chong scored 40 points in a single game, beating Anthony who only had 20 points, and led the Lakers to win the game!

During the offseason when the NBA was suspended, this was definitely big news, even more exciting than James' debut in the Orlando Summer League two days ago! After all, James scored 14 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists in his debut, and his performance could only be considered average.

Of course, this is also related to James not playing much time.

As mentioned before, the summer league is a place for NBA teams to train new recruits, and will leave more opportunities to players who have not yet shown their strength to prove themselves, including James, Anthony, Wade and other famous rookies. In fact, in The summer league is just a formality to get used to the atmosphere of the professional league in advance.

James played less than 20 minutes in his first show, and his efficiency is already quite high.

But in this era of print media, people don't observe things so minutely. Many people may just glance at the newspaper and get the information that Wang Chong scored 40 points against Anthony, while Anthony only scored 20 points as the top pick. James only had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists in his debut, none of which were as impressive as Wang Chong.

How is this going? Is it possible that the No. 1 pick is not as good as a rookie with the 13th pick in the first round?

Just by virtue of his explosive scoring performance, Wang Chong has successfully made many passers-by at least remember his name, and has made his name known to everyone in the league circle.

In the next game, more Los Angeles fans came to watch the game, wanting to see with their own eyes how good the young rookies the Lakers got were, and whether they would be the best helpers for the OK team to win the championship in the new season.

The Southern California Summer League was originally held in Los Angeles, which belongs to the territory of Lakers fans.

As a result, Wang Chong and other Lakers fans experienced firsthand the fan atmosphere of the Lakers as a basketball giant. The summer league, which was originally no one interested and had only a few spectators, began to become full.

The organizers of the league were almost grinning because they had made a lot of money just from the ticket money.

However, in the subsequent games, Wang Chong's playing time began to gradually decrease, and his scoring also began to decrease.

This is not a bad thing. On the contrary, Wang Chong's playing time has been reduced because the Lakers coaching staff believes that Wang Chong no longer needs to train in summer league games.

After the battle with Anthony, the team management and coaching staff were all alarmed. Head coach Phil Jackson, who was not in Los Angeles at the time, immediately flew back to Los Angeles overnight and appeared in person at the Lakers and New York Knicks game a day later. At the scene, watch Wang Chong play the game up close.

After only watching for a few minutes, Phil Jackson said seriously to the assistant coach. "Next season, he will be our starting small forward!"

Although Phil Jackson does not have absolute control over the team like Popovich of the Spurs or Pat Riley of the Heat, he is the coach who has coached the most championships in the league. His six championships, plus the Lakers' three consecutive championships not long ago, give Phil Jackson, who has nine championship rings, a transcendent status. What he says, at least within the team, is true, and no one will question it. .

<divclass="contentadv">Since he personally said that Wang Chong will be the starter next season, no one can shake his position.

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When the summer league is in full swing, the league is not always calm.

Almost every day in July there will be news about team trades and signings.

But any team's so-called big moves pale in comparison to the Lakers' operations.

Almost the entire league knows that after the Lakers failed to return from the playoffs last season, they will definitely start a bloody storm when the free market opens.

The OK combination is strong enough to attract many veterans to join them with basic salaries.

But even if they were mentally prepared, when the day came, the entire league was still stunned by the Lakers' generosity.

Because the names of the players who chose to join the Lakers are so loud!

The soul of the Utah Jazz, the superstar who has played for the team for 18 seasons, "The Postman" Karl Malone officially announced that he will join the Los Angeles Lakers with a basic salary of US$1 million for one year, and finally launch an attack on the championship.

Malone is an absolute historical superstar with countless honors, including two MVPs. At his peak, his strength was no less than O'Neal.

Even in the season that just ended, the 40-year-old Malone still averaged 20.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.7 assists for the team per game. Although his strength is no longer what it used to be, he is definitely an All-Star.

Such a star would actually choose to join the Lakers with a minimum salary, which shows how much Malone's desire for a championship has reached.

But it's not over yet.

Following Malone's official announcement, another well-known star, point guard Gary Payton, also announced that he would join the Lakers and signed a one-year contract worth $1 million.

Payton's contract is slightly larger than Malone's, which is reasonable. After all, Malone is 40 years old. Even if his data is good, he will still be 41 years old next season.

But Gary Payton is different. Payton, who was born in 1968, is now only 35 years old. Although he has passed the peak age of professional players, he has not reached the point of dying. You must know that Jordan can still continue when he is 36 years old. won the championship and averaged 32.4 points per game in the playoffs.

Although Payton certainly can't compare with Jordan, he is still a defender after all, and his career is slightly longer than that of an interior player.

In the 02-03 season, Payton played for the SuperSonics and Bucks, playing in a total of 80 games, averaging 20.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game. They were also All-Star-level data. Stars of this level only received The annual salary of less than 500 million can simply be described as shady.

The Lakers spent a total of less than 700 million to acquire two 20+8 players. This crazy move shocked the entire league.