Legend of Tomorrow

The Nets sent point guard Patrick Beverley, center Brook Lopez, next season's first-round pick and role player DeAndre Liggins in exchange for Clippers point guard Chris Paul.

The Nets did their best to keep LeBron James. Once James leaves the Nets, the team will definitely be finished, and they will immediately have to enter a rebuilding period. And without young players around whom to rebuild, it will be harder to attract big-name stars to join.

Nets general manager Sean Marks comes from the Spurs. He understands the importance of lineup rationality and player relationships and is decisive in his actions. Compared with poaching ordinary stars at a premium in the free market, trading for Paul is much more cost-effective. The Clippers' biggest problem now is inside, and they are very interested in Lopez.

Paul and James are best friends. They knew each other as early as high school. In 2002, the two left each other's contact information after a game.

How good is their relationship? It is said that it reached the point of regular texting. Later, when Paul went to college and James went to NBA, they still kept in touch and often played together when there were no games.

Later, Paul entered the NBA and played on different teams, but he still thought of each other at critical moments. For example, when James' second son was born, James was unable to go to the hospital because he had to prepare for the Finals against the Suns. The person who accompanied James' son in the hospital when he was born was Paul, who is the godfather of James' son. Likewise, James is also the godfather of Paul's son.

James decided not to leave during the Finals and called Paul to invite him to join the Nets and play brother basketball.

The Nets are a New York team with a good location and the owner is willing to spend money. James would not have the confidence to beat the Lakers if he joined other teams. He decided to form a team first. It didn't matter if he couldn't win next season. Guo Xu would have a chance to win the championship as soon as he left.

Once the deal was completed, the Nets immediately became attractive. Two days later, centers Aron Baynes and Nerlens Noel were signed in the free market to make up for the vacancy left by Lopez.

Noel is only 23 years old this year and has some development value. His physical fitness is superb, but his disadvantage is that he is often injured. The Nets only paid 4.1 million for one year to dig him up. As long as he is healthy, it is a value-for-money contract.

Last summer, the Mavericks were willing to offer him a four-year, $70 million contract with an early extension, with an average annual salary of $17.5 million, but Noel was ruthlessly rejected.

Then Noel succeeded in committing suicide. After suffering an illness last season, his condition declined. The Mavericks manager did not provide him with a high-paying offer. If he wanted to stay, he could only sign a low-paying short-term contract.

At the same time, Clippers power forward Blake Griffin confirmed to stay with the team and signed a five-year maximum salary extension worth $173 million. The team needs a core, and the Clippers are preparing to play point forward tactics next season.

Coach Doc Rivers believes that Lopez and Griffin are a good match. Lopez can be pulled to the outside to catch and shoot, creating room for Griffin to break through. There will definitely be many problems on defense, but the Clippers' goal is no longer a championship.

As long as Mozgov and Luol Deng's junk contracts don't expire, it will be impossible for the Clippers to compete for the championship.

The league also has good news about Chinese players.

First of all, Yi Jianlian renewed his contract with the Celtics for 2 years with an annual salary of 8 million. Because of his poor defensive performance, he failed to get a big contract.

At least he stayed in the NBA.

Secondly, Zhou Qi's contract with the Xinjiang team has expired. He signed a four-year contract with the Rockets worth $5.57 million at the league's minimum salary, with the fourth year as a team option. Two Chinese players will play in the NBA next season.

The Rockets also re-signed perimeter star Kyle Lowry for $100 million over three years.

The person Morey wants to poach most is Carmelo Anthony, but Anthony doesn't like the Rockets. No big name is willing to join, so they can only choose to pay Lowry a high salary.

Many Chinese media immediately began to analyze how Zhou Qi's style of play matches Lowry's. His shooting ability is far better than that of blue-collar center Capela, and he will definitely get stable playing time in the new season.

Some people even think that Zhou Qi should replace Capela in the starting lineup and let blue-collar players be the starters with Zhou Qi as the substitute. This is simply an insult to the big devil with range. hehe……

Magic star swingman Gordon Hayward switched to the Celtics and signed a four-year, $128 million contract with a player option in the fourth year. The Magic management felt that Hayward was not worth the super high salary and chose to let him go directly.

Zach Randolph signed with the Kings for 24 million in two years. This is also a good signing and can provide a wealth of experience.

The Raptors reached an agreement with Ibaka, and the two parties signed a three-year contract worth a total of 65 million.

Paul Millsap signed a three-year, $90 million contract extension with the 76ers. The Sixers have a team option in the third year of the contract. The contract is a bit big, but Millsap cannot be let go. He can get out of the way on the offensive end and is also good at guarding pick-and-rolls.

The Hornets and the Hawks reached an agreement. The Hornets sent Miles Plumlee, Belinelli and this year's No. 41 pick Tyler Dorsey, and received Dwight Howard and the No. 31 pick Frank Jackson from the Hawks.

The Warriors did not dig new players. They renewed Curry's contract with a maximum salary of 201 million for five years and Iguodala's contract with a maximum salary of 48 million for three years.

The NBA's salary cap is still growing. Players' contract renewals this year are even larger. Curry has already received an annual salary of 40 million. Many fans lamented on the Internet that Guo Xu's annual salary is too low. People like him should not have a maximum salary. Even 60 million is a small amount.

Many Lakers players left the team, Raymond Felton joined the Thunder, and Mike Dunleavy and Jason Terry chose to retire.

Wade opted out of the second year of his contract and returned to the Heat. After winning the championship, he no longer cares about money and wants to play for the Heat until he retires. Although Pat Riley was unwilling to give Wade a high salary, Wade always felt that this was his team. In Miami, fans also love Wade.

The Lakers signed Spanish veteran point guard Jose Calderon with a minimum salary. He has accurate shooting and strong body. He can play a guest role at the 2 position, but he moves slowly and cannot defend speedy guards.

Then, the Lakers signed swingman Tyreke Evans for $3.29 million a year.

This is a player with serious injury risks and is often injured, but he is also a player who can combine breakthrough shooting and shooting, and has comprehensive skills. Signing Evans at this price is definitely a sure profit, and he can take over from Wade to take charge of the ball-handling offense in the second quarter.

The Lakers' third pick was a one-year base salary given to Gerald Henderson. He is 196cm tall and plays a shooting guard who can catch and shoot. He has rich experience in the game and came to him on his own initiative, hoping to win the championship before retiring.

Kupchak took a fancy to his shooting ability and fulfilled his wish. In the new season, he will definitely be a marginal player with poor defense.

The Lakers did not reserve a spot and selected 32-year-old Brazilian insider Thiago Splitter with the last pick. Female assistant coach Becky Hammon recommended him. The Lakers' defensive system is based on the Spurs. Split can teach young players experience after joining.

The Lakers don't need Split to play for a long time in the new season. He must be a marginal player and can only play for a while in garbage time.

In mid-July, the Lakers' lineup for the new season was determined.

Center: Ivica Zubac, Steven Adams, Split.

Power forwards: Davis Berstein, Al Horford, Montrezl Harrell.

Small Forwards: Vince Carter, PJ Tucker, Kevin Durant.

Shooting guards: Evans, Devin Booker, Henderson.

Point guard: Guo Xu, Calderon, Fred VanVleet.