With three points at the start, Nash begged for a maximum salary to renew his contract

Chapter 389: Can Westbrook, who can guard Durant, guard Wang Chao?
Of course, Gordon alone is far from reaching Wang Chao's goal of leading the Jazz to win the championship. It still needs to continue to operate. The free market will open on November 11, which is two days after the draft.

Although the time of the shortened season is not the same as before due to masks, as usual, the league immediately became lively on the day the free market opened.

But looking at the Jazz's poor lineup structure, Wang Chao only felt a headache.

If possible, what he wants most is to trade Mike Conley.

This guy occupies nearly 3500 million in salary space and does the job of an ordinary starting point guard. It is really a garbage contract.

The Jazz have such a big contract, and they will also prepare a maximum salary contract for Wang Chao, which naturally starts at 3500 million, plus Gordon's 2000 million and Jordan Clarkson and Ingles' 1000 million. The salary space goes directly to the top, which is not enough to gain anything in the free market.

There are still good players in the 2020 free market.

Wang Chao's favorite is Pacers center Sabonis.

Sabonis is also a space-based center that is very rare in the league today. He has the ability to shoot mid-to-long-range and three-pointers and can open up space.

More importantly, the contract he renewed with the Pacers in 2020 is not big, at 4 million over four years, which is far from the maximum salary level.

What Wang Chao is thinking about is whether it is possible to use the high salary to lure Sabonis from the Pacers. This way, at least the Jazz will have a good offensive scoring point inside and have certain long-range shooting ability, which will also be convenient for Wang Chao, the core of ball-handling offense. Create space.

But if Conley cannot be sent away, this plan is destined to fail, unless the Jazz give up providing Wang Chao with a maximum salary, which Wang Chao will not accept anyway.

The money earned by Rice is as much as it should be. Wang Chao will not give in a penny, even if it will affect his plan to win the championship. If it doesn't work, he can also find a way from other aspects, but money is absolutely You can't make less, even if the money is not as much as a fraction of his donation.

Since there is no possibility of interception and Sabonis, Wang Chao found another way.

It’s already 3500 million anyway, why not add more and replace it with a player who can play better than Conley?
The Jazz are not the only team looking for a successor.
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One day after the free market opened, a deal involving nearly [-] million yuan was announced.

The Utah Jazz sent Mike Conley, Joe Ingles and first-round picks in 21 and 23 years to acquire star Russell Westbrook from the Thunder.

Once the deal was announced, it immediately aroused reactions from many parties.

The Thunder have begun reconstruction work since the disintegration of the Big Three. However, because the Rockets player is not Harden, the plot of Paul and Westbrook exchanging clubs did not occur last season.

The Thunder have been selling Westbrook to the outside world, but both the players and the team management have some affection for each other. Westbrook wants to leave some assets for the team, and the team is also willing to send Westbrook to a team A team capable of winning the championship.

But Westbrook's five-year, $17 million contract extension with the Thunder in 5 became the biggest obstacle.

In the 19-20 season, Westbrook's salary is US$3818 million. Teams with the ability to compete for the championship simply cannot find players who can match Westbrook's contract unless they trade their main stars as bargaining chips.

Therefore, Westbrook played another season with the Thunder, but without Paul George and only Adams beside him, Westbrook was unable to continue to make the Thunder enter the playoffs, although he averaged 27 points, 10.1 rebounds and 10.5 assists per game. Once again, he followed the pace of Wang Chao and achieved a triple-double of the season.

What makes the Thunder management even more troublesome is that Westbrook's annual salary will increase to US$20 million in the 21-4101 season, making it more difficult to trade.

At this time, the Jazz took the initiative to come to the door.

When they heard that the Jazz were willing to trade Conley and Ingles for Westbrook, the Thunder was a little excited.

They originally planned to waste the past two seasons and fight for some high-draft draft picks to rebuild. Conley's big contract only lasts for next year, and Ingles' multi-million contract only lasts until 2022. Unlike Westbrook, A super-large contract that is only due to expire in 2023 is much more cost-effective. In addition, this deal also comes with two first-round picks, which is not too profitable.

But the Thunder management is still hesitant about this deal, because the Jazz obviously do not meet Westbrook's desire to join a championship team.

The Thunder management is very grateful to Westbrook for sticking with the team during the most difficult times and accompanying the team through difficulties, so it is quite tangled.

Then the Jazz revealed a little secret that cannot be easily revealed.

After learning the off-court information, the Thunder finally nodded and agreed to the deal without any hesitation.

Westbrook and Conley swap clubs and will wear Jazz uniforms next season.

For the league, although the amount involved in this transaction is earth-shattering, its impact on the league is minimal.

Needless to say, Mike Conley went to the Thunder. He just highlighted a bad guy and competed for the No. [-] pick.

Westbrook wouldn't be much better if he went to the Jazz.

The famous triple-double man, as the number of consecutive triple-double seasons increases, his reputation continues to decline steadily.

When Westbrook averaged a triple-double in the first year, the league was shocked. As the third player in NBA history after Big O and Wang Chao to achieve this feat, Westbrook was simply praised to the sky.

But as he averaged a triple-double in his second and third seasons, fans gradually began to realize something was wrong.

Wang Chao's triple-double per game is what the team needs to win.

But Westbrook's average triple-double per game seems to be playing to get a triple-double, and sometimes he even sacrifices victory in the game to pursue triple-double data.

When the Thunder formed the Big Three of Westbrook, George, and Anthony, the team's poor record and Westbrook's poor performance in the playoffs with a shooting percentage of less than 40% for several consecutive years gradually caused his image to collapse.

Various evaluations such as data brush, fake triple-double macho, ridiculous imitator of Wang Chao, etc. are all placed on Westbrook.

Although Westbrook can still average a triple-double of 27+10+10 per game, he can't even make the best third team. This is the best proof.

The Jazz, who are already the worst team in the league, can make a big splash if they get Westbrook?There is a high probability that they will just compete with the Thunder for the No. [-] pick.

This is how the outside world sees Westbrook now.

But Wang Chao doesn't see it that way.

How should I put it? Since the days of the Thunder's Big Three, Westbrook's strength has indeed been worse than that of Wang Xiaoer during the New Year.

But even so, Westbrook is still much stronger than Conley.

Including the original time and space, in the 20-21 season, Westbrook, who came from the Rockets to the Wizards, still averaged a triple-double of 22.2 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 11.7 assists per game, and his 43.9% field goal percentage was considered acceptable. Remarkable.You must know that no one in the Wizards coddles Westbrook like the Thunder, and there is no nanny-like escort from Adams. The gold content of averaging a triple-double per game is still there.

Westbrook definitely has strength, there is no doubt about it. His problem is that his technical characteristics are too single and he is too easy to target because he does not have three-pointers. Especially in the playoffs, his shooting percentage will always decrease because the opponent shrinks the defense and strengthens the inside. Defensively fell sharply.

Wang Chao is not worried at all about this.

Will Westbrook's offensive end be targeted?It doesn't matter, can't he just attack when the time comes?
Westbrook can only attack with the ball?That doesn't matter, Wang Chao knows how to play without the ball!
See, the problem is solved immediately?
Of course, if possible, Wang Chao very much hopes to replace Westbrook with Curry, which will definitely make the fight easier.

But the problem is that if you submit this trade request to the Warriors, they won't take it into consideration, and they might even point your nose at it and scold the Jazz management.

Not to mention Curry, even if the Jazz wanted to trade Conley for the Rockets' Chris Paul, they couldn't do it.

Although Paul and Leonard still failed to achieve further breakthroughs in the playoffs after teaming up, they still retained some hope after all. How about using Paul in exchange for Conley?Are the Rockets ready to compete for the No. [-] pick?
With Conley as a bargaining chip, the only player that can be exchanged is Westbrook, so don't be picky, Westbrook is pretty good.

And to say the least, the partnership between Wang Chao and Westbrook is actually quite dramatic.

Because there has been a rumor in the league in the past few years that the only one who can let Durant go is Westbrook.

What this sentence means is that Westbrook acted recklessly and did not pass the ball to Durant. As a result, throughout the game, Durant, who was capable of attacking, could not catch the ball. Instead, Westbrook took a lot of shots and struck the ball frequently.

There are also rumors that Durant left the Thunder because he could no longer stand Westbrook.

Wang Chao and Durant have had a long-standing grudge. In this case, why not continue to rub salt into each other's wounds?
Can't Westbrook guard Durant?Then let's try to see if we can guard Wang Chao. If Wang Chao really leads Westbrook to win the championship next season, a new formula may be born.

When Wang Chao was in the Nets, he was dubbed the Wang Chao formula because of his legendary saying "I was the championship before you came here."

This formula successfully completed a closed loop after Wang Chao won the championship with the Nuggets a few years ago.

"I will still be the champion after I leave."

Now, there may be a new twist on this formula.

"Not only can I win the championship, but I can also win the championship with the partner you once couldn't win with."

Shrimp and pork heart!It’s really shrimp and pig heart!
Just thinking about it, Wang Chao felt that it was a bit too bad for him to do this?

However, Wang Chao didn't mean to target Durant, it can only be said that it was fate.
-
The news of Westbrook joining the Jazz fell silent in the league in just a few days. Not many people really cared about the outdated combination of Westbrook and the Jazz.

Because of this year's free market, there are many teams making big moves.

Of course, the first to bear the brunt is the traditional giant Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers experienced a bad season last season. Although the team successfully reached the Western Conference Finals, they lost one of their generals.

Cousins, who suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon ligament, not only missed the Western Conference Finals, but the injury also made him likely to miss next season, and even if he returns from injury, his condition will be greatly reduced.

With such a result, the Lakers are naturally unwilling to keep Cousins ​​​​and drag down the team's championship prospects. After all, James is not too young. There are only a few years left in his peak period and cannot be delayed any longer.

Therefore, the Lakers made a relatively cold-blooded decision to trade away Cousins ​​and use him as a bargaining chip to acquire All-Star center Andre Drummond from the Cavaliers.

This brutal center moved between the Pistons and Cavaliers last season, averaging 17.7 points and 15.2 rebounds per game. He was the rebounding leader last season and has good inside abilities.

Towns' performance inside in the playoffs made the Lakers realize that they need a player with a tough style in the paint, so exchanging the defunct Cousins ​​for Drummond is a very good deal in their opinion. transaction.

It's a pity that the Lakers don't know that if they don't make this deal, the Cavaliers will also waive Drummond in the middle of next season, and then the Lakers can use a veteran's minimum salary to get the All-Star center for nothing.

It's just that James' playing style destined that a center without shooting ability can only be reduced to a blue-collar center.

Drummond, who averaged 17.5 points and 13.5 rebounds per game in the Cavaliers in the first half of the season, dropped sharply after joining the Lakers in the second half of the season. In 21 games for the Lakers, he averaged only 11.9 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.

Wang Chao does not think that the James + Towns version of the Lakers will be fundamentally different from the James + Davis version. Therefore, there is a high probability that Huaishen will be defeated if he joins the Lakers.

It's just that others don't have Wang Chao's foresight and foresight. The media is still praising the Lakers for their exquisite transaction. They didn't even pay a draft pick, but used the useless Cousins ​​​​from the Cavaliers to get a player with good fighting ability. All-star center.

In this way, the Lakers will continue to remain competitive, and their dominance inside will be even higher. Coupled with the growth of Tatum on the outside, the prospects for winning the championship are bright.

The only unstable factor in winning the championship is Wang Chao.

Now the entire league is paying attention to whether Wang Chao will stay with the Clippers.

This will directly determine the trend of the league next season.

According to the Clippers' current lineup, as long as they can keep Wang Chao, they will still be the favorite to win the championship and the fierce rival of all teams in the league.

The Clippers also want to keep Wang Chao, but unfortunately, they do not have the initiative in this matter.

At the end of November, the Clippers officially confirmed that Wang Chao would not renew his contract with the team. They expressed their gratitude for Wang Chao's contribution to the Clippers in the past two years and wished Wang Chao smooth sailing in the coming season.

Clippers team owner Ballmer personally promised that the Clippers will retire Wang Chao's jersey and cast a statue for him after Wang Chao retires.

Retired jerseys and cast statues are the highest level of respect a team can pay to a player. Those who receive this treatment are all the souls and meritorious figures of each team in the league.

Wang Chao, who won the first and second championships in team history for the Clippers, definitely deserves this honor.

Almost at the same time, the Jazz officially announced that they had signed Wang Chao with a two-year salary of 2 million. Wang Chao will wear a Jazz uniform and compete in the league next season.

The alliance is shocked!

(End of this chapter)