NBA Old Age Star System

Chapter 301 The Lively Free Market

Just before Leonard's big drama came to an end, the Warriors also broke a big news.

On July 7, Pelicans All-Star center Cousins ​​joined the Warriors for 3 million a year!

As soon as the news of Cousins ​​came out, George's matter was no longer discussed, and everyone accused Cousins ​​of retaliating against society.

Although suffered a serious Achilles tendon rupture last season, Cousins ​​was a super insider who averaged 25.2 points, 12.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game before the injury!

No matter how serious the injury is, many people think that a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Cousins ​​is worth an annual salary of 2000 million. Even if it is only a short contract of one or two years, it is necessary to check his recovery status.

In fact, the offer contract provided by the Pelicans to Cousins ​​is exactly a two-year 2 million contract extension.

With Cousins ​​joining the Warriors, the Warriors have truly formed a lineup of five All-Star players and partners, and the veritable five-star Warriors have been officially formed.

The whole network is filled with the pessimistic attitude of the NBA finale.

The Warriors are already strong enough. They have just won two consecutive championships, led by two regular season MVPs in their prime, and now they have added an All-Star center who was 25+12+5 last season. How is the team playing?
Even Johnson was furious when he heard the news. This is an All-Star center. If he could come to the Lakers, how luxurious the Lakers lineup would be!

On the other hand, Su Tian seemed extremely calm after hearing the news.

"Cousins ​​going to the Warriors is not necessarily a good thing for the Warriors."

The Warriors fell short in the playoffs in the 18-19 season, not only because of the frequent injuries of their teammates. Although injuries are a very important reason, the incentive is huge psychological pressure.

With such a luxurious lineup, the Warriors cannot be defeated in the playoffs anyway, otherwise they will be nailed to the pillar of shame.

With such a psychological burden, the Warriors players are extraordinarily desperate on the court, especially in the playoffs, because they are afraid of failure.

Because of this, Durant and Thompson suffered consecutive injuries in the playoffs, and Durant, who was unwilling to fail, forced his comeback in the finals, and then was completely reimbursed for the season due to serious injuries!

Sometimes, it is the last straw that breaks the camel's back.

Just when everyone was chasing the Warriors one after another, the Cavaliers were silently poaching the corners of the Lakers.

Last season, a stable three-point point for the Lakers outside, Pope, was signed by the Cavaliers with a one-year 1200 million, and then the young Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson was won by the Cavaliers with a 4-year 5000 million contract.

The departure of the two was within the expectations of Su Tian and Johnson, after all, the Lakers really couldn't stay.

However, the Cavaliers' continuous shots made Su Tian more vigilant, because James still has not announced his withdrawal from the contract at this time, which means that James may still stay in Cleveland next season.

Then these two people are likely to become James' help to reach the finals.

The departure of the Lakers was not over yet, and the Clippers made Zubac an irresistible offer, so Zubac went to the Clippers.

There are not many Lakers left in the lineup, and the Lakers fans can't do it anymore.

"What are the Lakers doing? It's not that there is no room for contract renewal, why don't they stay?"

"That's right, it's okay to keep one or two. These are all good young players."

"However, keeping Randall can be regarded as making a difference. After all, it is very good to win George, but there is the Golden State Warriors in the West. The Lakers did not make it to the Finals last season. Can this season do it? "

"It is estimated that although George is good, there is still a gap between Durant and Durant."

"Kevin Durant was able to win the championship by holding a group. If he is really alone, he can't get anything."

Although the management of the Lakers was angered by netizens on the Internet, the work of the Lakers did not stop in reality. The players on Su Tian's list were all found by Johnson to try out with the Lakers.

Su Tian was very satisfied watching the team slowly getting on the right track, so he stopped caring about the team's affairs and followed Bill Duffy to start his own trip to China.

Just when Su Tian boarded the plane back to China, the dust about Leonard's whereabouts also fell to the ground.

With Leonard's consent, the Spurs traded him and Danny Green to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for All-Star shooting guard Jamal DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and A protected first-round pick.

As for the Lonzo Ball + Kuzma proposed by the Lakers and a bargaining chip for a first-round pick, they wanted to get Leonard, but they were naturally rejected by the Spurs, and instead asked for Ball + Ingram + Kuzma conditions of.

The excited Lakers couldn't help but hesitate to trade the three youngest and most potential players in the team in exchange for Leonard.

If Leonard makes it clear that he is willing to play for the Lakers and renews his long-term contract in advance, the Lakers will definitely not hesitate.

There has never been a shortage of talented players in the NBA, but it is not that simple to fully convert talent into strength. It will definitely not be a loss to exchange three potential rookies for a top star in the league with a mature style.

But the problem is that Leonard’s attitude is ambiguous now, and his contract is only for one year. If Leonard doesn’t plan to stay with the Lakers next year and just slaps his ass and leaves at the end of the season, wouldn’t the Lakers lose everything?
In fact, the same risk applies to the Raptors.

Leonard did not promise anything to the Raptors, but the Raptors management, which has been suppressed by James for many years in the East, has completely lost patience with DeRozan and they want to fight.

In another time and space, they bet right.

Leonard really helped the Raptors go all the way through the East to the finals, and killed the remnants of the Warriors, winning the 18-19 season championship.

After that, Leonard did not hesitate to switch to the Los Angeles Clippers in the face of the Raptors' kindness to retain him, but using DeRozan to exchange for the first championship trophy in team history, even for a bystander like Su Tian Come and earn.

Just assume that if the Raptors fail to win this championship, then after the end of the season, they lose Leonard, DeRozan, and even a first-round pick. Miserable.

This is what the Lakers are afraid of, so they dare not really stud out all three potential rookie players, which will cause Leonard to travel east to the Raptors.

However, fortunately, the Lakers just tried it out. Seeing that the recruitment of Leonard was not enough, the Lakers returned to their original plan, continued to examine the list provided by Su Tian, ​​and contacted Jimmy Butler's team by the way.

Su Tian didn't know these things until after the plane landed.

"Leonard still went to the Raptors. The Raptors this season are not so simple."

Back on the land of Huaguo, Su Tian felt inexplicably at ease.

"Bill, our next schedule has been arranged. It will take a few days?"

Bill Duffy glanced at the schedule and said, "If all goes well, it will be over in two weeks, but just in case the plan is to plan for 20 days."

Su Tian nodded. If the trip ends in 20 days, then Su Tian can continue to stay in China for two weeks, which is enough for Su Tian to go home and relax.

After all, if you stay at home for a long time, you will definitely be disgusted by your parents again.

Home is a place where you can come back often, but you can't stay long.

"Su, our first stop is in the capital. You should take a good rest today and adjust the time difference. Our activities will start tomorrow."

"Okay Bill."

Su Tian has also participated in commercial events before, but this time is the grandest one. After all, Su Tian's identity is different now from before.

Now Su Tian is the MVP of the regular season, the star of the Lakers, and the face of the new generation of stars in the league.

The next day, Su Tian went to participate in the event on time. On the first day of Su Tian's arrival, Anta couldn't arrange too complicated things, so he arranged a fan meeting first, so that Su Tian could get in touch with the fans and promote the company's new product. some of the products.

In the afternoon, some lucky viewers will be selected to come up and interact with Su Tian one-on-one.

So throughout the morning, Su Tian cooperated with the organizers in the regular publicity, and then signed autographs for some fans.

In the afternoon, Anta cleared the venue and began to select some fans to interact with Su Tian.

In fact, it is said that they are selected on the spot, but they are all young players who have been arranged in advance. After all, you can't really find some special basketball skills, that would be too boring.

Of course, there are all kinds of young players, including street players, college students, and even some foreign friends.

The first small player who came up looked very gentle with glasses, and hugged and shook hands with Su Tian excitedly as soon as he came up.

"Hahaha, are you excited, young man? What's your name?" The host came up to maintain order, and at the same time handed over the microphone.

"Hello Su Tian, ​​I'm sorry I'm too excited, everyone, my name is Ma Chao, I'm a college student, and I'm also a fan of Su Tian."

Su Tian looked at the boy with glasses and felt very friendly, so he said, "Come on, Ma Chao, let me see if you are really as good as Ma Chao, with three goals."

The host quickly exited the field, and the duo started a one-on-one match. The first offensive ball must be given to the fans.

After Ma Chao got the ball, he first stretched out his feet to test it out, and then broke through directly. Naturally, Su Tian didn't really defend seriously, but followed Ma Chao closely without confronting him.

The two came to the penalty area all the way, Ma Chao made an emergency stop, Su Tian thought he was about to shoot, so he stood still immediately, but then this humble fan came to forcefully interrupt the front and change the direction behind.

Su Tian was amazed by this move, and Ma Chao found a chance when he reacted a little slower, and directly made a layup.

1-0
Seeing that the first fan used such a wonderful move, Su Tian also became interested. Although this trick is not very practical, it is still very confusing in some cases.

The scene was also directly ignited by Ma Chao's move at this time, and the enthusiasm of the fans on the scene was high, shouting for another one.

But then Ma Chao hit the iron directly with a shot, the ball was switched, and it was Su Tian's turn to attack.

Su Tian's attack was definitely unstoppable to ordinary fans. Su Tian made three consecutive shots and directly took away the game.

After the interaction, Su Tian brought a pair of sneakers, signed them and gave them to Ma Chao.

This pair of sneakers is the main product of Su Tian's promotion this time, Su Tian's new generation of signature sneakers, the regular season MVP special edition.

This signature shoe uses gold as the main tone, with a ray of red. This ray of red seems to be born in a golden ocean and is rising.

This also happened to symbolize the status quo that Su Tian was rising in the alliance.

After the first fan interaction, the next few were nothing special, and the event ended perfectly.

Su Tian's business activities were carried out in an orderly manner, and the Lakers' side did not stop.

Magic Johnson sat at his desk with six scouting reports in his hand, frowning in thought.

These six people are the two rookies selected in the previous draft, and the four undrafted picks given to him by Su Tian.

At this time, Johnson was sitting opposite the team's general manager Pelinka.

"Ervin, I think these players are pretty good. Although some players are not comprehensive, they can help us in a certain way. Do you want to keep them all?"

Johnson nodded and said, "It's true that they're all pretty good. Let's keep them all. But we still need to investigate. We can't give all of them guarantee contracts. Choosing two to give incomplete guarantee contracts can be regarded as an explanation to Su."

Pelinka nodded in approval of Johnson's approach.

"Rob, what did the Timberwolves say, are they still not letting go?" Johnson asked suddenly.

Pelinka nodded and said: "They are still biting Ingram, I guess they also took a fancy to Ingram's rookie contract, but such a high-quality rookie contract is also what we need, so now the stalemate is here .”

"Brandon is the future second-in-command that we have prepared for Su. He will definitely not be traded out. There are not many high-quality strikers now. After finally catching one, we can't let go easily."

Then Johnson continued: "Have you tried to contact Jimmy Butler privately? I think if he cooperates, this matter will be easier to handle."

Pelinka shook his head when he heard the words and said: "We have tried to contact, but Butler did not give a definite answer. Now that George joins the Lakers, it is a foregone conclusion. Butler should know the strength of the Lakers. Why are we still not sure? do not know either."

"If it still doesn't work, let Su take the lead. He has experience." Johnson said quietly.

Pelinka also smiled when he heard this, and said: "Indeed, Su is quite experienced in this area. In this case, let's wait for Su to come back to talk about it. Anyway, there will be no second company to give such a generous amount except us now." quote."

"By the way, Rob, there are a lot of people leaving the team now, who else can stay?"

"Currently, Pope, Clarkson, and Zubac have already decided to leave. Kuzma is still on a rookie contract and can definitely stay. In addition, Hart and Caruso, who performed well last season, can stay. Now the only uncertainty Yes, Nance. He has the last year of his rookie contract, but wants to renew early."

Johnson nodded, "Okay, I will personally follow up on Nance."

(End of this chapter)