Legendary star

Chapter 700
"Anferney, are you sure you want to retire? I think you can still play for a few more seasons."

On June 2006, 6, just a week after the finals of the 25-05 season, Anfernee Hardaway, who played for the Pacers for two seasons and helped the Pacers win the championship trophy this season, presented The Pacers management notified their decision to retire.

The two-year contract signed by Anfernee Hardaway and the Pacers in 04 will expire with the end of this season's finals. A 2+1 contract, although he has been plagued by injuries, Anfernee Hardaway's current physical condition has not yet reached the state where he cannot play. In the regular season last season, he averaged more than ten minutes per game. During the playing time, Anfernee Hardaway averaged 1 points, 7 rebound and 1 assist per game. In the highly competitive playoffs, Anfernee Hardaway's data did not decline, and he was even in the finals. Scored 1 points, 3 rebounds and 21 assists in the final G4.

Therefore, the management of the Pacers, including Larry Bird, who has now returned to serve as the vice chairman of the Pacers club and president of basketball affairs, is now repeatedly persuading Anfernee Hardaway to play for two years. If Anferney Hardaway retires, the Pacers will have to sign a guard to make up for the gap after Anferney Hardaway leaves.

After the finals of this season, the contracts of Dibaken Mutombo, NN Hilario, Tyshawn Prince, and Chris Duhon all expired. Negotiations on contract extension and reinforcements during the offseason have left the Pacers with a lot of work to do this offseason. If Anfernee Hardaway chooses to retire, the workload on the Pacers management will undoubtedly be even greater. It's heavy.

"Rick, thank you for bringing me to Indiana. Without you and this team, I would never have worn this championship ring. Although I only played here for two seasons, these two seasons have It was the easiest and happiest two seasons of my career. I will never forget every moment of playing here. But everyone has to leave one day, and now it is time for me to leave. I hope that after I leave, I will have the opportunity to contribute to the Pacers to the best of my ability."

"And Meng, thank you, really lucky to play with you."

Hardaway finally left. Anfernee Hardaway, who got the championship ring as he wished, left the NBA without any regrets and left this league that has played for 13 seasons.

After Anfernee Hardaway chose to retire, the Pacers' summer reinforcement work officially began. Under the leadership of Larry Bird, the Pacers first reached contract renewal negotiations with veteran Mutombo, probably Mtumto, who may be 40 years old, has a one-year extension with the Pacers, with an annual salary of $150 million.

If there are those who stay, there will naturally be those who leave. The first to leave is the backup guard Sarunas Jascovicius. Due to the rise of Tony Allen, Sarunas Jascovicius Tony Allen was squeezed to the bench this season, but on the Pacers' bench, there are still fierce men like James Posey, so Sarunas Jascovicius, regardless of playing time, Still, the scoring average has declined to varying degrees this season, and after the finals, Sarunas Jaskovicius had a showdown with the Pacers' management. Coveticius also has a good reason. As a 30-year-old player, Sarunas-Jaskovicius does not want to continue wasting his time on the bench, and he has already followed the Pacers. Championship, so Sarunas Jascovicius hopes to pursue the basketball he wants.

Since Sarunas-Jaskovicius has one year left on his contract with the Pacers, after consulting Sarunas-Jaskovicius, the Pacers sent Sarunas-Jaskovicius Jascovicius sent the Sacramento Kings who were very interested in him. The traditional offensive kings valued the organizational talent of Sarunas-Jaskovicius, and the Kings were also willing to send the Pacers Head coach Rick Carlisle dreamed of Darko Milicic, so the Pacers and Kings almost hit it off, and the deal was reached in a very short period of time, but because the salaries of the two parties were not equal, The Pacers also got an additional second-round pick from the Kings.

The king's choice to trade Darko Milicic is actually a helpless move. As an addition to the trade of Ron Ortest and Peja Stojakovic last season, the king is actually the second pick of the 03 golden generation. It is still very important, and also chose to implement Darko Milicic's contract of 500 million US dollars in the last year, but Darko Milicic does not want to stay in Sacramento, and will become an unrestricted free agent next season. Ko Milicic made it clear that he would not renew his contract with the Kings after the end of the season, so in order to avoid empty baskets, the Kings decided to send him away in advance.

After Sarunas-Jaskovicius left, the Pacers' crowded No. 1 position immediately loosened up a lot, so the Pacers also responded immediately that the contract had expired, but it was restricted. Chris Duhon, a free agent, sent an offer. If there is no other team to drive up the price, then Chris Duhon will continue to stay in the Pacers for the next few seasons.

After getting Mutombo and Chris Duhon, the negotiations between the Pacers and Tayshaun Prince are coming to an end. The Pacers sent Tayshaun Prince a contract and a contract extension It’s the same as James Posey’s, which is 6 million US dollars in 4800 years. Although other teams have contacted Tayshaun Prince’s agent, they are willing to send him an average annual salary of 900 million or even 1000 million. USD contract, but was directly rejected by Tayshaun Prince.

Tyshawn Prince chose to cut his salary to stay in Indiana, but Larry Bird encountered difficulties in negotiating with NN Hilario, as Mutombo selected by Larry Bird Successor, although NN-Hilary has not yet reached the level of Mutombo, but NN-Hilary has made significant progress in recent seasons. Last season, he scored a total of 24 double-doubles. Second only to Jermaine O'Neal and Meng Xu, the Pacers also prepared a 6-year contract extension of about $5000 million for NN-Hilary, but at the critical moment of contract renewal negotiations, NN-Hilary O's agent came up with an offer from the Nuggets. The Nuggets offered NN-Hilario a contract of 5 million for 6000 years, which made Larry Bird very uncomfortable.

The salary cap of the NBA next season is 5800 million US dollars, while the Pacers, Meng Xu 1500 million, Jermaine O'Neal 1600 million, James Posey 800 million, Jeff Foster 500 million, after the contract extension Tyshawn Prince will also get about 700 million, the newcomer Darko Milicic will get 500 million next season, plus Chris Duhon, Mutombo and others, the total salary of the Pacers is early It has already taken a risk. If NN-Hilario is given another 5 years and 6000 million, the way for the Pacers to strengthen will be completely blocked.

(End of this chapter)