The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 334 - 186 The Turbulent Free Market_5

Chapter 334: Chapter 186 The Turbulent Free Market_5

He hated handouts the most.

When he decided to leave, his mind wouldn’t waver anymore.

However, WOJ’s scoop this time wasn’t entirely accurate. Yao Ming had only just mentioned his desire to leave to Dawson, and the contact with the Lakers had simply been hinted at.

While Dawson tried to retain him and showed willingness to offer a max contract for renewal, Yao still wanted to leave, and on the other hand, Dawson prepared a backup plan—listening to other teams’ offers.

The Lakers were the first ones to make an offer, willing to give up "Little Shark" Andrew Bynum, the last high school rookie clearly defined in the NBA.

He represented the future.

But apart from the Lakers, other teams’ general managers had contacted Dawson, including Pat Riley, who suggested trading Shaquille O’Neal straight for Yao Ming.

However, Dawson flatly rejected this offer:

What the hell are you thinking!

Shaquille O’Neal’s market value wasn’t that bad; he just couldn’t beat the Pacers.

But how many Pacers are there in this league?

He still counted as a first-rate center against the other teams.

But he was worth 20 million!

Alexander wasn’t even willing to renew Yao Ming with a max contract, so how could he possibly accept this 20 million a year behemoth of a contract?

Let alone Shaquille O’Neal, even when Hakeem Olajuwon, who led the Rockets to two championships, wanted about 12 million for a retirement contract, Alexander had refused.

If he wasn’t willing to provide for Olajuwon, how could he possibly sustain the Lakers and Heat’s "Fat Head Shark"?

Actually, this was the awkward situation for Shaq at the moment.

A 20 million contract didn’t allow him to be traded for genuinely high-quality chips.

Pat Riley wanted to instantly recover team strength through a trade, but that was impossible. He could only settle for some quality chips and wait for the next opportunity to go all in.

Su Wan looked at the free-agent market being thrown into chaos by the two centers and had a strong premonition that the Pacers would face significant challenges in the new season.

Soon, his premonition was confirmed.

On July 5th, before Shaquille O’Neal and Yao Ming’s next destination was confirmed, he saw the Spurs trading Rudy Gay to the Grizzlies in exchange for Shane Battier.

This trade was originally between the Rockets and the Grizzlies.

Unexpectedly, this time Gay was chosen by the Spurs and still couldn’t escape this fate.

However, this trade was very much in line with Popovich’s style of operation.

With Bruce Bowen’s increased cost for his rough play and for various reasons, including age, the Spurs did need a new defensive stalwart in the small-forward position and Shane Battier should count as one of the middle generation with outstanding defensive abilities.

He, along with Tim Duncan, composed the Spurs’ defense core...

Hiss!

Just thinking about it made it seem impregnable.

Without mentioning the rest, just this trade alone made the Spurs stronger than they were originally.

Then, on July 7th, Chicago announced that they had signed Ben Wallace to a contract worth 60 million over 4 years for the new season.

This signing actually took place.

The original Pistons team, having fallen in the Eastern Conference Finals and with a contract expiring, desired a ten-million-a-year salary for Big Ben, which Joe Dumars refused.

At that time, even Ben Wallace didn’t receive a ten-million-a-year salary.

Now, being stopped for two years in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, it was natural that Ben Wallace couldn’t get the contract he desired, and leaving was inevitable.

Two days after this trade-signing, the Bulls traded Tyson Chandler to the Hornets for P.J. Brown and J.R. Smith. The Bulls’ target was the veteran Brown, and J.R. Smith was quickly sent to the Nuggets.

However, from Su Wan’s later perspective, Tyson Chandler was the ultimate beneficiary of this trade.

Meeting Chris Paul, he officially began his ascent.

On July 10th, the free-agent market was shaken by "Where Will Yao Go" with new developments—news stated that Mark Cuban was actively working on bringing in Yao Ming.

The moment this news came out, there was an uproar of ridicule from the media, all thinking that Mark Cuban had reached new heights of shamelessness.

Although the video footage he sent to the league last season on Yao Ming’s mobile screen didn’t make a difference, the incident had been reported, and everybody knew what dirty trick he had pulled.

And just a month ago, he was pressuring the league to make Su Wan take a urine test.

Is this really the "memory of a fish"?

On one hand, he shamed Huaxia players; on the other, he eagerly sought them out...

Mark Cuban’s clownish behavior was despicable.

It was also at this time that Yao Ming officially decided on his new team.

The Lakers gave up Chris Mimm, Andrew Bynum, Devin George, and their first-round picks for 2007 and 2009 to get Yao Ming from the Rockets.

The media in Los Angeles was overjoyed, and Kobe immediately updated his status on Facebook:

Welcome to the "City of Angels," Yao!

Then he posted another update:

You can imagine all the new Lakers team for this season!

And then another:

Everyone knows what this truly means! freēNovelFire.com

With this series of moves, it was enough to show how thrilled he was.

Los Angeles was buzzing, and Houston’s media couldn’t stay put, each and every one of them hounding General Manager Dawson for an explanation.

Dawson really wanted to tell everyone that he had tried to retain Yao Ming.

But Yao had laid down a tough ultimatum:

If you don’t trade me, I’ll go play in the CBA next season!

Whether he would have done that was no longer important, for Dawson knew very well that when Yao Ming first came to the NBA and faced opposition, it was with these kinds of tough words that he had made his "final stand."

That Yao Ming was determined to leave, just that was enough to let him go.

If he didn’t let go, and things escalated, he would soon be receiving a call from David Stern:

I put this "money tree" in your care, and this is how you’ve raised it?

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