The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 583 - 236 The Biggest Loser of the Finals_4

Chapter 583: Chapter 236 The Biggest Loser of the Finals_4

And those without a temper, most of them haven’t become superstars yet. While they can ensure stability in the locker room, LeBron can’t take them to the playoffs and achieve a greater Breakthrough!

This... damn...

Caught between two stools!

Which general manager could find the perfect solution?

Yet, the annoying things for LeBron kept happening, Pippen rebutted some journalists in front of the media, "LeBron is a great kid, he has his own path to follow. We are different players. Honestly, I don’t want to see the media calling him the next Pippen!"

It looked like he was praising LeBron.

In reality, it was a "polite refusal" to LeBron!

This directly infuriated "King."

Not to mention...

He’s even more aloof!

Who do you think wants to become the next "Pippen" huh?

goddamn Pippen!

Meanwhile, Su Wan received a call from Larry Bird, "I’m sorry, Su, we might not be able to keep Anthony Parker!" frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

Last season, Anthony Parker was averaging 11.3 points for the Pacers and had a three-point percentage over 45%, reaching a new career high.

Add to that his fairly decent defensive ability.

It was destined that his expired contract could fetch about 8 million dollars.

The Pacers could afford such a contract last season.

But this season, the contracts of Su Wan and young O’Neal alone would reach 43 million, plus Zach Randolph’s 15 million, it directly blew up the whole salary space.

How could the Pacers afford Anthony Parker’s contract?

Besides...

million is the normal price to renew Anthony Parker’s contract, but if other teams start bidding for him, around 9 million would probably be the ideal price to land Parker...

That’s money the Pacers really couldn’t pay.

In fact, Larry Bird had already prepared for this, which is why he acquired Afflalo in last year’s trade.

This player, whose position on the court is similar to Anthony Parker’s, after a season of development, could completely replace Afflalo the following season. And he only needed about 2 million.

With the freed-up money, Larry Bird could do some other things, such as using an average middle-class contract to renew Shaquille O’Neal...

Su Wan wasn’t surprised by Larry Bird’s meticulous planning.

At times like this, the players and the management aren’t really on the same side.

And if you come across some stingy owners, they would be on the opposite side.

The Simon family’s penny-pinching might not be intentional, but the fact remained that they were now facing financial difficulties and couldn’t fully support the team’s strengthening. Herbert had no choice but to look for opportunities outside the court to cooperate with Su Wan and compensate him financially.

However...

A lot of times, it’s useless if only Su Wan is satisfied.

When he showed enough potential, and the Simon family couldn’t provide Su Wan with the best arrangements in every aspect, the ulteriorly motivated people would start to move.

The news that Larry Bird didn’t plan to renew Anthony Parker’s contract spread quickly.

It wasn’t that there were internal leaks from the Pacers, nor was it Su Wan spreading rumors.

Su Wan was a professional, he wouldn’t exert pressure on the team in such a way.

The news was released by Anthony Parker’s agent.

After the negotiations with Larry Bird fell through, he actively started helping Parker look for a new team on the free market.

One thing led to another, and naturally, the media all got wind of this.

The rhythm naturally started to build...

"How much longer will Su Wan stay with such an unstable team? He needs to know, he can’t have the power to keep the team stable forever, there will always be some uncontrollable variables that affect the entire season!"

"Honestly, Su Wan should leave the Pacers. He should know he can’t become the ’God of Basketball’ in Indiana. He will leave there sooner or later, and now he has already brought 4 Championship Trophies to the Pacers, yet they can’t even maintain a ’championship roster’ for him!"

"The management of the Pacers really shows no sincerity. If they can’t even handle something as simple as renewing contract with Anthony Parker, it’s hard to imagine how they could face the next summer season!"

Next summer, with the option to opt out of his contract, Zach Randolph’s contract will reach its highest year of 17 million, and young O’Neal’s contract will expire. If they don’t pay the luxury tax, then keeping all three of them would be a "fool’s dream."

Many media had realized this and began to set the agenda frantically.

Quite a few believed that next year the Pacers would definitely forego renewing with young O’Neal in order to keep Su Wan and reserve salary for Zach Randolph. They might even look for an opportunity to trade young O’Neal this coming season.

This scared Larry Bird into immediately making a phone call to Su Wan.

He didn’t want Su Wan to think that the Pacers were a heartless and disloyal team.

But young O’Neal’s mood obviously became agitated because of this.

However, after so many events, he was no longer so brainless. At the same time, persuaded by his agent, he took a step back to advance, saying, "Indiana is my second home, here I’ve become an All-Star, here I’ve won four Championship Trophies, I believe everything will naturally fall into place, I’m not worried about my new contract at all!"

No sooner had these words come out than the Pacers management was put on the spot.

Now everyone on the outside was waiting to see what the Pacers management would do.