After the draft, what awaits the Thunder is the free agent market.

This year's free agent market has not been quiet at all.

Howard, the "monster" of the Lakers, and Chris Paul of the Cavaliers, both of whom have expired under contract, are undoubtedly the two biggest stars in the free agent market.

In addition, Millsap of the Bucks, Al Jefferson of the Jazz, Iguodala of the Nuggets, Ginobili of the Spurs, David West of the Pacers, JR Smith of the Knicks, and Jack of the Warriors are all quite marketable players.

These Thunder teams are powerless to deal with, and they are targeting players who don't have much of a market, but still have some market competitiveness.

Tang and Jones laid out a list of possible signings before the free agency doors opened.

Last season, he played for Korver of the Hawks, Belinelli of the Bulls, OJ Mayo and Anthony Morrow of the Mavericks, Corey Brewer of the Nuggets, Nick Young of the 76ers, Randy Foye and Mo Williams of the Jazz.

After completing the draft, the Thunder are now short of swing men.

After Jones was gone, Tang Tian then picked up the team list and looked at it.

The team signed two big contracts in a row last summer, and the salary space is a bit blown up this season.

Point guards: Westbrook, Barria, Ismael Smith

Shooting guards: Harden, Bazemore

Small forwards: Durant, Middleton

Power forwards: Tucker, Collison

Centres: Ibaka, Brown, O'Quinn

In this list, the salaries of the four young people alone add up to 56 million, and the contracts of role players exceed 71 million.

The salary cap estimate for the new season is 56.8 million, and the luxury tax is 71.7 million.

Tang Tian's squad for the team is basically spent on every penny, but because of this, it will be very difficult for them to strengthen in the summer, although they have outlined the goals, but not everyone is willing to accept low wages.

Before you know it, the free agent market for the new season officially opens at midnight.

As soon as the doors opened, many deals were immediately closed.

Paul and the Cavaliers agreed to a five-year, $107 million contract extension with a maximum salary, which is also the largest contract extension he can get.

David West and the Pacers agreed to a three-year, $36 million contract extension.

Kevin Martin and the Rockets agreed to a three-year, $30 million contract extension, with a team option for the third year.

Ginobili and the Spurs agreed to a two-year, $10 million contract extension, which is a ridiculously low contract total, and Ginobili has made a huge sacrifice in order to give the team more room to strengthen in the summer.

……

The first news of the signing broke out was basically the news that confirmed the stay in the team.

Those who really test the free agent market will continue to negotiate with the teams in the days to come.

For example, Howard, after Paul chose to renew his contract, as the biggest player in the free market, made a list of meetings and had to negotiate with each team before deciding on the final home.

The Thunder have also been in contact with targets on their roster since free agency market opened.

The Thunder's reinforcement action should not be too big, but Tang Tian is still quite curious about the free agent market.

In his previous life, Harden attracted Howard to join the Rockets, and now that Harden is still in the Thunder, it should be unlikely that Howard will join.

The free agent market continues.

It was also at this time that the alliance introduced two new policies.

One is related to the FMVP selection, in the new rules, the FMVP will no longer be voted on by just 11 media outlets, their voting results account for 50%, and the remaining 50% will be exchanged according to the voting results of fans from time to time.

On the other hand, after further discussion between labor and management, a clause similar to the "Rose Clause" will be added to the new agreement to add players who have performed well in their rookie season.

The timing of this initiative is also jokingly called the "Thunder Clause" by many fans, in order to prevent the emergence of a super team like the Thunder.

There can be stable salary space, the core players are still extremely young, and it is really difficult for other teams to play.

Tang Tian didn't care, anyway, the Thunder's lineup was not a problem at all to maintain for four or five years, as for what would happen in four or five years, it would be too early.

Korver, Belinelli, Mayo, and Nick Young have turned down offers from the Thunder, who are in their prime, and the Thunder's offer details do not meet their requirements.

Both Randy Foye and Mo Williams are still thinking about it.

But there is one person who has been in deep negotiations with the Thunder.

Last season, the Hawks traded Anthony Morrow to the Thunder, but it didn't work out, and then they traded Morrow to the Mavericks, where he played half a season with dismal statistics and poor conditions on the free market.

According to this momentum, the Thunder can sign in the free market, and there is a high probability that it will be Morrow.

Morrow, the Thunder are now a big threat at the core of the roster, and what they need is this kind of three-point shooting, which is what Middleton did last season.

The negotiations between the two sides continued to deepen, and soon, Tang Tian met this former disciple in the office.

The two sides agreed on a two-year, $4 million contract with a team option for the second year.

Although Morrow's strength in the Rockets was very good under Tang Tian's transformation, he has been wandering outside in the past few years, and he doesn't know how much strength he still has, which is obviously more powerful for the Thunder team, and for Morrow, he is already very satisfied that the Thunder team can offer a contract with a super base salary.

After completing the signing, the Thunder officially announced the news.

Coincidentally, shortly after the Thunder announced the signing, Howard also announced his final decision.

He will sign the Rockets to a four-year, nearly $88 million contract extension with a fourth-year player option, and this contract also includes a 15% trade guarantee.

This decision stunned Tang Tian for a moment, but soon, he seemed to be relieved.

One of the advantages of Houston over Los Angeles is that there are fewer taxes, and although the Lakers can get an extra year of salary cap, they can get a lot less salary in four years.

And last season, the Lakers had a poor record, and there were constant contradictions in the team, Howard was dissatisfied with Kobe's right to shoot, which returned to Houston, which is also a big city, or the boss of the team, which is naturally beautiful.

And there's another point, the Rockets have always had a tradition of big men, from Hayes to Sampson and Olajuwon to Yao Ming, and Howard is expected to continue that tradition.

And then Howard's words on Twitter also confirmed this.

"The Rockets have great big man genes, and they're going to really help me improve my game on the court, which is a big part of what attracted me to Houston, and I'm the kind of guy who needs someone to push me to my full potential, so I chose to join the Rockets."