The New York fan carnival lasted a whole day, but theirs was far from over.

At the award ceremony held soon after, George beat Durant and Curry and was elected the regular season MVP of the 2018~2019 season.

In other words, George has become another player after Yao Ming to win a double MVP.

is also under Tang Tian, this honor is really valuable.

At the same time, Wade announced his retirement, and along with him the Spurs' Ginobili, plus Nowitzki, who retired before, the basketball youth belonging to many people has come to an end.

"The NBA doesn't have that much attention for me anymore."

In the wake of this series of events, many people have expressed this opinion.

Tang Tian retired, the former stars retired, coupled with the small-ball era and referee decisions, they really don't have that much feeling for the NBA.

Fan perceptions are changing, but the NBA is the same.

The footsteps of the new season soon came quietly.

Both teams that met in last season's Finals will face intense pressure in the summer.

Warriors Thompson expires, Green still has one year left, plus Durant's 1+1 contract also expires, one is careless.

The Nets, on their side, are also under pressure to renew Irving, Butler and Yi Jianlian.

The league's super salary cap has finally begun to balance the strength of each team while putting pressure on each team to renew their contracts.

Unless hundreds of millions of dollars in luxury taxes are paid, the Big Four superteams will be hard to sustain any longer.

Tang Tian has been with his family on the manor after winning the championship, the coach's work was thrown to Frank, the management affairs were handed over to Jones, and the company also had professional managers who have been taking care of it, and he began to enjoy the real boss life.

However, both Frank and Jones will report to him on the team's progress.

This year's draft was a small year, and the team only drafted a dropped two-way guard Cole Anthony at the end of the first round, and the rest was reserved for the free agent market to be reinforced.

Jones also came to Tang Tian's estate after the draft.

Wade retired, Stoudemire can't use it, and then counting Irving, Butler, Yi Jianlian, and Bamot whose contracts expire, are now on the team's squad.

Point guards: Murray, Sexton

Shooting guard: Mitchell

Small forwards: George, Porter

Power forward: Anthony

Centers: Jokic, Mitchell Robinson

8 people, the total salary is about 80 million.

The league's salary cap for the new season has not yet been announced, but it is expected to be $108 million, and the luxury tax is expected to be $123 million.

That said, the Nets are now just $28 million away from the salary cap and $41 million from the luxury tax trigger.

"We can't renew Kyrie and Jimmy at the same time." The first thing Jones said after sitting down was the purpose of his coming to Tang Tian.

Irving and Butler, the two have different performances, but with their ability, they will definitely get the maximum salary on the free market after jumping out of the player option this summer, and the Nets need at least 60 million space to renew the two of them, in other words, if the two are renewed at the same time, the total salary of the Nets' 10 players will reach 140 million, which has triggered the super luxury tax.

Not to mention renewing Yi Jianlian's contract and completing the other four teams' lists, the Nets will have to pay at least 100 million in luxury tax.

So Jones had to find Tang Tian.

Tang Tian nodded after listening.

In fact, he had already expected this situation, and aside from Yi Jianlian's question, he hadn't thought about who would go or who would stay between Owen and Butler.

"Tell me what you think." Tang Tian was not in a hurry, took a sip of coffee and looked at Jones and said.

"All I can say is the pros and cons." Jones thought for a moment and said.

Tang Tian nodded and motioned for him to continue.

"I'll start with Jimmy, his defense is very important to us, almost indispensable, his and George's front line is the key to our ability to compete with the Warriors and the 76ers, and he can play the No. 2 and No. 3 positions, and even the No. 4 position of the five, and he is also very versatile."

Tang Tian nodded, this is indeed Butler's characteristic, if it weren't for George's existence, he would almost definitely have to renew his contract.

"But his shortcomings are his short height, coupled with George's presence, especially Mitchell's growth and the need for a starting position."

Jones didn't say anything further when he said this, and looked up at Tang Tian.

"Tell me about Carey." Tang Tian nodded, what Jones said was basically what he could think of.

"Carey's situation is a little bit different, Carey's offensive ability is not to say, it is supergiant, but his defense, although it is constantly improving, is still easy to be targeted by opponents, theoretically speaking, he is important, but the importance is worse than Jimmy."

Tang Tian nodded after listening, Irving is indeed not as versatile as Butler, but his scoring explosiveness is also very important to the Nets, of course, Butler is indeed more important than the team.

There seems to be an answer.

"So that's your suggestion?" Tang Tian looked at Jones.

Jones hesitated and shook his head.

Tang Tian looked at him suspiciously.

"There are two things that are off the field." Jones continued.

Tang Tian motioned for him to continue.

"We paid a lot of chips to get Kyrie in the trade, and Jimmy was a free agent, so in terms of return on investment, we let Kyrie go for nothing." Jones spoke.

Tang Tian shook his head, signaling that it didn't matter.

"One more thing, if we let Carey go, he's probably going to Boston."

Jones's words made Tang Tian's expression pause, and after thinking about it carefully, he nodded.

While considering the team's own lineup, it is also necessary to fully consider the opponent.

Walker's contract with the Celtics expires this summer, and a contract extension is something that could happen.

But once Irving enters the free agent market, then they will definitely prioritize Irving.

Walker is good enough, but Irving is certainly better than him.

And if Irving finally signs with the Celtics, he adds Ward, as well as Smart, Jaylen Brown, Tatum, Zhou Qi and a number of other young players, the Nets may really be in trouble.

And if Butler is released, it is impossible for the 76ers, the Celtics, or even the Rockets and Warriors in the Western Conference to sign him.

Jones's advice seemed to be the best answer for them.

"There's another one that's off the court, and I know Jimmy played for the Cavaliers, and he came to the Nets during their toughest time, and as far as I know, he's hoping to eventually re-sign with the Nets, emotionally......"

Jones paused at this point, which is why he didn't go on further.

Emotionally, Butler is clearly a better choice than Irving.