"Anferne, are you sure you want to retire? I think you'll have a few more seasons to play. “

On June 25, 2006, just one week after the 05-06 Finals, Anfernee Hardaway, who played for the Pacers for two seasons and helped the Pacers win the championship this season, informed Pacers management of his decision to retire.

Anfernee Hardaway and the Pacers signed a 2-year contract in 04, with the end of this season's finals, the original Pacers management is also ready to give Anfernee Hardaway a 1+1 contract, although he has been plagued by injuries, but Anfernee Hardaway's current physical condition is not enough to play the ball, in the regular season last season, in an average of ten minutes per game, Anfernee Hardaway can contribute an average of 7 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist per game, In the highly competitive playoffs, Anfernee Hardaway's stats did not decline, and even cut 21 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists in G3 of the Finals.

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

After the end of this season's Finals, the contracts of Dibaken Mutombo, Nn Hilario, Tyshawn Prince, and Chris Dujon have all expired, and the contract extension negotiations of multiple players and the reinforcements in the offseason have made the Pacers have a lot of work to do this offseason, and if Anfernee Hardaway chooses to retire, the workload of the Pacers management will undoubtedly be heavier.

"Rick, thank you for bringing me to Indiana, I wouldn't have been able to wear this championship ring without you and this team, even though I've only played here for two seasons, but those two seasons have been the easiest and happiest of my career, and I'll never forget every moment of playing here. But everybody has a day to leave, and now it's time for me to leave, and I hope that after I'm gone, there will be a chance to do what I can for the Pacers. “

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

Hardaway eventually left, and Anfernee Hardaway, who wore a championship ring as he wished, left the NBA without any regrets, leaving the league that he had played for 13 seasons.

After Anfernee Hardaway chose to retire, the Pacers' summer reinforcement work officially began, and under the leadership of Larry Bird, the Pacers first reached a contract extension agreement with veteran Mutombo, who may be 40 years old, and the Pacers signed a one-year extension with an annual salary of $1.5 million.

There are those who remain, and there will naturally be those who leave, and the first to leave is the backup guard Salunas Jascovitius, due to the rise of Tony Allen, Salunas Jascovitius was squeezed to the bench by Tony Allen this season, but on the bench of the Pacers, there are still fierce people like James Posey, so Salunas Jascovisius has declined to varying degrees this season in terms of playing time and points per game, and after the Finals, Sarunas Jascovisius has a showdown with the management of the Pacers, and Sarunas Jascovisius has a good reason, as a 30-year-old player, Sarunas Jascovisius doesn't want to continue to waste his time on the bench, plus he has won the championship with the Pacers, so Sarunas Jascovisius hopes to pursue the basketball he wants.

Since Sarunas Jascovisius has one year left on his contract with the Pacers, after consulting Sarunas Jascovisius, the Pacers sent Sashonas Jascovisius to the Sacramento Kings, who are very interested in him. The deal was reached in a very short period of time, but the Pacers also received an additional second-round pick from the Kings due to the unequal salaries between the two sides.

The King's choice to trade Darko Milicic is actually a helpless move, as an addition to last season's trade of Ron Ortest and Peja Stojakovic, the King actually values this 03 golden generation of the top eye, and also chose to implement Darko Milicic's final year of $5 million contract, but Darko Milicic does not want to stay in Sacramento, and Darko Milicic, who will become an unrestricted free agent next season, made it clear that he will not renew his contract with the Kings after the season, Therefore, in order to avoid the bamboo basket being empty, the king decided to send him away in advance.

After the departure of Sarunas Jascovy Hughus, the Pacers' originally somewhat crowded No. 1 spot immediately loosened a lot, so the Pacers also immediately sent an offer to Chris Dujon, who has an expired contract but is a restricted free agent, and if there is no other team to bid up the price, then Chris Dujon will remain with the Pacers for the next few seasons.

After getting Mutombo and Chris Dujon, the negotiations between the Pacers and Tayshaun Prince are also coming to an end, and the Pacers offered Tayshawn Prince the same contract as when he renewed James Posey that year, which is 6 years and $48 million, although other teams have contacted Tayshaun Prince's agent and are willing to give him a contract with an average annual salary of 9 million or even 10 million US dollars, but Tayshaun Prince directly refused.

Tyshawn Prince chose to take a pay cut to stay in Indiana, but Larry Bird has encountered difficulties in negotiations with N.N. Hilario, as Larry Byrd's chosen successor to Mutombo, although N.N. Hilari has not yet reached the level of Mutombo, but NN Hilario's progress in recent seasons is also very obvious, with a total of 24 double-doubles last season, second only to Jermaine O'Neal and Meng Xu in the Pacers, Therefore, the Pacers also prepared a 6-year contract extension of about $50 million for NN Hilario, but at the critical moment of renewal negotiations, NN Hilario's agent came up with an offer from the Nuggets, and the Nuggets offered NN Hilario a contract of 5 years and 60 million, which made Larry Bird very uncomfortable.

The NBA's salary cap for next season is $58 million, and in the Pacers, Meng Xu is 15 million, Jermaine O'Neal is 16 million, James Posey is 8 million, Jeff Foster is 5 million, and Tyshawn Prince after the contract extension will also get almost 7 million, and the newcomer Darko Milicic will be 5 million next season, plus Chris Duhon, Mutombo and others, the total salary of the Pacers has already risen, if you give NN Hilario another 5 years and 60 million, The path that the walkers had to reinforce was completely blocked.