"The Lakers are more powerful than ever!" On June 26, 2002, two days before the draft, Mitch Kupchak, the new general manager of the Lakers, who had only been in office for only a week, completed the first trade of his general manager career, and this transaction immediately changed the pattern of the entire league.

After missing the playoffs last season, Gary Payton, who has begun to slip from his prime, has completely lost patience with the SuperSonics, and Gary Payton, who has entered the twilight of his career, is also eager to make up for the regrets of his career with a championship ring like Reggie Miller. After Gary Payton communicated with the management of the SuperSonics, Wally Walker, who was the general manager of the SuperSonics at the time, decided to trade Gary Payton according to Gary Payton's wishes, allowing him to chase his championship dream, and the SuperSonics will also rebuild in advance.

After careful consideration, Gary Payton finally chose the Lakers, although the Lakers just lost the Finals and experienced a round of infighting, but the Lakers, who managed to keep O'Neal and Kobe, are still the strongest team in the entire league. Coupled with Payton and O'Neal, the personal relationship between them is also very good, so no matter what you consider, going to the Lakers is the best choice, after Payton called O'Neal to tell him his choice, the general manager of the Lakers, Mitch Kupchak, was so excited that he couldn't even sleep, and dialed Wally Walker overnight.

Payton has worked diligently for 12 seasons in the SuperSonics, under the leadership of Payton and Kemp, the SuperSonics successfully ranked among the Western powerhouses and reached the Finals, but lost to the Bulls, perhaps because of the trip to the Finals, exhausted the luck that SuperSonics had accumulated for many years, since the 9596 season, the SuperSonics have been worse every year, stopping in the first round for many consecutive seasons, and even missed the playoffs last season, so when Payton chose to chase the championship, The supersonic management also did not block too much.

Rick Fox, Gaderrick Fisher and two first-round picks, the Lakers got 8 All-Stars, the first point guard in history to win the Defensive Player of the Year, and Gary Payton, who was on the All-NBA and All-Defensive Team for 8 consecutive seasons. Although Payton's physical condition and game status have begun to decline, Payton can still contribute an average of 22 points, 9 assists, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game last season, and is still the top five organizational guards in the league. said in a sour tone, "Next season's championship will be awarded directly to the Lakers." ”

Although Payton has been obtained, the Lakers are still not satisfied, and Mitch Kupchak publicly announced that the Lakers' recruitment work is far from over, and bringing in Payton is just the beginning. In contrast, the Pacers' reinforcement work has just begun, and it is in a predicament, although it defeated the Lakers in the Finals, but after 6 games, the Pacers' shortcomings and shortcomings have been completely exposed, so the day after the Finals, Larry Bird and his assistants began to work intensively to recruit them.

Larry Bird's reinforcement work for the Pacers has two main aspects, the first is the interior line, 6 finals, the Pacers' interior line was completely blown up by O'Neal, Lorenzen White has not much room to rise, and Jermaine O'Neal is still slightly immature, considering that the Pacers are defending the title against the big opponent, it is still possible to be the Lakers, so it is imperative to strengthen the interior line.

Larry Bird's first target is the Spurs' center Reeve Lafrentz, as David Robinson plays less and less, Reeve Lafrentz has a lot of opportunities in the Spurs, plus Duncan and David Robinson from the side, last season, in 32 minutes of playing time, Reeve Lafrentz averaged 16 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.7 blocks per game, and after the end of the season, Reeve Lafrentz became a restricted free agent. Immediately became a sweet spot on the free market, originally before the end of the season, the Spurs and Reeve Lafrentz basically reached an agreement on the renewal issue, the Spurs offered Reeve Lafrentz a 6-year 5400 contract extension, if no other team intervened, Reeve Lafrentz would become the third highest salary in the Spurs after Duncan and David Robinson. But on the first day of free agency, Reeve Lafrentz's agent received several offers, including the Pacers, 55 million for 5 years, and an average annual salary of $2 million more than 1 year shorter. In the case of Duncan's annual salary of 12 million next season and David Robinson's 10 million, in the face of the Pacers' contract with an average annual salary of 11 million for Reeve Lafrentz, Popovich hesitated, the league's salary cap for next season is 40.27 million, if it matches Reeve Lafrentz's contract, then the Spurs have 3 players with an annual salary of 10 million, and there is 10 million left, what is enough? However, even more crazy things are still to come, 7 years and 80 million, this is the contract that the Mavericks offered for Reeve Lafrentz, Cuban's check book waved, and there was no competitor immediately, and the Spurs completely gave up the plan to match Reeve Lafrentz, and Larry Bird could only shake his head while sighing that Cuban was really rich, and then withdrew from the competition.

After the failure to sign Reeve Lafrentz, Larry Bird turned his attention to another free agent, 8-time All-Star, 4-time Defensive Player of the Year DiCambe Mutombo, considering that Mutombo's form declined seriously last season, and Mutombo is 36 years old this year, so the Pacers offered Mutombo a high salary of 20 million for 2 years, but this contract was directly rejected by Mutombo's agent. Mutombo, who is 36 years old, is estimated to be the last contract of his career, so Mutombo's agent directly opened his mouth to the lion, at least 4 years, and the average annual salary must not be less than 15 million, 60 million for 4 years? To a 36-year-old? As long as you are a sober-minded person, you won't do it, but Larry Bird didn't give up directly, but while arguing with Mutombo's agent, he called Mutombo directly, after all, the 36-year-old Mutombo has not yet tasted the championship, as the defending champion of the Pacers, it is still somewhat attractive.

After a series of setbacks in the free market, the Pacers also got a good news, that is, when they traded El Harrington for Lorenten White last season, they got the first-round pick from the Grizzlies.