At this time, the draft had reached the fourth pick, and the Suns used their draft pick to select Domantas Sabonis from Gonzaga University, who is the son of international basketball legend Arvidas Sabonis.

"Tang Shuai, are you okay?" Gong Luming got up from his seat at this time, walked to his side and asked with concern.

"It's okay, Gong Dao, it doesn't affect me." Tang Shuai barely squeezed out a smile and said.

"It's okay." Gong Luming stopped talking, finally nodded and walked back to his seat.

"Are you alright?" Li Muhao and Zhao Dapeng on the side also asked with concern.

Tang Shuai shook his head to signal that it was okay, and they turned back.

The draft was still going on, but Tang Shuai's attention was no longer there, and he turned his head to communicate with Duffy.

Being traded away is not the result he wants, but he has been traded, and he can't feel sorry for himself, he is not in the United States now, and he can't do much, but he must also do some basic understanding of the Lakers.

Unlike the Clippers, the Lakers are a team with a very long history, and the Celtics have achieved more than any other player.

Since Gasol left the team, Kobe Bryant was injured, the Lakers have been completely reduced to a fish belly team, this is their second consecutive season record in the bottom of the West, and even last season won only a pitiful 17 games, ranking second to last in the league, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the most embarrassing team in the West.

When the glory fades, the Lakers' shine is gradually replaced by the Clippers in the same city, and when Kobe Bryant retires this season, the Lakers can be said to have reached the most dangerous time period, if they can't rise in the next one to two years, then they will be completely replaced by the Clippers.

Duffy kept talking to Tang Shuai about the current situation of the Lakers.

Next season, the new TV contract will come into effect, the salary cap will rise sharply, and the player's salary will also rise, and there is no shortage of big names in the free market this year, Durant, James's contracts will expire, Wade, Howard also chose to give up the player option, and Whiteside, DeRozan, Barnes and other players will enter the free market, not including Conley, Rondo, Batum and other strong functional players.

It can be said that the next free market will definitely not be calm, and the Lakers have ushered in a crucial opportunity.

Before Kobe Bryant and the Lakers signed a contract of up to 25 million, after Kobe announced his retirement, it means that the Lakers will get 25 million salary space, this is not counting the expiration of the contract, basically will not be renewed Hibbert, Hibbert's original contract has more than 15 million, which together is equivalent to directly releasing more than 40 million salary space, plus the rising salary cap, if everyone is willing to come, this space is no problem to sign James and Durant's maximum salary contracts.

Of course, this is certainly only a one-sided idea. Lewd, but the importance of this offseason to the Lakers is self-evident, it is best to sign big names, if you can't sign it, the bamboo basket will be empty, then you can only sign a premium contract.

One step to heaven and one step to the abyss depends entirely on performance this offseason.

Kupchak is clearly not the kind of person who has the patience to rebuild, and the big deal that traded Gasol and Paul failed all shows that his way of building the team is to buy and buy.

This time he placed his bet on Tang Shuai, a Chinese, a crazy gamble.

"The Lakers have salary space this season, and Walton has just signed the Warriors as the team's new head coach, and the desire to do a big job has been revealed, and you are trained as the absolute core when you are traded, and you don't even have to move in Los Angeles." Duffy concluded.

Tang Shuai didn't speak, what Duffy said was indeed a good aspect, but after being traded to the Lakers, it means that he will be a city rival with his former teammates in the future, which is really not so comfortable.

"2016 No. 22 pick in the first round, Charlotte Hornets selected ......"

Just when Tang Shuai and Duffy were communicating, the draft pick had come to the 22nd pick, and the players refocused their attention on the TV at this time.

According to the previous interest team, the Hornets expressed interest in Zhou Qi, with the highest pick in the middle and the most likely team to select Zhou Qi.

"Will the Hornets choose Zhou Qi in the end......" Ke Fan's slightly excited voice came from the TV.

Tang Shuai also stopped communicating with Duffy, and then turned his gaze to the TV.

"Malik Beasley, 19, is a scoring guard from Florida."

Xiao Hua's next voice disappointed the players, and the Hornets finally chose a shooting guard.

"What do the Hornets think, they already have Walker, Lee, and Jeremy Lin, and they actually chose another guard at this time, which is really incomprehensible." Ke Fan said with some complaints, and it could be seen that the further back he went, the more impetuous his mood became.

In fact, not only Ke Fan, but all domestic basketball fans are paying attention to this draft.

After Xiao Hua finished taking the photo, he turned around and entered the backstage again, going in and out thirty times on the draft night, which was really tiring.

"I think the next week should be chosen." At this moment, Duffy turned his head and whispered to Tang Shuai.

"Huh?" Tang Shuai looked at Duffy suspiciously.

"The teams that tried out for Zhou, Phoenix has the 28th pick left, the Clippers have the 25th pick, and Boston has the 23rd and 35th picks behind them, and these teams are all interested in Zhou, and the Celtics have the most draft picks, and once other players have a move, he will not hesitate to choose in advance, and ...... Danny didn't get you, maybe he had a different idea. Duffy explained.

"If you really go to Boston, it will also be a very good choice for Zhou Qi." Tang Shuai nodded and said.

At this moment, Xiao Hua walked out of the backstage for the 23rd time, and the Green Shirts' iconic shamrock icon began to appear on the scrolling screen behind him.

"2016 NBA First Round No. 23 Pick, Boston Knights Pick ......"

Xiao Hua's pause this time was a little long, and the team members all looked at the screen with bated breath, as if the next words were not spoken from Xiao Hua's mouth, but from the screen.

"Zhou Qi, from China, 20-year-old power forward." Xiao Hua continued.

"Zhou Qi! Zhou Qi was chosen! The moment Zhou Qi's name was read out, Ke Fan's voice exploded from the TV in an instant.

"Yay!"

Immediately following the room, the team members also jumped up excitedly, picked up the champagne that had been prepared a long time ago, and sprayed it directly at Zhou Qi.

The room was in a frenzied celebration.

Tang Shuai and Duffy stood in the outer circle of the players, also smiling at the crazy scene in front of them.

It's hard to guess whether Anji won Zhou Qi in this position because he missed Tang Shuai, but the 23 people who were selected by the Celtics, a not too good, but definitely not a bad order, for Zhou Qi, going to the Celtics with deep heritage is already a pretty good result.

And what is more profound is that from this moment on, the NBA stage will once again appear Chinese competing on the same stage, which is definitely great news for Chinese fans.

The crazy mood lasted for a long time, and in the end, he almost lifted Zhou Qi up to the sky, and it was Gong Luming, who was also laughing.

Zhou Qi is the disciple he focuses on cultivating, and now he can have such an achievement, which is definitely a thing worth celebrating for this old handsome.

By the time the team's celebration was over, the first round of the draft was almost over.

After recovering from the excitement, the team members smiled and began to clean up the mess that had been all over the ground after the celebration.

At this time, Xiao Hua has finished his journey in the 2016 draft, and the second round of the draft will be completed by his assistant Mark Tetum.

"In the evening, we will eat and rub together to celebrate Zhou Qi's selection." At this moment, Chai Wensheng announced.

This announcement, the team members all cheered excitedly, and the diet was strictly controlled during training, and it was really not good to be greedy.

"A deal was made, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers were dealt, the Lakers sent 32nd picks to Gatangilo Russell and Brandon Buss, and the 76ers got Nolens Noll and Carl Landry in a trade, as well as a 2018 first-round pick." Just then, Tetum spoke.

Hearing the news that it was the Lakers, Tang Shuai followed and looked up.

"Kupchak is really going to make up his mind to take a gamble." Duffy said with emotion.

Russell was selected by the Lakers last year, although his previous performance was unsatisfactory, but his performance in the second half of the season was still remarkable, and even showed good potential, but after the trade got Tang Shuai, it was not surprising that he was traded.

And the 76ers selected Simmons again, and when Joel Embiid returns this season, it is equivalent to having four interior players who need to start at once, and it is imperative to trade one or two of them, which is different from before last year's draft, and the transaction at this time is a win-win for both parties.

It's just that after such consecutive trades, the Lakers have few valuable players left, and it is true that as Duffy said, Kupchak is ready to gamble on the free agent market in July.

Coming out of the room, Tang Shuai received a call from Kupchak.

"Don, I'm excited that we have a chance to trade you, I've seen a lot of your fights in Los Angeles and you're definitely worth it." Kupchak is a passionate general manager, and as soon as the phone is connected, he is full of excitement.

"Mr. Mitch, I'm also very happy to be joining the Lakers, it's a team with great honor." Tang Shuai said politely, people are animals with feelings, until now, although reason has accepted the fact of being traded, it is still difficult to let go of the Clippers teammates in his heart.

"You're going to be excited, we're fully supporting you to play in the national team, I heard that the Clippers didn't buy insurance for you before, I'll let people deal with it as soon as I go back, you just have fun and play, when you get to the Lakers, you'll definitely find that it's a warm home." Kupchak said bluntly.

After listening to Kupchak's words, although he had not seen this general manager, he couldn't help but be moved in his heart, regardless of the truth or falsehood of these words, with Dave Wall as a comparison, the warmth brought to his heart seemed to be full of weight. (To be continued.) )