At the beginning of July, the Lakers officially announced that they had teamed up with forward Jimmy. Butler reached an agreement to sign a four-year, $142 million contract extension with a maximum salary.

As soon as this news was announced, the alliance was immediately puzzled.

The Lakers' intentions in the open period of free agency were not too obvious, and it was clear that they wanted to pursue either Leonard or Durant.

"The Point Guard Is Here"

There was even news in Los Angeles that Lakers management was in contact with the agents of the two stars, and that Butler's contract extension plan was temporarily shelved.

This is obviously good news for Lakers fans.

Butler is not as good as Leonard and Durant, this is everyone's consensus, the same is the top salary, why not the other two who are better?

Many fans have even fantasized about the Lakers gathering Wang Feng and Durant, the two league's top scorers, or the super outside defensive combination of Wang Feng + Leonard, which seems to be pretty good.

But what they were waiting for was Butler's contract renewal.

"Huh? Butler? 142 million in 4 years? Is he worth the price? ”

"Even if he averaged 18 points per game in the regular season, in the playoffs, his average score per game was only 19 points, just following Wang Feng to win a championship, and he was cheeky enough to sit on the ground and start the price."

Lakers fans are quite angry, because Butler's contract extension is completed, the Lakers' salary space is completely locked, and there is no ability to sign another star with an annual salary of more than 20 million.

Others, of course, are optimistic.

"It's good to be able to successfully renew Butler's contract, I think Wang Feng and Butler's partner is quite tacit, otherwise he won't win the championship, it's hard to say whether Leonard and Durant are willing to come to the Lakers, it's good to try to maintain the original championship-winning lineup."

In such a situation, a few days later, a local Los Angeles media broke out that the reason why the Lakers successfully completed the contract extension with Butler was because of Wang Feng's pressure.

According to the outlet, they had an informant who was a sanitation worker at the Lakers arena, and he saw Wang Feng come to the Lakers general manager's office a few days ago, and in front of general manager Ervin Brown. Johnson met and called Lakers owner Jenny. Bass bluntly said that if he can't keep Butler, then trade him away.

The Lakers were forced by Wang Feng's pressure to finally choose to renew Butler's contract early, originally according to their plan, they wanted to pursue Leonard or Durant as much as possible before renewing Butler's contract.

As soon as this news was announced, it immediately caused repercussions in Los Angeles and even in the league.

Whether the source of the news is true or false, no one knows except the person concerned, but judging from the previous behavior of the Lakers, there is a chance that it is true.

There is a high probability that the Lakers will not take the initiative to disclose this kind of thing, and Wang Feng certainly won't either.

Based on the team, it is not a good thing for their own stars to threaten the team.

And for Wang Feng, threatening the team's management and forcing the team to make a signing decision that is not intended by the management is not a good name.

Therefore, it is certain that the wall in the Lakers arena has ears, and whether the Lakers management can find out and pull out this nail is a matter for the team, and it has nothing to do with Wang Feng.

It's just that after this incident, Butler specially invited Wang Feng to a meal to express his gratitude.

Butler knew very well that if it weren't for Wang Feng's pressure, he might have really left the Lakers.

Although it is not particularly difficult to get a maximum salary offer with his coffee position, the City of Angels, the second largest city in the United States like Los Angeles, is far away from him, and similarly, it is much more difficult for other teams to continue to win championships.

Although in the Lakers, Butler's positioning is only Pippen-style team leader, but he is quite satisfied with this, after all, the top salary has been obtained, and Butler, who has never paid much attention to personal data, will not be entangled in these issues.

Overall, Wang Feng's forced palace succeeded in keeping Butler, and the relationship with Butler became more intimate, and the advantages outweighed the disadvantages.

……

Not long after Butler completed his contract extension, the dust settled on Leonard and Durant, two of the biggest fish in the free market.

Durant still chose to join the Brooklyn Nets like another time and space, but the difference is that he did not choose to sign first and then trade, but directly joined the Nets on a four-year, $164 million contract.

Prior to this, the Nets had signed free agent Kyrie Irving, whose contract expired with the Celtics, for a four-year 141 million cap salary.

The combination of Irving + Durant has made the Nets leap into the ranks of the league's top teams, but it's not over yet.

Immediately afterward, the Nets used All-Star point guard D'Angelo. Russell, plus three future first-round picks, traded from the Thunder for forward Paul Murphy. George.

Russell, who was supposed to be signed first and then exchanged for Durant, actually became a bargaining chip for the Nets to chase George because of the butterfly effect.

In this way, the Nets directly formed the Big Three configuration of Durant + Irving + George, and directly became the favorite to win the championship next season!

The big news isn't over yet.

After Durant was in the Nets, Leonard was not idle.

On July 11, the Los Angeles Clippers officially announced the signing of All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard on a three-year, $103 million contract.

James got the strongest helper as he wished, although the Clippers did not form a Leonard + George front ace combination like another time and space, but the James + Leonard king bomb combination is obviously more successful!

Although the Clippers' lineup is only dual-core and does not meet the standards of the Nets' Big Three, after all, it is a combination of James + Leonard, and the Clippers' ranking has also risen.

A day later, the Clippers officially announced again that they would sign back the former Clippers center DeAndre who was intercepted by the Mavericks last season for 1 year and 22.9 million for 4 years and 40 million US dollars. Jordan.

Although Jordan Jr.'s current form is a bit away from the period when he was selected to the All-NBA and All-Defensive Team a few years ago, he is still strong, and he can still contribute 11 points and 13.1 rebounds per game last season, barely being counted as the third big man of the Clippers.

After the two reinforcements, the strength of the Clippers has risen to the level of almost equal to the Nets, becoming one of the favorites to win the championship in the new season.

In contrast, last season's championship favorite, the five-star Warriors only renewed the contract of their own star Kelai with the highest salary. Thompson, without Durant, the Warriors are already significantly weaker than the Nets and Clippers in terms of book strength with only the combination of Curry + Thompson + Green.