(Today there is one more chapter, but it is a two-in-one 10,000-word chapter, the same as two more than 5,000 words.) ）

The three players who entered the finals of the three-point contest were Wang Chao with 26 points, Arenas with 23 points and Jones with 22 points.

According to the score of the preliminary round, the finalists appeared quickly from the lowest to the highest.

The first to appear was Jones.

But at this time, Jones's mentality has collapsed a little because of Wang Chao's 26 points, and the shooting in the final is out of standard, and the five rounds of shooting are over, scoring only 14 points, although it is not as embarrassing as Nowitzki's 10 points that should have entered the finals, but this score is definitely not going to win the championship.

The lowest-scoring champion in NBA three-point contest history was Hornace's 13 points in 2000.

But over the years, this has only happened once, and in more than 20 other times, the lowest-scoring three-point king has at least 16 points.

Whether it is Wang Chao or Arenas, there is a high probability that the score will not be lower than this in the final.

Jones' face turned pale as he walked off the field.

In this three-point competition, he was originally full of confidence and wanted to win the championship, but he didn't expect that after a preliminaries, he lost all his confidence.

Jones, who walked off the field, didn't even look at Wang Chao, and sat silently in his place and lowered his head.

……

Arenas, who appeared second, performed slightly better than Jones, but his performance was obviously slightly worse than in the preliminaries, and he scored 18 points in the end.

When Wang Chao, the finale, appeared on the stage, the audience burst into warm applause.

In the eyes of people's expectation, Wang Chao's game began......

By the time Arenas and Jones hit 18 and 14 points, respectively, the suspense was over.

Wang Chao's three-point shooting value determines that he cannot lose the three-point contest.

In a 2K game, Curry's three-point ability value is also 99 full.

But that's a game, and there's a difference between reality and a game, so Curry has participated in the three-point contest seven times, but only won two championships, because the real ability of the players may not be fully displayed in the three-point contest.

But Wang Chao is different, his ability value is provided by the system, and it is truly numerative.

The stability of 99's three-point ability is extremely high, and 99's interference three-point also includes off-court interference factors, so he can be described as stable as an old dog on the stage of this kind of three-point competition, and he is definitely more accurate than Curry.

Crisp and neat, hands up and down.

The sound of "swish" hollow entering the network sounded on the field.

When Wang Chao threw all the last shot points into the basket, there were seconds left in the game.

His score was fixed at 25 points.

While it didn't break his three-point contest final record, 25 points were still high and the second-highest in history.

Wang Chao crushed a group of competitors with an absolute advantage and successfully defended the championship of the three-point competition.

When he lifted the three-point contest championship trophy, the sound of the system sounded in his ears again.

"Ding-Player Wang Chao has completed the task, and now the rewards will be issued, and the 100 points have been received, please pay attention to check."

The corners of Wang Chao's mouth hooked slightly, and he did not deliberately enter the consciousness space to check.

100 points is not a lot for him, not to mention anything else, so far in the regular season, the games won by the Suns alone have earned him more than 400 points, but in his daily training, he has not skimped on the use of potions, so he has not saved much so far.

No matter how small the mosquito is, it is still meat, no matter what, with these 100 points, it is equivalent to more than half a month's training potion consumption. He was ready to win the three-point contest to continue to make his reputation, so this is a side reward, the icing on the cake.

……

After the three-point contest, it is the finale of the day, the slam dunk contest.

The 07 slam dunk contest is a relatively alternative one, because the judges of this year's dunk contest are too big.

"God of Basketball" Michael. Jordan, "Dr. J" Julius. Owen, "The Essence of Human Cinema" Dominic. Wilkins, "Half-Man, Demigod" Vince. Carter, "Flyer" Kobe. Bryant.

All five have won the slam dunk contest, but compared to this inconsequential award, the five have a higher status in the league, and can be described as the top superstars in history...... Carter may be a little worse than the other four in that regard, but in the field of dunking, he may be the strongest of the five.

Let these five people be the judges of the slam dunk contest, and the participating players may be under a lot of pressure.

There is actually no classic picture in this slam dunk contest, and Howard, the participating monster, will not come up with superhuman ideas until next year's slam dunk contest. Robinson wore a green COS Krypton stone and flew past Superman Howard to complete a dunk, becoming the first player in NBA history to win the dunk crown twice with a height of 1.75 meters.

Of course, those who know know that Nate. Robinson has won a total of three dunk kings in his career, and his dunk difficulty and skill are not particularly high, but with a height of 1.75 meters, he can do a powerful dunk without losing any dunks, and the bonus points brought to him are really high.

It's a bit of a stretch.

The slam dunk crown of '07 was eventually won by Gerald. Green won.

Wang Chao doesn't know much about dunking, so he doesn't know how many floors the difficulty and skill of their dunking action are.

The slam dunk contest is over, and the second day of the All-Star Weekend program is over, and all that remains is tomorrow's highlight, the All-Star Game.

For a long time, these projects before the All-Star Game are small programs to warm up the main event.

Normally, a player like Wang Chao who was selected as an All-Star and has the status of an overseas player, has limited playing time in official games, and rarely has the opportunity to touch the ball even if he plays.

Da Yao participated in the All-Star for the first time in his career, played 17 minutes on the court, and only scored 2 points and 2 rebounds.

The same situation has happened to well-known overseas players such as Nowitzki and Gasol.

But Wang Chao is a little different from them.

First of all, the head coach who coaches the Western All-Star is D'Antoni, his own man.

Secondly, the entire All-Star, the only pass-oriented point guard among the Western Conference guards, is the Suns' Steve Brown. Nash, too, is his own person.

No matter how you look at it, this all-star Wang Chao has taken a lot of advantage.

And the situation is also as he thought.

The All-Star Game a day later can be described as a big battle, and the focus of the East-West All-Star showdown is Kobe Bryant VS James, and the two are indeed the best star players on both sides.

James had 28 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists in the all-around data, while Kobe Bryant fully implemented the character of the strongest scorer after Jordan, scoring a game-high 31 points.

The result of the matchup was a 153-132 victory over the East by 21 points.

Wang Chao made his All-Star debut, playing 18 minutes.

This time is not less, after all, like Duncan, Garnett, Maddie and others in the starters, did not play 18 minutes.

Not only did he have a good playing time, but Wang Chao also had a lot of opportunities.

The All-Star Game is also an exhibition game, and no star will seriously defend, which really gives Wang Chao a lot of opportunities to shoot in vacant positions, and Nash sees that Wang Chao has a vacant position.

Quietly, Wang Chao made 8 of 15 three-pointers and scored 24 points.

This score is second only to Kobe's 31 points and Stoudemire's 26 points in the Western Conference All-Stars.

Da Yao watched from the sidelines and was happier than he was playing on the court.

You must know that Da Yao has participated in several All-Star games in his career, basically playing soy sauce, and the two best performances are only 11 points and 8 rebounds and 16 points and 4 rebounds.

Wang Chao's 24 points are the highest score of a Chinese player on the All-Star stage.

A player like Wang Chao, who mainly shoots three-pointers without the ball, may not be conspicuous on the All-Star stage, after all, he basically doesn't attack with the ball, but if you look at the statistics coldly, you will be stunned to find that this guy has such good data?

Regardless of whether Wang Chao can get more fan support through his performance in this process, this data performance alone can make Wang Chao's domestic influence to a higher level!

……

The All-Star Game is over, and Kobe, who scored 31 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, beat other teammates and won the All-Star MVP trophy.

Wang Chao can score 24 points, and he is familiar with the All-Star, and he is already very satisfied.

After All-Star Weekend, there is a short day off before all teams around the league are ready for the final stretch of the regular season.

The teams at the top of the table will need to continue to consolidate their record and maintain their current position or go further, while the teams at the bottom of the table will want to rely on this last push to earn a place in the playoffs.

One can imagine how intense the more than 30 games after All-Star Weekend will be.

As for Wang Chao, before returning to Phoenix with his teammates to prepare for the next game, he received a call from the general manager of Phoenix management.

"Okay, I got it."

Hanging up the phone, Wang Chao's eyes flashed.

On the phone, the general manager made an appointment with him for an interview, and of course it was about his contract renewal.

"Are you coming?"

The Suns want to renew Wang's contract early, rather than waiting until after his contract expires in the summer.

Obviously, they saw the potential of Wang Chao, and they also knew the importance of the current Wang Chao to the Suns' tactical system, so they wanted to keep Wang Chao in advance to avoid extraneous branches.

But it also means that the Suns don't want to sign them with a maximum salary.

It's obvious.

As a restricted player who has played for the Suns for three seasons, if another team offers Wang Chao a contract in the summer, the Suns can force Wang Chao to stay as long as they choose to match the contract.

But this premise is to match the contract.

Assuming that other teams offer Wang Chao a contract with a maximum salary, the Suns must also match this contract and have to raise the salary by 2.5% on top of this contract because of the conditions attached to the Bird clause.

In this era when tens of millions of annual salaries are often used as the maximum salary, a salary increase of 2.5% per year is also a lot of money.

With Nash, Stoudemire, and Marion, three stars with an annual salary of more than 10 million, the Suns will definitely try their best to save money, after all, the owner of the Suns team has not been a generous owner and is not willing to pay a high luxury tax.

The Suns let go of All-Star caliber Joe in '05. Johnson, because the team owner was unwilling to give the other party a six-year $5,000 contract, was only willing to give a six-year $40 million contract, which eventually led to Joe. Johnson left for Atlanta.

Joe. Johnson is not a top superstar, but he was also the king of the Hawks in his years, averaging 25 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists per game at his peak, and averaging 20+ points per game for 5 consecutive seasons with the Hawks.

In '10, Stoudemire left the Suns to join the Knicks, and the situation was relatively similar.

At that time, because Stoudemire's injury was not favored by the Suns team doctor, he was unwilling to give Stoudemire a fully guaranteed contract, and was only willing to give a restrictive contract where attendance was qualified to get full salary, which made Stoudemire, who had contributed 8 years of diligence to the Suns, leave angrily.

For such a boss, Wang Chao has long been psychologically prepared, which is why he will find an agent first.

Let him go to the trouble of bargaining with the team manager, whether he can negotiate or not is not certain, and it may even affect his performance in the game, but the gains outweigh the losses.

After hanging up the general manager's phone, Wang Chao immediately sent a message to Bill. Duffy called.

"I see, I'll arrange a plane to Phoenix right now, and I can get there this afternoon at the most." Bill. Duffy knew that a tough battle was coming. "You must calm down, don't be in a hurry to make a statement, I will try to get you the biggest contract possible."

Duffy's efficiency was very fast, and at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, he arrived in Phoenix in a hurry, and immediately followed Wang Chao to meet the general manager of the team without resting.

When seeing Bill. When Duffy, the general manager was a little surprised.

Of course he knows Duffy, it was Duffy who took Nash to reject the contract extension offered by the Mavericks and joined the Suns, which led to the legend of Nash's two consecutive regular season MVPs.

But Bill. Duffy became Wang Chao's agent, and he really didn't know about it.

After greeting the two of them into the room with a smile and asking the secretary to pour coffee, the general manager's heart sank slightly.

Take him to Bill. Duffy's understanding, of course, is clear that the other party is not easy to deal with, and this negotiation may be ......

"Wang, Bill, I called you here today, mainly to discuss the renewal of Wang Xinhua's contract, Wang is an important player in the team, is a very key part of the tactical system, we hope to keep Wang Chao, and let him continue to grow, and gradually become the core leader of the team."

As soon as the general manager came up, he showed full sincerity, and first drew a big pie for Wang Chao, the core leader of the future team.

With Nash and Stoudemire here, how could Wang Chao become the leader of the team?

However, this kind of thing is something that any general manager will do, after all, he can't even brag, how can he fool the players to join?

As he spoke, he handed a pre-drawn contract to Wang Chao and Bill. Duffy.

"This is the offer contract that the team has made for the king, let's see if we are satisfied."

Moments later, Bill. Duffy placed the contract in front of the table with a slight smile on his face.

"This contract, it's not a joke, is it? Wang Chao is now a player who can contribute 20+ points per game to the team in the regular season, and the players in the league who can reach this level have at least 10 million annual salaries, and they want to keep him with a 5-year contract of 38 million. ”

38 million in 5 years, with an average annual salary of 7.6 million US dollars, which is really not very high.

If he is an ordinary player, he must be very happy to get such a big contract, but Wang Chao is different, with his current performance, he has every chance to get a contract renewal with an annual salary of 10 million or even a contract with a maximum salary.

Want to renew your contract early and pay back so little? Add money!

"Don't worry, we can continue to talk about the contract amount." The general manager of the sun said with a smile: "I don't know what the price of your psychological expectation is?" ”

"Salary cap, of course." Bill. Duffy said decisively without hesitation: "We don't accept any offer other than the maximum salary, and if it is lower than the maximum salary, then I don't think we need to continue talking." ”

The smile on the face of the general manager of the "top salary ......" remained unchanged, but the corners of his mouth twitched.

What a lion's mouth.

Wang Chao has played in the NBA for 3 years, and according to the league's regulations, the starting salary of his new contract can reach up to more than $12.5 million!

If the Suns really want to follow Bill. Duffy asked to renew Wang Chao's contract with the highest salary, and next season Wang Chao will directly become the third highest salary in the Suns, second only to Marion and Stoudemire, and even higher than Nash!

He knew that it might be Bill. Duffy wants to get his game back after suffering losses on Nash's contract.

When he joined the Suns from the Mavericks, Nash only signed a four-year, $40.26 million contract with the Suns because he didn't have any proud achievements.

As a result, during this four-year contract, Nash played at a historic level, and was elected regular season MVP for two consecutive seasons, during which he only received an average annual salary of 10 million.

No one knew what the future would happen at the time, and even Nash himself couldn't believe that he would become the strongest point guard representative in the league after suffering from the cold eyes of the Mavericks, which was no way to do it.

But in Wang Chao, who showed excellent potential at a young age and has a promising future, Bill. Duffy didn't want to make a second mistake.

Listening to the reason that the general manager is looking for, Bill. Duffy couldn't help but laugh.

"It's true that Wang Chao lacks the main offensive means right now, and his scoring is too dependent on off-ball movement and Nash's passing assists, but you have to consider how much room for growth and improvement there is in the future with his static talent and three-point shooting ability."

"As a second-round pick, who barely played in the first season of his career, and can contribute an average of 20+ points per game in the third year of his career, how many people are there in the league? His growth rate is definitely worth the price! ”

"What's more, since Wang Chao changed to a substitute, he has gradually shown the ability to attack with the ball, which he has never dabbled in before, and it is enough to show that he is still improving."

Bill. Duffy looked at the general manager playfully.

"And the most important point is that there are many teams in the league that are interested in Wang Chao, and among these teams, there should be many teams that are willing to give Wang Chao a maximum salary and bet that he can become a top superstar in the league in the future."

Using other potential competitors to boost one's worth is a trick that works perfectly not only in the NBA, but also in many other situations, and it works very well.

When Bill. After Duffy said this, the expression on the face of the general manager of the Suns was a little unnatural.

Of course, they know what Wang Chao's potential is, otherwise they would not want to renew his contract with Wang Chao before the signing deadline.

But after all, the NBA team is a profitable team of the club, and the money of the team owner is not blown by the wind, and the job of these general managers is to run the team well and make money and save money for the owner as much as possible.

If he can make a decision by himself, he is willing to give Wang Chao a contract with a maximum salary, and the bet is worth it.

A shooter who is 2.06 meters tall and has the best shooting range outside the three-point line in the league, once his skills in other aspects have grown, he doesn't even need to reach the top level, as long as he can reach the average level of the league, his combat effectiveness on the court is not a joke.

But the problem is that he doesn't just say it, because he didn't pay the money.

The owner of the team has made it clear that there are now 30 million annual salary players in the team, and by next summer, Nash's contract will expire, even if Nash is 34 years old at that time, he will definitely need a more expensive contract to stay.

If Wang Chao also renews his contract with a maximum salary, the Suns will have to pay the luxury tax.

Suns owners have long been extremely resistant to the luxury tax.

According to some statistics, in the 2022-23 season, the Suns used 4 years and 133 million to renew Ayton, so they exceeded the luxury tax threshold and needed to pay luxury tax, and this is the first time the Suns have paid luxury tax since 10 years, after a full 12 years.

Even in the 21 years since the establishment of the luxury tax, the Suns have only paid the luxury tax four times in total, three of which are back-to-back, that is, the three years that the Suns traded O'Neal from the Heat to win the championship.

O'Neal's annual salary averages $20 million, plus Stoudemire, Nash and dunk king Jason. Richardson's tens of millions of annual salaries made the Suns' salary explode.

Then the Suns still didn't do anything in the playoffs in those two years, the team owner couldn't bear it, traded O'Neal away, freed up salary space, and refused to give a fully guaranteed contract because of Stoudemire's injury, which led to the small overlord going east to the Knicks, and the Suns saved salary space, but also completely stayed away from the league powerhouse.

O'Neal's strength and box office are worth making the owner of the Suns grit his teeth and bleed, but at this time, Wang Chao's ability is obviously not up to the coffee position of the big shark, so it is naturally not worth the price in the eyes of the big boss who picks the door.

"I'm sorry, the maximum price I can give here is $45 million for five years, but I can promise that I will definitely cultivate Wang Chao as the team's outside core and give him more tactical status and ball control on the field."

The general manager said.

Wang Chao frowned slightly.

"$45 million in 5 years......"

On average, 9 million per year.

He and Bill. Duffy glanced at each other, and both saw dissatisfaction in each other's eyes.

If the contract is renewed with the highest salary, Wang Chao should be able to get a five-year contract of $75 million, with an average annual salary of 15 million.

The Suns' bargaining was directly cut from the waist, and they forcibly cut 30 million, and no one could accept it.

"Then there's no way." Bill. Duffy gave Wang Chao a look, then stood up from his seat.

"Our attitude has been very clear, and if you can only show such sincerity, then I think we should wait until this summer to talk about the renewal of the contract."

……

Coming out of the general manager's office, Bill. Duffy couldn't help but shake his head and said to Wang Chao. "Wang, I'd suggest you don't get your hopes up too much and be prepared to communicate with multiple teams during the summer offseason."

As a veteran broker, Bill. Duffy could tell the general situation from the look on the look on the Suns' general manager.

The Suns really want to keep Wang Chao, at least the general manager wants to, but there are some things that he can't decide alone, because he is just the general manager, and to put it mildly, he is just a worker.

"However, the maximum salary renewal Suns are not completely without any chance, they are only willing to give this price, which is a judgment made based on your current strength, but this season is not over yet, if you can play better in the regular season or even the playoffs later, the bargaining chips will become more, not only with the Suns, even if you need to negotiate with other teams, it is also beneficial."

Wang Chao nodded and didn't say anything.

Bill. Duffy thinks the same as him.

The Suns still despise him too much right now.

Wang Chao is impressed, like him, a player in the same period of 04, Howard will renew his contract with the Magic team next year with a maximum salary, with a contract of $85 million for 5 years, an average of 17 million per year!

There are several main reasons why Howard's salary is so high, the first is that his rookie contract with the Magic is 4 years, one year more than Wang Chao, so the starting salary is higher, the second is that the salary cap in 08 is 3 million dollars higher than in 07, and the maximum salary contract is also higher than in 07, and the third is that Howard renews his super maximum salary contract with Bird terms.

In addition to Howard, other rookies who performed well in '04, such as Andre of the 76ers. Iguodala signed a six-year, 80 million contract with the Bulls' Ruhr. Deng 6 years 71 million, Emeka of Bobcats. Okafor's 6 years are 72 million, which is an annual salary of more than 10 million.

These players will all be All-Star level players in the future, and their strength is indeed very good, but if they are compared with the current Wang Chao, they are obviously inferior.

Averaging 20+ points per game alone is something none of them can do at the moment, and Wang Chao was also selected as an All-Star bench, becoming the first player to become an All-Star in '04 along with Howard.

The Suns are only willing to give him an annual salary of 9 million, which is sincere......

Wang Chao doesn't have to stay with the Suns, there is Nash with full passing ability, and the Suns' exclusive fast-paced run-and-gun tactics, which can make him perform better on the court.

But if the team is not willing to give him a salary that matches his value, Wang Chao will still consider other teams.

As a traverser, his ability to foresee gives him many options.

For example, the New Orleans Hornets led by Paul, or the Magic led by Howard, which focuses on one-star tactics, or even running to the Cavaliers to hug James' thighs and standing on the baseline to become a fixed-point shooter is not a good choice.

Of course, if the Suns are willing to give him a max contract, staying here is naturally the best option, because the Suns can match the Bird clause and let Wang Chao earn more.

Anyway, everywhere is to make money and win, with Wang Chao's current strength, it is a bit difficult to become the leader of a team immediately, and it is better to stabilize the development of the waves.

The combination of Nash + Stoudemire will be competitive in the West in the next few years, as long as the Suns management doesn't have a brain twitch, and then reorganize O'Neal, so that a good run-and-shoot team has a bulky traditional center that seriously slows down the offensive rhythm, Wang Chao feels that the Suns have the strength to win the championship.

It's just that it doesn't make sense to say anything about it now.

If you want the Suns to increase the weight, Wang Chao needs to continue to play steadily and efficiently in the subsequent games.

……

On February 20, the Suns defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 115-90 on the road.

Feb. 21 118-108 win over Boston Celtics at home.

Feb. 23 won 116-104 away to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

After All-Star Weekend, the Suns were not affected by the surging competitiveness in the final sprint, but they got better and better.

The current Suns, no matter what kind of team they face, have a clear style of play, use the starting lineup to contain the opponent, as long as they don't lose too many points, and when the bench players come on, they can take away the game in a wave.

Wang Chao + Barbossa's bench lineup can be said to be the strongest in the whole league and even at the historical level.

As a substitute player, Wang Chao can contribute an average of 20.7 points per game, scoring more points than most starters.

Although Barbossa's personal data declined slightly because Wang Chao came to the bench and took away part of his shooting rights, he could still maintain 16.6 points and 4.8 assists.

Together, the two can crush the bench lineup of almost all teams in the league, helping the team quickly establish an advantage, and with the Suns' already not weak starting lineup, winning is naturally easy.

In the remaining three games in February, the Suns still have a 2-1 record, and the only game they lost was against the Indiana Pacers on the road.

And just a few days ago, the free market was closed and the renewal deadline arrived.

After all, Wang Chao failed to reach an early contract extension agreement with the Suns, and the game between the two sides will be postponed until the end of the season, when the free market opens in the summer.

But it's not like the Suns haven't made any moves anymore.

While not signing players or trading with other teams in free agency, the Suns have teamed up with their own player, backup guard Leandro Brown. Barbosa successfully reached an early contract extension agreement.

The Suns signed Barbossa to a five-year, $33 million contract extension, with an average annual salary of $6.6 million.

Barbosa is different from Wang Chao, first, he is a substitute player, which is different from Wang Chao, who originally sat in the starting position and took the initiative to ask to play as a substitute.

On the other hand, although Barbossa's personal data is also very good, the ceiling is completely incomparable with Wang Chao, and he does not have the capital to negotiate with the team like Wang Chao.

The most important thing is that the general manager of the team has finally succeeded.

In fact, with Barbossa's average of 18 points and 4 assists per game this season, there is nothing wrong with asking for a contract with an average salary of about 8 million, but he and his agent are obviously not forward-looking, and only a five-year contract of $33 million will satisfy them.

Signing the contract ahead of schedule, Barbosa is useless even if he regrets it.

However, considering Barbossa's subsequent career trajectory, the annual salary of 6.6 million is actually a matching offer for him.

Barbosa, who is only 25 years old, played a career-best 18 points, 2.7 rebounds and 4 assists in the 06-07 season, and was successfully elected as the best sixth man of the season.

In the 07-08 season, Barbosa's personal data shrank to 15.6 points and 2.6 assists, although this is related to the Suns' trade for Marion in the second half of the season, which slowed down the rhythm of the entire team, and the guard data including Nash and Barbosa were affected, but then in the 08-09 season, Barbosa's personal data declined again, with only 14 points and 2.3 assists.

Then came the 09-10 season, Barbossa suffered an injury, and his personal data continued to shrink to 9.5 points, and then he was traded away.

At that time, there was also gossip entertainment media that Barbossa was traded because he cuckolded Nash, which led to Nash's divorce from his wife, but this matter was only a revelation and there was no direct evidence.

Some people even say that Nash only learned about the fact that he was cuckolded because he saw that the children born to his wife were black, but in fact, the three children born to Nash and his ex-wife are all white, which is purely a rumor by unscrupulous gossip media, a typical trick of three people into tigers.

Whether Nash's divorce from his ex-wife was a cheating or not, Wang Chao does not know, but he knows that Barbossa was at the peak of his career this season.

If the Suns offer Barbossa a big contract, that's the real trick, although not as good as the famous "money gets. "It's better to take money and not work, but it's definitely a loss-making business."

Getting Barbossa with a salary close to the standard of a mid-level contract gave Suns management a boost in confidence.

Although Wang Chao's data is a little better than Barbossa's, in their opinion, a slight increase in the price is almost the same, the other party is vainly trying to get the top salary, the appetite is too great, and other teams in the league may not give such an excessive offer.

Wang Chao naturally doesn't care about this, his mind is all on playing every game.

In March, the Suns had a total of 14 games, including strong teams such as the Mavericks, Spurs, Pistons, Jazz, etc., as well as teams such as the Lakers, Warriors, and Wizards who were on the verge of the playoffs and had to fight every game.

Under the surge of pressure, the Suns have a 9-5 record in 14 games, and although the winning rate has declined, it still maintains a high winning rate.

In these 14 games, Wang Chao has not relaxed for a moment, but whenever he is on the field, he is the one who runs most actively and plays the most desperately in the team.

Such a performance naturally made his average data per game continue to be stable at 20+ points, and even increased slightly compared to before, with an average of 20.9 points per game, only one step away from 21 points.

After the March game, the Suns only had 10 games left in April.

In these 10 games, even if Wang Chao relaxes a little, the average score per game will not drop below 20 points, which means that the system task he has been looking forward to for half a year is about to be completed!

Approaching the end of the regular season, Barkley has a sad face and a bitter expression every time he commentates on the game.

No way, the internet has no memory, but Kenny. Smith has.

Almost every time he was commentating on a game, Smith would kindly remind his good partner that his sentence was approaching.

"Good! The Cavaliers successfully defended the opponent's offense, James grabbed the rebound and launched a fast break directly, his speed was too fast, the opposing defenders didn't have time to settle down, and the fast break counterattack scored successfully! …… By the way, speaking of fast break, the Suns, another team in the league known for their fast break, won again yesterday, Wang Chao cut a game-high 27 points and 4 rebounds, and his average points per game have officially reached 21 points, Sir Charles, do you remember anything when you hear this name? Like a bet or something? ”

Or not.

"Ray Allen received a pass from his teammates on the outside and hit a three-point shot! He is the best three-point shooter in the league. Speaking of which, the strongest three-point shot this season is really the Suns' Wang Chao, who has scored more than 350 three-pointers in the regular season this season, which is a new record in the league, the reason why Wang Chao can average 21 points per game is precisely because of his amazing three-point shot, otherwise it would be difficult for him to average 21 points per game anyway! ”

Barkley: "......"

You're deliberately finding fault, aren't you? Just ask if you want it!

Barkley really wanted to pick up a watermelon knife and compare it with his partner, but that was obviously unrealistic.

The most important thing is that Barkley really didn't expect that Wang Chao's style of play, which always floats on the outside and shoots three-pointers, can really achieve an average of 20+ per game

As a traditional interior power forward in the '90s, he was really hard to understand.

But that's the way it is, and the league has been gradually changing the rules since the 90s to make them more friendly to outside players.

In 2000, the five-second rule was introduced, which limited the efficiency of the interior player's back-to-back singles.

In 2001, the NBA rules legalized joint defense, which on the one hand allowed top interior players like O'Neal to be constantly squeezed under the basket, and at the same time liberated the shooting space of outside players.

In 2004, the handcheck rule was abolished, and defenders could no longer use their arms or body to mark offensive players to apply pressure, and the space for outside players to shoot became better.

These rule changes have made the three-point shot begin to become more and more important.

Of course, the most critical role played by this was the redefinition of whether to encroach on the cylinder in 2013, and from that time on, the three-point shot began to usher in rapid development and became one of the key factors that can determine the outcome of the game.

This is why Curry joined the league in 09 and didn't really make a name for himself until 14, the frequent injuries in the first few years of his career are one of the reasons, and before the introduction of the cylinder rule, Curry, who is only 1.91 meters tall, has a narrow shooting space is another important reason.

Of course, this rule can only be regarded as the icing on the cake for Wang Chao, and it does not affect his ability to show his three-point shooting ability in the 06-07 season, because his height and arm span determine that when he shoots outside the three-point line, few players can really form an effective defense.

(End of chapter)