"Sir, a supersonic quote." Troy Weaver's assistant knocked on the door and said.

"What's there?"

He took the quotation and looked at it, and immediately scoffed, "Whithitt is really a trader, is he trying to exchange construction waste for diamonds?" ”

"Send it back."

After thinking about it, he picked up the pen, crossed out all the names on the quotation in one stroke, and then swiped a few times, wrote down two names, and handed them back to the assistant.

The assistant took a look, good guys, Gary Payton + Sean Kemp.

Troy Weaver had some expectations, and if the SuperSonics did agree to trade Gary Payton and Sean Camp for Iron Fist, it would be a very good deal for the Pistons.

Think about it, Gary Payton's point guard, Joe Dumas's point guard, this guard combination may not be as strong as Iron Fist and Joe Dumas, but with Sean Kemp and Rodman on the inside, the Pistons will be so strong that they will explode, even stronger than last season's lineup.

As soon as he thought of this, he was excited, hoping that SuperSonics would soon agree.

It's a pity that within three minutes, the assistant came in and informed him that Supersonic had rejected and had not sent a new quotation.

"It's a pity!"

He felt very sorry.

……

At the Lakers headquarters, early in the morning, owner Jerry Buss rushed to the office of general manager Jerry West to discuss a trade with him.

Jerry West was ready and handed a list of chips to Buss, who took a look at AC Green, the No. 15 pick in '92, the No. 27 pick in '90, Elden Campbell, plus the '94 unprotected first-round pick.

"Is it enough?"

After only a moment's notice, Buzz asked, looking up.

Jerry West scratched his head and said: "These three players are good, Green is in his playing years, Babel and Peeler have great potential, let's try it first, we don't have too many chips, if we are not satisfied, we can only press more draft picks." ”

"We have Iron Fist, we have a future, he's only 21 years old, and when we have him, the record won't be too bad, and future draft picks won't mean much to us.

And with him, combined with the attraction of Los Angeles to the stars, we can attract those stars in the free market and quickly build a championship-winning roster. ”

The more Buzz spoke, the more excited he became, and even stood up excitedly.

Jerry West sighed in his heart, if he can trade Iron Fist, of course, the draft pick is not important, but he is afraid that the trade will not be successful, because there are many opponents, and each team will give everything to make a trade.

"Contacted Roger Philip? We also need to show our sincerity to the Iron Fist. Bass said.

"Contacted, according to the boss, you mean, security, parking spaces, home tickets, 100 million yuan contract, the tactical position of the big core." West said.

"Then contact the Pistons right away." Bass was a little impatient.

"Okay."

"Also, Tekken has arrived in Los Angeles, so we'll see him right away." Old Bass said.

……

Oakland, where the Warriors are headquartered, management is in a meeting to prepare for the trade.

The name of the main point guard Tim Hardaway has become a major trade chip, even the team's spiritual leader Chris Mullin, and the name of last year's No. 24 pick in the first round, Trill Sprewell, is also written on paper.

The Warriors were the team that selected Zhou Quan, of course, according to the requirements of the Pistons, so they have no regrets, and now they just want to trade Zhou Quan.

The team didn't even make it to the playoffs in this just-concluded season, only rushing to tenth place in the West, with only 34 wins.

But the Warriors' lineup is actually not bad, what is lacking is defense, which is a problem that the lineup is not very reasonable.

The Warriors still have some confidence in the trade week, because Oakland is located in the Greater Bay Area, across the bridge from San Francisco, has a good economy, and the potential ball market is very large, as long as the team plays a record, these potentials will explode and form a real big ball market.

And the reason why the alliance wants to get Zhou Quan to the west is also clear, and this is where the confidence of the management lies.

"Send me the quote." Gary St. Jean, the general manager of the Warriors, said.

……

All of a sudden, the Pistons received multiple offers from Western Conference teams, and Troy Weaver was dazzled.

Roger Philippe was also very busy, and he also received a copy of all the offers, and then the next contract promised by the teams.

Zhou Quan has two years left on his rookie contract, and the last year is a player option, and after playing next season, he will be a veteran, because he was traded by the team, and the veteran power can be inherited by the next team, so after next season, he also meets the veteran clause, which is the Larry Bird clause, commonly known as bird rights.

In other words, after next season, Zhou Quan can sign a bird rights contract with the team as a free agent.

The so-called bird rights contract is that you can not be restricted by the salary cap, how much the boss thinks you are worth, as long as he wants, he can open you as much as the contract, there is no cap.

And because there are currently no luxury tax rules, there will be no penalty from the Union.

Of the thirteen teams in the West, six teams contacted him, including the Lakers promising to send Zhou Quan a contract of 100 million yuan next year.

Zhou, the Lakers promised a 10-year, $120 million contract with a starting salary of $4.5 million for the 94/95 season. Larry Johnson's contract is 12 years 110 million, but his contract has a lot of restrictions, and yours doesn't have a fully guaranteed contract, and it can be negotiated. What do you mean? ”

"It's too long, ten years, it's the next century, maybe the annual salary of an ordinary All-Star player can easily reach tens of millions in the future. Rogge, I will accept a five-year contract at most, and the total amount of the contract does not have to be hundreds of millions, and the average annual salary must of course be tens of millions, and I want a veteran contract. ”

"Alright, I'll let the Lakers know."

"Rogge, what about the Kings you talked about last time?"

"Well, although Sacramento is the capital of California and the economy is okay, the population is small, the city is not big, and the ball market is in the fifth tier like the current Pistons, they can only trade you with players, but they can't offer you a contract of 100 million yuan."

"It's okay to be worse."

"But the city is small, and it's not good for your development. Zhou, the Lakers are the best choice, I see? ”

Philip very much hopes that Zhou Quan will go to the Lakers, and the old Bass and West have also contacted him many times, full of sincerity, if Zhou Quan goes to the Lakers, it will be a strong combination.

Zhou Quan was noncommittal, suddenly picked up the team list and looked at it, and asked suspiciously: "Rogge, there are no trailblazers?" ”

Philip nodded, "The Trailblazers didn't contact me. ”

Zhou Quan doesn't quite understand, the Trail Blazers have a glider and reached the finals the year before last, but today they stopped in the first round, and the lineup is no longer good, don't the Trail Blazers want to trade him?

In fact, Portland is also good, the City of Roses, the economy is not bad, the population size is also good, the consumption power is not bad, there is a ball market foundation, it belongs to the third ball market, and there is potential for improvement.

The important thing is that the boss is rich, does he look down on him? It's also possible.

He looked again, there are no Trail Blazers, no SuperSonics, and no Warriors, and the cities where these three teams are located are all metropolitan areas in the West, and they don't look down on him?

The SuperSonics have Gary Payton at the No. 1 position, and the Warriors have Tim Hardaway at the No. 1 slot, and it doesn't seem like he's really needed.

"Rogge, except for the Lakers, the other teams are all small teams, except for the Trail Blazers, the SuperSonics and the Warriors, are they all interested in me?" He asked.

Roger Philip shook his head and said: "SuperSonics is not clear, the Warriors originally wanted to trade you, but the Warriors, a thousand-year-old bad team, is too bad, there is no team culture, I actually don't support you to go to the Warriors."

And the owner of the team, like Mr. Bill Davidson, wants to sell the team, and the Warriors can't give you a big contract, so ......"

Speaking of this, he paused and said a little awkwardly: "Actually, the Warriors contacted me, but their contract didn't satisfy me. They would love to trade you, but the team's operations don't support it and can't give us the contract we want.

Zhou, I suggest you don't go to the Warriors, the Warriors owners are really selling the team, the management is not stable, and there is a lot of chaos inside. ”

"How big is the contract they give?" Zhou Quan asked.

Philip said: "90 million in 10 years. ”

Zhou Quan pondered for a moment, shook his head and said, "It's too long." ”

Philip opened his mouth, tempted to say that it was not only too long, but also too small, but he didn't dare to say it.

At this time, his mobile phone rang, and when he saw that it was Jerry West's phone, he hung up after a few simple words, and then said to Zhou Quan: "Zhou, Lakers owner Jerry Buss came to visit you." ”

"Rogge, you and the warrior will be in touch again." Zhou Quan said.

“OK。” Philip hurriedly agreed.

Soon after, Zhou Quan met Jerebus and Jerry West at the hotel, and the four of them chatted together for an hour.

After sending Buzz and West away, Philip received a reply from the Warriors, 60 million for 5 years.

Zhou Quan agreed, and asked the Warriors to negotiate a trade with the Pistons.

Although Philip didn't support Zhou Quan to go to the Warriors, he couldn't stop it.

Zhou Quan explained: "Although the Warriors are going to change owners, and there will be fluctuations in management, the lineup is not bad, and I don't want to have only one option for the Lakers. ”

Philip is just more supportive of the Lakers between the Lakers and the Warriors, but it's actually okay to go to the Warriors, at least it belongs to the Greater Bay Area, there are many Chinese, and Zhou Quan's commercial value should be well improved, so he didn't say anything.

……

After receiving Philip's response, some small ball city teams no longer handed in new contracts, unable to keep up with the rhythm, and the average annual salary is tens of millions, but only signed for five years, not cost-effective, no matter how powerful Zhou Quan is, he is not an American, and his popularity in the United States cannot surpass Jordan, and he cannot create great value for the Bulls like Jordan.

And the Lakers, when they met with Zhou Quan, had already offered a new contract, $57.18 million for five years, $5.68 million for the 94/95 season, 8.5 million for the second year, 12.5 million for the third year, 1450 for the fourth year, and the final year for the 98/99 season, which is a team option of 16 million.

Of course, Zhou Quan did not decide to go to the Lakers, and also said that he would not put pressure on the Pistons, he only promised and did not refuse the Lakers.

……

In the next two days, Zhou Quan signed global brand endorsements with five international brands, two of which are American brands and three are European brands, all of which are first-line brands.

The second- and third-tier brand endorsements are not counted, plus the original two first-line brands, and now he has seven first-class international brand endorsements, and then counting the endorsements of Ford and Skechers, it is nine.

The endorsement of Cadillac, which is owned by Ford, is not in a hurry to decide, and Cadillac wants Zhou Quan to perform well in the next professional golf tournament, so he has not signed a contract yet.

This endorsement is very important to Zhou Quan, Cadillac is a top luxury car brand, and to get its sponsorship is a recognition of his commercial value and personal temperament.

The five new endorsements are all for a period of 3 years, and the contract amount adds up to 61 million US dollars, which can have an after-tax income of 10 million US dollars per year.

The San Francisco leg of the golf course was held on the 10th, and after coming to Los Angeles, Zhou Quan focused on training.

Fortunately, this sport does not consume much physical energy, and when training, he sits on a golf cart for medium and long-distance actions to save physical energy.

At noon on the 5th, a Los Angeles media suddenly broke the news that the second contract that the Lakers provided to Zhou Quan was exposed.

You must know that Jordan's contract in the 92/93 season is only $4 million, and if Zhou Quan gets this contract next year, it will be the highest salary in the league.

Even if he won the championship and FMVP, his popularity is still not as good as Jordan's, and the first person on active duty is still Jordan, with an average annual salary of 11.4 million, which has scared countless people and made many NBA stars look forward to their next contract.

After the news broke, Lakers management was so annoyed that they eventually locked up the typist in the general manager's office, who overheard West's conversation with Buss, admitted that he was the one who provided the news to the media, and then the management fired him.

……

By this time, the owner of the Trail Blazers, Paul Allen, had arrived in Portland by private jet from New York.

The purpose of his trip was to discuss with the Trailblazers management how to trade Zhou Quan.

He took over the team in '88 and spent more than $70 million, when the Lakers were only worth $40 million, and then decided to invest $200 million in the Trail Blazers at the end of last year to build a new arena.

In the past few days, the management has been arguing whether to continue to maintain the original lineup with the glider Drexler as the core, or to rebuild and join the ranks of the competitive iron fist, arguing endlessly, and there is no result, which makes him so anxious that he rushed over today.

The management was waiting for him, and as soon as he got out of the car, he said to the general manager, Hans Wilder: "Hans, contact Tekken's agent immediately and ask him and Tekken to visit Portland, and I will send a private jet to pick them up." ”

Hans is the one who advocates reconstruction, and when he heard the boss's words, his face suddenly flashed with joy, but after thinking about it, he said: "Boss, I'm afraid not, Iron Fist is going to participate in the San Francisco Tour on the 10th, and he is training in Los Angeles to catch time." ”

Paul Allen patted his head and smiled, "I forgot." ”

He thought for a moment and said, "In this case, you and I will go to Los Angeles and leave now." ”

“OK。”

Hans Wildter said happily.

The management who did not agree with the reconstruction did not object again, after all, the bosses agreed, and they objected, isn't that uncomfortable?

"Boss, about the contract?" Hans Wildter asked.

Paul Allen smiled and said, "I don't care about the money, I just want to see the Trail Blazers reach the Finals again and win the championship." ”

……

(End of chapter)