The news of Doon's contract extension was like a ringing arrow, and there was no movement in the newly opened free market.

However, as Doon and the Bulls took the lead in completing the contract extension, the new stars of the 03 platinum generation have sprung up and negotiated contract extensions with their respective parent teams.

Like Doon and Wade, who helped the team win the championship in their rookie contracts, and met the Doon clause, they directly extended their contracts with a salary cap of 30%.

And the likes of James and Anthony didn't win the regular season MVP and failed to bring the team a championship, but only made one or two playoff games, relying on becoming an All-Star starter to meet the Doon clause.

In fact, only 25% to 27% of the guarantee part can be obtained, and the remaining 3% to 5% part belongs to the incentive clause.

After all, the parent team has the advantage of renewing the contract, and other teams can't grab people, in fact, they only give a 25% contract with the highest salary, which is not shabby.

However, they are all self-selected princes, and the life will continue, so they must be coaxed with some sweetness.

At the same time, in order to prevent his own prince from being unmotivated, the new contract still needs to maintain some gaps with the contracts of Doon and Wade.

Speaking of Bosh, he is still one gear behind James and Anthony, and can only take 25%.

The rest of Hinrich, Carman, David West, and Josh Howard are not the big names of the team, with only about 20% of the sub-cap salary, and they don't even have player options.

However, last season's league salary cap was only 53 million, even if the 30% salary cap was less than 16 million, and the 25% was more than 13 million.

You must know that last season, there were 13 stars in the NBA with an annual salary of more than 16 million, and 17 next season.

Although Doon and Wade got the top salary of the rookie, they are still a big step away from the top salary of veterans like Garnett, O'Neal, O'Neal Jr., Kidd, Kobe, Duncan, Iverson, and Maddy.

Speaking of which, the Bulls are still eating Doon's rookie bonus next season.

Every year, there are sixteen playoff teams in the East and West, and the leaders of these teams are naturally eligible to receive the league's top salary.

Doon is tied for 18th place with Wade in salary next season.

If other stars are compared with Doon, those stars who have more salaries than Doon, except for O'Neal, Kobe and Duncan, the rest of the stars who have not won the championship are undoubtedly "high salaries and low energy".

However, this summer, Garnett, who is the most "high-paid and incompetent", was coaxed by the free market.

In fact, Garnett's contract has not expired, and there are two years left including the player option.

Considering the actual situation, Garnett is 31 years old, and he is not at his peak as an interior player for a few years, and Garnett failed to lead the team to the Western Conference playoffs this year.

Garnett is also aware of his current situation, seeing that the Timberwolves have no chance of winning a championship.

If Timberwolves management doesn't trade him to a championship-winning team, jumping out of his contract will be a foregone conclusion next summer.

Before the peak is over, Garnett will definitely join the championship team and fight again.

The vast majority of teams across the league know this, and the rebuilding team doesn't need Garnett, after all, spending a lot of money to own Garnett will only have Garnett's one-year right to use it.

The teams that are interested in competing for the title next season are more looking forward to Garnett's arrival.

After all, commenting on the strength of stars these years is not about looking at the table, but looking at the data.

Those who have watched the game know that Garnett does have a very big influence in the game!

Don't look at Garnett, who always fights and retreats, but this year, the focus is on defense to win championships!

Garnett can defend, grab rebounds, provide stable 18 to 20 points on the offensive end, and can also use trash talk to make opponents have the mentality that a champion team leader should have.

Moreover, everyone knows that Garnett wants to win the championship before he retires.

The championship team gets Garnett, and there is no need to worry that Garnett will rely on the old man to play his temper and spoil the team's locker room and chemistry, and at the same time, he does not have to worry about Garnett coming to support and mess up after joining.

In other words, after getting Garnett, Garnett will definitely take the initiative and find ways to help the team achieve better results.

It is for these reasons that Garnett, the most expensive star in the league and who has never proven himself on the Finals stage, will be the center of attention this summer.

In fact, long before the start of free agency, some teams had already begun to contact Garnett in violation of the law.

However, this year, the management is not very strict, and the alliance official has not spoken.

More often than not, some media outlets have gossip that some championship contenders are making some contact with Garnett.

At the same time, some teams are in contact with the Timberwolves to discuss specific plans to trade Garnett.

After all, Garnett is a "big box office", not only powerful, but also very popular.

Perhaps, the league also wanted to rely on "where Garnett goes" to maintain the heat in the offseason, so it didn't intervene too much.

As for the Timberwolves, they also know that Garnett is about to leave if he wants to win the championship.

Therefore, as early as the end of the regular season, the Timberwolves revealed to many teams that they wanted to congratulate Garnett on leaving.

Among them, the Celtics were the first to know about the news, and they are also the most active side in the race for Garnett.

Now Celtics general manager Danny Ainge and Timberwolves general manager Kevin McHale are veterans, the two are friends who won the NBA championship together in the Celtics, and they were also beaten by the Pistons Bad Boys Army, and then retired one after another.

It is also because of this relationship that McHale still wants to help the old players and the old club to send Garnett to the Celtics.

It's just that Garnett made an early statement through his agent Andy Miller - Celtics, dogs don't go!

After all, the Celtics have a hard time reaching the playoffs in the East just because of their current strength, and there is no way to beat the Bulls, who now dominate the league, with the addition of Garnett alone.

For Garnett, he is still more looking forward to joining a giant like the Lakers.

Los Angeles is one of the largest cities in the United States, and this is the place Garnett, who has been playing in the snow and ice of Minnesota all year round, has always dreamed of.

And Garnett has a good relationship with Kobe, both of whom are very hungry for championships, and they are both offensive and defensive stars.

In Garnett's mind, joining a runner-up team like the Lakers in a big city is undoubtedly the best option of all trade options.

However, the Lakers' desire to acquire Garnett is not very strong.

It's not that the Lakers are reluctant to give draft picks, but they have given a lot before, and now they don't have many chips to make another trade.

In addition, as the main body of the trade Garnett, the Lakers are only willing to give Odom.

Just looking at Gasol's performance in this year's playoffs and finals, the Lakers are relatively satisfied.

In addition, the Lakers are also relatively short of a qualified point guard, and Hinrich's configuration is okay.

If Garnett is traded for Hinrich and Odom, the Lakers will also need to address the lack of a primary point guard.

In fact, if the Timberwolves general manager is not McHale, the Lakers still have the hope of trading point draft picks from other teams, and then trading Odom plus draft picks to get Garnett.

But in these years, the Lakers and the Celtics are still feuds and mortal enemies, so McHale is cheap to other teams, and it is impossible to cheap the Lakers.

After all, the Lakers' championship count will soon catch up with the Celtics.

Therefore, the Lakers' trade with the Timberwolves has been put on hold for the time being.

The next teams to contact the Timberwolves are the Suns, Knicks, and Cavaliers.

The Suns are also the team Garnett would prefer to go to, but the Timberwolves named for Smalls, and they need at least two first-round picks.

As for the Cavaliers and Knicks, unless James and Anthony, the two leading stars, are not for sale, the others are optional.

It's a pity that the Timberwolves can't look down on it at all, the Timberwolves are going to tear down the rebuild, and they only need stars who can sell tickets and more draft picks in the next few years.

The Cavaliers and Knicks are able to make the playoffs in the East, and draft picks are worthless for years to come.

Except for James and Anthony, who were thrown off by Doon and Wade, who were also in the 03rd class, the rest are not popular.

Just when the negotiations between the teams and the Timberwolves were at an impasse, the Celtics started to do things again.

Since Garnett thinks that the Celtics are not strong enough and lack the strength to win the championship, he will continue to strengthen until he can be recognized by Garnett.

Celtics general manager Danny Ainge sees people more accurately, pinching the Seattle SuperSonics to change owners, and is ready to start a rebuild.

So it cost a little to get Ray Allen in a trade, so that the SuperSonics can correct the somewhat handsome Durant.

And after Ray Allen officially joined the Celtics, Danny Ajee approached McHale again, hoping that the veteran players could help.

At the same time, Danny Ange is also in private contact with Garnett, hoping to reach an early consensus and make Garnett a part of the Green Army.

However, it was at this time that Bulls general manager John Paxson chose to intervene.

"What? Byron Davis and Tyson Chandler trade Garnett? ”

Doon, who was on vacation in Las Vegas, actually had to come to supervise the men's basketball team because of the Las Vegas summer league training, was also shocked by John Paxson's generosity after learning the news.

This summer, after the Bulls renewed Dwan's contract, they didn't make a big move, and they were basically seeing a move.

Some teams wanted to bet on Milicic's talent and gave a four-year, 30 million poison contract.

Perhaps John Paxson had been planning to trade Tyson Chandler for a long time, so he chose to match the offer to renew Milicic's contract.

As for Dio and Andrés Nocioni, it's a little bit of a pity.

The outside contract is too big, and it is a sub-maximum salary of about 40 million for 4 years, which is the price of the team's three leaders under normal circumstances.

If the contract is a little smaller, the Bulls will sign first and then trade, and it will not be a problem to support the salary space for a year, after all, as long as the trade expires the contract, it can earn a few draft picks.

However, with two big contracts with a maximum salary of 40 million times in a row, the Bulls can't bear it.

After all, if the Bulls want to continue to be competitive for the championship, they will definitely renew Ben Gordon, Roel Deng, and Josh Smith next year.

Normally, these three are all 4-year 40 million level sub-top salary, if other teams want to grab people, 4 years 50 million is not certain.

That is, by next season, the Bulls will have at least 30 million more salaries and luxury tax pressure.

And the Bulls, after renewing their contract with Doane's maximum salary, have exceeded the luxury tax line by several million and will have to pay the luxury tax from next season.

Bulls owner Jerry Rainsdorf picks the door and John Paxson knows all too well as the general manager.

In order to win the championship, there is no problem in paying a luxury tax of one or two million for a few years, as long as the team can make a profit.

But if he is asked to pay 40 or 50 million luxury taxes a year, and the team may lose money if it doesn't win the championship, then Jerry Reinsdorf will definitely not be happy to do it.

Even if the team only earns one or two million a year, Jerry Reinsdorf will not be happy and will inevitably ask him to clear the team's salary space.

After all, you can earn fifty or sixty million a year, and no one wants to accept that you can only earn one or two million.

Also because of the salary pressure in the next few years, John Paxson can't do much.

Who would have thought that John Paxson was so bold, and it was clear that Garnett was about to join the Celtics, and suddenly used Byron Davis and Tyson Chandler as bargaining chips to meddle in Garnett's deal.

Admittedly, the most important thing for the defending champions is consistency.

John Paxson used the two-time champions of Byron Davis and Tyson Chandler as bargaining chips to trade the Timberwolves, whether this happens or not, it will hurt the Bulls' internal unity and ruin the Bulls' locker room atmosphere.

However, from the perspective of the general manager, John Paxson was too clever to intervene this time.

Once Garnett joined the Celtics, the Celtics formed a Big Three lineup.

In this case, which team is the biggest threat?

There is no doubt that it is the defending champion in the East - the Chicago Bulls!

Well, in order to defuse the impending and possible crisis, the bulls certainly cannot sit idly by.

John Paxson, who is the general manager of the Bulls, said: "Don't worry, I'll make a move. ”

John Paxson took two of last season's All-Star starters and traded with the Timberwolves for Garnett.

Garnett is worth more than an All-Star, that's for sure.

However, Garnett's expiring contract with the highest salary in the league is certainly not worth two All-Star starters in their prime.

From the Timberwolves' perspective, this trade must have come from the sky.

Everyone else just trades an All-Star bench or a quasi-All-Star, at most a few draft picks, and a garbage player with a salary.

And the Bulls directly did charity, trading the championship-winning team inside and outside to the Timberwolves.

If this deal can be made, maybe the Timberwolves will make the playoffs next season!

"Are you sure you don't want to post a few picks? That's okay, just knock Garnett unconscious and send him on the plane! ”

For the Bulls, the Celtics don't have Garnett, and there are no interior stars on the market, so it's definitely unlikely that they want to wrestle with the Bulls next season.

In this way, a crisis is naturally resolved!

At the same time, the Bulls have also made room for Ben Gordon, Milicic and others, and the young players will continue to be alive.

In other words, Doane also quickly woke up after hearing the news of the Bulls' meddling in Garnett's trade.

"It's kind of like the decision 1 to bring the talent to the South Coast!"

After being beaten by the Celtics Big Three for a few years, he definitely doesn't want another team with stars in the East.

However, at this time, if you can "add me to one", then there is no doubt that all difficulties will be solved, and it will be easy to win the championship.

Today, John Paxson's strategy is to harm others and benefit himself, to feed the enemy and turn the enemy into a friend.

It's worth mentioning that this is still a ploy, because John Paxson is very sincere in offering a trade plan that the Timberwolves can't refuse.

Once the Bulls get Garnett, then Doon plus Garnett, plus a group of young players who are full of energy and have been following Doane to win the championship for two years, and veterans who desperately want to come to the Bulls to hug their thighs to win the championship, the league will directly usher in the finale.

If other teams don't want to sit idly by and watch the Bulls get Garnett and complete the feat of three consecutive championships, then they will have to smash the pot and scrape together at least two All-Star players.

It can only be said that with the intervention of the Bulls, it is certain that the Timberwolves will definitely win.

As for the bulls, whether the trade is successful or not, they will not lose money in short.

After all, the team that got Garnett has already paid the price of two All-Stars, and it does not have the strength to win the championship and cannot threaten the Bulls.

And the Bulls have also defused the crisis of the Celtics' Big Three ahead of time, and at the same time ruined a championship team that could get Garnett.

If the Bulls can get Garnett, even if they can't win the championship, they can get together with Garnett next summer and release more than 20 million salary space.

If he completes the three consecutive championships, then maybe he can still negotiate with Garnett to let him jump out of the big contract of more than 20 million yuan and sign a multi-year pension contract with an annual salary of 10 million.

When the time comes, the Bulls will also be able to alleviate some salary pressure and pay some less luxury tax.

Considering Garnett's form, for at least the next three seasons, he has the strength of the best two players.

The Bulls will undoubtedly retain the possibility of winning the championship until the salary pressure completely explodes, and then sit silent for a while to find the next championship window.

(End of chapter)