CHAPTER 1276: CHAPTER 516: A DEAL THAT HAD TO BE MADE

The next afternoon, a birthday party was being held at a vacation manor on Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles.

The party was lively, not as quiet as Kobe’s birthday. The Bobcats’ Double Guns and the owner and assistant coach Randy Brown, the Lakers’ Three Giants and some players, Big Luo Erha vacationing in Los Angeles, the Chicago Bulls’ outside defense group and some players, Nash... and O’Neal were all there, along with their families, and people from the entertainment circle, political and business circles joining in the fun.

Today’s party protagonist is Yao Ming.

But when Zhang Yang, Kobe, Yao Ming, and O’Neal sat together, the atmosphere was quite subtle.

Others were playing cards, drinking, and having fun with ladies, while the four sat together, staring at each other.

Big Shark: I should stall a bit, how could I say ’I’ll never be a backup for the Little Giant’? Should’ve waited until after this party! So awkward...

Old Ironsmith: That damn fat guy went to hug Zhang San’s thigh? Damn fat guy! Why hug his thigh and not mine? Is he traded there? No! I’m sure, even if the fat guy were a free agent, he’d go hug Zhang San’s thigh!

Zhang San: I thought I’d see the combination of Little Giant and Big Shark, such a pity, but... Little Duncan is growing too! Big Shark is backing him up!

Little Giant: I also think it’s a pity, huh? Why say also?

Zhang San, aren’t you usually chatty? Why mute today? Hey! What’s with that look like you’re watching a show? It’s your buddy’s birthday today! How about giving some face?

No relying on that rascal brother, Yao Ming could only take the initiative and speak to O’Neal: "Shaq, it’s really great you’re coming to the East, I can play against you twice more each year..."

O’Neal immediately chimed in: "Exactly, I think so too. Being your opponent is much more interesting than being your teammate."

Zhang Yang rolled his eyes, these two guy are too cunning together, Kobe is a tight-lipped person, definitely boring.

Last night, the Bobcats, Bulls, Suns, Clippers, and Trail Blazers completed a five-way blockbuster trade worth hundreds of millions, reigniting the free market that had been dormant for half a month. Now, looking online, sports forums and portal websites are all discussing this trade.

The core player of the trade was O’Neal.

The Suns sent out O’Neal, exchanged for Clippers’ 2007 first-round 14th pick player Al Thornton, Bulls’ Ben Wallace.

The Trail Blazers sent out Blake, Riff LaVrentz with a $12.17 million expiring contract, exchanged for Clippers’ Marcus Camby’s remaining 3-year total $34 million big contract, Bobcats’ Mike Miller.

The Clippers sent out Al Thornton, Camby, exchanged for Blake, LaVrentz.

The Bulls sent out Ben Wallace, exchanged for Brad Miller.

The Bobcats sent out two Millers, exchanged for O’Neal.

With nothing to see, Zhang Yang got up, let Kobe closer to the two giants, found Jordan who was joking with AJ executives.

This summer, ’Zhang Yang IV’ took advantage of the championship to sell explosively, executives were happy, the small boss was also happy.

Seeing Zhang Yang hesitant to speak, Qiao Tu: Aha! Here comes the questioning!

Jordan gave a look to the executives, walked Zhang Yang to the beach, said: "Is it because you want to ask why you weren’t consulted before suddenly trading Mike and Brad for O’Neal?"

Zhang Yang shook his head and replied: "Whether the trade needs to be notified to us beforehand is your management’s matter, I’m just a player, I want to know why Brad was sent to the Bulls? Mike and Brad’s contracts combined were enough to trade for O’Neal, right? I believe the Suns wouldn’t refuse both of them, Gentry’s tactics, Mike could play fast break, Brad could play half-court."

Jordan shook his head: "It’s not us wanting to send Brad to the Bulls, but the Suns only accept trades involving Ben Wallace."

Zhang Yang was puzzled and asked: "Big Shark’s face?"

Jordan nodded: "Yes, Kerr doesn’t dare cut O’Neal, and can’t continue keeping O’Neal. Now everyone already knows his decision to trade Marion for O’Neal was extremely wrong, but he still doesn’t dare casually trade O’Neal to a team; as a GM, he’s just as useless as when he played."

Zhang San restrained the impulse to roll his eyes: Wasn’t it because he beat you up years ago, and you’re still bad-mouthing him?

He asked another question: "I heard O’Neal refused to go to the Bulls, if we don’t join, the trade involving O’Neal and Wallace wouldn’t go through, right?"

In less than a day after the trade was completed, many details had already been quickly dug out by the media.

Actually, the Suns and Bulls had reached an agreement in late August, swapping Big Shark and Big Ben, but when Steve Kerr communicated this to O’Neal, O’Neal’s reply was— "I’d rather die than be Yao’s backup, trade me and I’ll retire."

Steve Kerr is truly a genius, he conveyed the original words to the Chicago Bulls management, maybe it’s the sentiment for his old employer?

After hearing O’Neal’s response, the Chicago Bulls management hesitated on this trade. If Big Ben and O’Neal’s contracts were the same, they would swap without hesitation. Even if O’Neal directly announced retirement, they wouldn’t lose much.

But Big Ben’s salary is over 5 million less than O’Neal’s, and they would have to send Tim Thomas to balance the contract. After Joe Smith left, Tim Thomas became their very important space-type inside player.

Jordan knew this was what Zhang Yang was referring to and responded, "The exchange between the two teams indeed can’t proceed, but Kerr’s most important task this summer is to send O’Neal away. I heard from old friends at the Chicago Bulls that both the Phoenix Suns and the Chicago Bulls are looking for a third party, and Kerr is actively thinking of ways to help the Chicago Bulls reduce risk... At this point, the choice comes to us. If Yao starts + O’Neal as backup center is established, our pressure increases. After discussing with Bernie and Rick, we decided to actively join."

Zhang Yang thought for a moment, playing 30 minutes with Yao Ming + 20 minutes with O’Neal, and there has been rumor, Heavenly Venerate has been staying in Chicago all summer, going to see operas every day, always flirting with the Chicago Bulls... Yikes!

Jordan continued, "After we joined, the initial trade method from the Phoenix Suns was for us to send Mike and Brad to the Chicago Bulls, and the Chicago Bulls send Wallace and Thomas to the Phoenix Suns. But Bernie and Rick rejected this trade. They could let go of Brad, but not Mike to either the Chicago Bulls or the Phoenix Suns. Later, we brought the Trail Blazers with salary space into the picture, they’re very interested in Mike and willing to use their space."

Zhang Yang curiously asked, "Doesn’t this mean sending people to the Trail Blazers for free, will the Chicago Bulls agree?"

Jordan laughed, "Whether the Chicago Bulls agree doesn’t matter, O’Neal agreed. Bernie guessed it right, as long as we joined wanting to get O’Neal, O’Neal would definitely be interested because you are here."

"Since it’s like this, why don’t we kick out the Chicago Bulls and trade with the Phoenix Suns and Trail Blazers alone?"

Jordan’s expression was a bit vexed upon hearing this, and he responded, "It’s still the same reason, because he’s Big Shark, Kerr needs to give O’Neal face, even if O’Neal himself doesn’t want it, he has to be given."

Zhang Yang’s expression was also vexed, "Alright, I understand, trading Big Shark for Big Ben is not an option, it’s a necessary condition... Is this how you management do trades?"

Jordan shrugged, "When I was a player, I also didn’t understand why some trades had to be done or done in a certain way, but when I first became the president of a team in ’01, I realized some things are not just decided by being president or owner."

Zhang Yang, "So what’s up with the Clippers? How did they get involved?"

Jordan, "That part is the Trail Blazers’ maneuver. They want other teams with space to help absorb the necessary space. Camby’s salary for next season is 11 million, LaVrentz’s expiring contract is a bit over 12 million, plus Blake’s 4 million. Pulling the Clippers in, after the Trail Blazers absorb Mike’s 9.13 million salary, they only use up less than 4 million space, leaving over 4 million space. Didn’t they do another trade this morning?"

Zhang Yang remembered, in a forgotten corner this morning there was a trade, the Trail Blazers sent their other 2005 high schooler Martell Webster’s 3-year, 15 million contract to the Timberwolves, along with a 2011 protected first-round pick in exchange for Andre Miller.

Old Miller’s career was also quite bumpy, the 8th pick in the ’99 class, performed excellently during the rookie contract, earning the assist title in the third year. But the Cavaliers didn’t value him, in the summer of ’02, shortly after earning the assist title, he was almost given away for free to the Clippers by the Cavaliers.

Those years, the Clippers used players until their rookie contracts were up and then tossed them, no renewals. In the summer of ’03, not only did they not offer Miller a renewal, but they didn’t even execute the qualifying clause. Miller became an unrestricted free agent, at which point the Nuggets offered him a long 6-year contract, preserving some dignity for the assist king.

But good times didn’t last long. In ’06, after Miller endured the Nuggets growing period and as they progressed forward, he was traded for Iverson.

He played well with the 76ers too, last August, the 76ers offered him a 3-year renewal contract ahead of schedule. He was already 32 at that time, with 4 years remaining on the contract, by the end he would be 36, he declared, "I’m going to live in Philadelphia for the rest of my life."

But 10 months later, before the draft, he was traded from the 76ers to the Timberwolves, who lacked everything but young potential. The 76ers just needed young potential.

Now, less than 3 months after being traded, without having played a match for the Timberwolves, old Miller was traded again...

Zhang Yang thought of something and laughed, "Wonder if Miller bought a house in Minneapolis, if so, he’d suffer a big loss."

Qiao Tu: ??? You thought for a while and that’s your response? What kind of reasoning is this?

However, seeing Zhang Yang starting to diverge from the topic, Jordan knew the matter was over.

He responded, "Buying a house now wouldn’t be a loss, he’s a player with tens of millions in salary, the location of the house wouldn’t be bad, now’s the time when house prices are at their lowest tide, it’ll definitely rise when the economy recovers. I’ve bought a lot of good properties in New York, do you want to buy some too?"

Zhang Yang, "I’ll pass, you should talk to my dad, he might be interested. But Paul Allen is really decisive! For the 33-year-old Andre Miller and Mike, who has only one year left on his contract, they just sent Webster and Blake away and took Camby’s big contract. Originally, they could have freed a lot of space next summer, didn’t leave any retreat?"

Jordan, "For Paul Allen, managing the Trail Blazers is just his game, he wouldn’t care about a ’retreat’, even if it fails, all it means is paying luxury tax for a few more years to him..."

Having understood the situation, Zhang Yang did not continue the conversation with Jordan, deciding to play cards with the likes of Daluo, Erha, Little Fat, and Teacher Na instead, bringing along several thousand US dollars, refusing to believe he would lose every time!

After Zhang Yang left, Randy Brown came to Jordan’s side and said, "Michael, Jack has become more mature, two key players from last season who won 70 games and the championship were sent away, and he’s so calm."

Jordan shook his head, "This isn’t a good thing. If it weren’t for the Suns boss ordering Kerr to send O’Neal away but also maintaining O’Neal’s dignity, we wouldn’t have joined such a trade, we would wait for Mike and Brad’s contracts to expire and let them leave on their own... Bernie called me after completing the trade, telling me something. He thinks that after Allen left, Jack’s sense of belonging to our team has significantly decreased, he cares less about others, only really cares about Raymond now. I think he guessed it right."

Randy Brown, "No wonder you’re so patient this time..."