Chapter 142: The dust has settled, and the knights are signed
On July 7, the farce over Wade's contract extension with the Miami Heat finally came to an end.
The Chicago Bulls signed Wade with a two-year contract worth a total of 47.5 million. After realizing it, the Heat urgently offered a contract extension with an annual salary of 20 million, but it was already too late.
What Wade is fighting for is not the size of the contract, but the issue of dignity. He has been fighting for the Heat for more than ten years. He has won countless honors during his military career. He also took the initiative to cut his salary for the team, but he never thought that he would end his career at the end of his career.
Being treated like this.
Within a few days of the opening of the free market, the Heat cast their nets everywhere in an attempt to catch big fish, but failed to grab Durant and failed to recruit other stars. But even so, they were unwilling to give Wade the salary he deserved.
Hassan Whiteside will be given 98 million in 4 years.
Dragic spent 90 million dollars in 5 years without blinking an eye.
Even Wade, a good old guy with a gentle personality, couldn't bear this kind of attitude.
It's just that Wade switched to the Bulls. Not only the Heat fans were disappointed, but also the Cavaliers fans who hoped to reorganize the James connection in Cleveland.
Although we knew that the possibility of Wade joining the Cavaliers was very small, Cavaliers fans were still disappointed when this was actually confirmed.
More importantly, as the dust of Wade's signing has settled, there are not many players with strength left in the free market. It is very likely that the final result will be that the Cavaliers not only fail to sign, but also lose the Tristan sent in the trade.
.Thompson and Shumpert deserve their money.
Fortunately, worried Cavaliers fans did not have to wait too long.
On July 10, the Cavaliers officially announced that they had reached an agreement with free agent Wang Feng and would sign Wang Feng at a price of 18 million for one year.
In the coming year, Wang Feng will wear the Cavaliers' No. 1 jersey and compete in the NBA.
Once this news was announced, it immediately caused a violent response in the alliance.
"Wang Feng actually went to the Knights?"
"Hahaha! Isn't this too ridiculous? When the Warriors sign Durant, the Cavaliers can only pick up unwanted players and sign them, and they only sign them for one year."
"James doesn't think that by signing Wang Feng, he can compete with the Warriors? No, right?"
Wang Feng's performance in the finals was remarkable, and he also performed quite well in the regular season playoffs last season, but this also depends on who he is competing with.
As the top star in the league, Kevin Durant's strength can be ranked high even in the history of the league! He is not at the same level as Wang Feng.
Even with Wang Feng, it may be difficult for the Cavaliers to compete with the Warriors.
But the deal is done, and there are currently no big fish in the league's free market. Even if Wang Feng is not signed, there is no better option.
Therefore, Cavaliers fans can only reluctantly admit this fact. At any rate, this proves that the Cavaliers management team is not sitting still and is working hard to change this desperate situation.
Wang Feng's three-point shooting and perimeter defense are also a huge improvement for the Cavaliers, especially perimeter defense, which may actually become an important weapon for the team to contain Durant.
A few days later, Wang Feng officially signed a contract with the Cavaliers.
18 million a year is a bit low for Wang Feng's worth. Many teams have offered him the maximum salary before, which is a four-year contract of 95 million. The salary in the first year alone is as high as 22 million.
Including after the Heat lost Wade, they also provided Wang Feng with a maximum salary offer.
But there is no way. What Wang Feng wants is a one-year short-term contract, and his attitude is very clear. It is very likely that he will leave after one year. Not many teams will be willing to offer too high a price for such a contract.
Even the Cleveland Cavaliers only agreed under pressure from James.
After Wang Feng completed the signing with the Cavaliers, James expressed great joy in the interview with reporters.
"Wang Feng is a very good player with distinctive technical characteristics and strong strength. His performance in the finals is still fresh in my memory. I believe he will be the last piece of the puzzle for the Cavaliers to win the championship, even if our opponent is the Golden State Warriors."
You can also win!"
James is the player who directly faced Wang Feng in the finals. No one understands Wang Feng's abilities better than him.
All players of the Cavaliers welcomed Wang Feng's arrival, but in fact their attitude mainly depends on the Cavaliers' King James.
Even if they don't like Wang Feng, no one dares to say anything when James has made it clear. After all, the Cavaliers are James' team, not to mention the players, and even the team management has the ability to intervene.
Apart from James, the only professional player who can achieve this level of success is Jordan, the God of Basketball.
…
On the other side, after learning that Wang Feng had joined the Cavaliers, the Warriors also had different attitudes.
Both Curry and Thompson expressed their blessings to Wang Feng, and general manager Miles and head coach Cole also publicly expressed their gratitude to Wang Feng for his contribution to the team over the past two years.
"We welcome Wang Feng back as a guest at any time, and I believe Warriors fans will also warmly welcome this meritorious player who won two championship trophies for the Warriors."
But there are also those who say otherwise.
"Wang Feng is a traitor!"
Green spoke frankly when interviewed by reporters.
"I understand Wang Feng's desire to get a bigger contract. The Warriors can't meet his demands, so he chooses to go to other teams. This is understandable."
"But why did he choose the Cavaliers? The Warriors and Cavaliers played in the finals for two years, and we won the final victory. If it were me, I would definitely not choose a losing team as my next home.
I will never partner with my former enemies!"
Green's words were so righteous that he even tried to incite Warriors fans to hate Wang Feng.
But in fact, everyone with a discerning eye knows that the Warriors had no intention of renewing Wang Feng's contract in the summer. Their target was Durant from the beginning.
Green played a very important role in this. He frequently met with Durant, tried every means to win over the MVP-level star, and finally persuaded him to choose to join the Warriors.
Now he has secretly changed the concept and never mentioned the matter of wooing Durant. Instead, he said that Wang Feng wanted to pursue a bigger contract and left the team on his own initiative.
But in fact, the Warriors spent US$26 million in annual salary to sign Durant, while Wang Feng only paid US$18 million to sign with the Cavaliers.
Seeing Green's disgusting remarks, Wang Feng didn't feel anything.
This guy has always been like this. Wang Feng just thought it was a dog barking at him. Anyway, Green's upper limit as a professional player is only that much, and it is not worth his attention at all. There is plenty of time to settle this account in the new season.
On the contrary, Durant, who had just joined the Warriors and was sprayed all over by netizens, frantically signing up for a trumpet account, had a black eye.
This guy was shot while lying down.
I suspect you are inside me.
You were not like this when you sent me a text message invitation before!
Durant, who has not yet experienced the power of Green's formula, can only bear all this silently. At this time, Durant can never imagine what he will experience in the future...