According to the conditions given by the system task, Wang Feng currently has only a limited number of teams to choose from, all of which are teams with the lowest regular season record this season and a winning rate of less than 30%, including the New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, and Atlanta in the Eastern Conference.
The Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers and the Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns in the West.
Among these teams, the three teams that theoretically have more potential are the Hawks, Timberwolves and Suns.
Needless to say about the Suns, according to the historical process of another time and space, the Suns will introduce All-Star point guard Chris Paul from the Thunder in the new season. The Suns will then take off and enter the playoffs with the second record in the Western Conference.
, and made it all the way to the finals, but ultimately lost to the Bucks led by Antetokounmpo in the finals.
As for the Hawks and Timberwolves, they both have young players with good strength and potential.
Hawks guard Trae Young has been able to average superstar statistics of 29+4+9 per game this season. In another time and space, next season will be a single-core team that led the team all the way to the Eastern Conference finals before losing to the Bucks.
to elimination.
In comparison, the Timberwolves' lineup seems to have more potential, but is very strange.
The double No. 1 pick combination of Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins actually did not even have a 30% winning rate in the regular season. It is really an exaggeration.
With Butler winning the championship for the second time, all the Timberwolves players, especially the two most talented No. 1 picks, have become a complete joke.
"I'm not the most talented person on the team. Who is the most talented player? It's Towns. Who is the most favored player by God? It's Wiggins. Who is the person who plays the hardest? It's me!"
This is what Butler once said when he left the Timberwolves. At that time, many people just watched it as a joke, but now two seasons have passed, Butler has won the championship for two consecutive years with the Lakers, and the Timberwolves have completely
It was a mess. It missed the playoffs last season, but it still had a winning rate of over 40% in the regular season. This season is better, it is a mess, and its record is at the bottom of the Western Conference.
Judging from the lineup configuration alone, the Timberwolves are very much like a low-end version of the Pelicans, Towns is a weakened version of the big-browed brother, and Wiggins, the goji brother, although his style is completely different from Zion, his scoring ability is definitely noticeable.
past.
It’s understandable that the Pelicans couldn’t make it to the playoffs due to Zion’s injury. The Timberwolves’ two core players were healthy most of the time but had a bottom-last record in the Western Conference. This fully illustrates what the Timberwolves are.
What a bad team.
Considering the issue of sign-and-trade, the Lakers certainly hope to trade Wang Feng to the Hawks or Timberwolves. With Wang Feng's value, there is no problem in trading for Trae Young, Towns and a large number of first-round picks.
For Wang Feng, it doesn't matter which team he goes to. His purpose is to complete the system upgrade task. He is not prepared to stay in one team for a long time. At most, he will sign a short-term contract of three years, of which the third
There will also be a player option next year.
Regarding this point, Yao's team is obviously opposed to it. Neither team leader Zhang Mingji nor Bill Duffy, who is responsible for the NBA contract renewal issue, can figure out. Is Wang Feng having trouble with money?
Today's players all like to sign long-term contracts, especially if they have bird rights. On average, a five- to six-year long-term contract can earn at least three to four million U.S. dollars more per year than a three-year short-term contract.
Unfortunately, their objections were of no use.
Team Yao is just Wang Feng's economic team, serving Wang Feng. They can provide suggestions but do not have the right to make decisions. Once Wang Feng makes a decision, they can only implement it.
…
A few days later, Bill Duffy met with several bottom teams in the league and held three-party talks and negotiations with the Lakers.
These teams all have a pie-in-the-sky feeling and are ecstatic.
No team would refuse a top star in the league like Wang Feng.
Therefore, several teams competed to provide offers, and the scene was extremely chaotic.
However, the Lakers felt very uncomfortable because these teams knew that Wang Feng's departure was a foregone conclusion, so they deliberately lowered the price.
"Sorry, Trae Young is not for sale for our team, and he is also a long-term core player that the team is prepared to cultivate. We are willing to bid for any player other than Trae Young as a bargaining chip, including multiple first-round draft picks. Our sincerity will definitely make us
You are satisfied."
The general manager of the Eagles talked eloquently with a smile on his face. "We also have outstanding players like John Collins and Jabari Parker on the team. I believe that our chips will not be worse than those of other teams."
On the other side, the general manager of the Timberwolves has a similar attitude, but the difference is that they are willing to send Wiggins. As a player who can stably provide 20+ points all year round, Wiggins' performance can match his status as the No. 1 pick.
It has a pretty good trading value.
It's just that the Timberwolves are unwilling to make too many concessions on draft picks, and are only willing to give out two first-round picks and two second-round picks at most.
The price is really not that great.
Referring to the trade of Anthony Davis, another big-eyebrow guy from time and space, in order to acquire Davis from the Pelicans, the Lakers paid Ingram, Ball, Hart, a first-round No. 4 pick, two first-round picks, and
The cost of a first-round pick s
Wang Feng's current worth is obviously much greater than that of Davis in another time and space, and Wiggins is at most the same value as Ingram. In this way, he still lacks a potential second pick Ball and a first-rounder.
sign.
Then, before the Lakers could give a reply, Bill Duffy from Yao's team spoke first.
"I'm sorry, my player has already expressed his attitude to me. He doesn't want to partner with any player selected for the All-Stars or the All-NBA Team. If your team wants to get Wang Feng, there is only one option. Use the All-Star players in the team as
The chips are used to trade him, or to trade him away from the team, otherwise we will not consider it."
Eagles, Timberwolves: "???"
Don’t want to play with any All-Star or All-NBA players?
They have never heard of such a request in their entire lives.
Is Wang Feng preparing to completely ruin it?
How effective can a team with only one All-Star be? It’s hard enough to even make it to the playoffs.
Those who are discussing the details of the deal with the Lakers are all teams that are already at the bottom of the league. They package the only capable player in the team with a large number of first-round picks and use it to trade Wang Feng. Is this deal still worthwhile?
The Eagles immediately said they were withdrawing.
In their view, although Wang Feng now dominates the league, with perfect personal statistics and team honors, Trae Young, who can score 29+4+9 at the age of only 22, is obviously not bad, and has a career
Longer than Wang Feng, who is about to be 28 years old.
More importantly, if they want to get Wang Feng, Trae Young is not enough. The team has to post several first-round picks, and Wang Feng has made it clear that he is only willing to sign a 2+1 short-term contract. If the two
Years later, Wang Feng slapped his butt and left, leaving the Eagle with nowhere to cry.
The Timberwolves are in hesitation and confusion.
Although Wang Feng's request is very strange, it is not unacceptable to the Timberwolves. The reason is very simple... Wiggins has never been selected to the All-Star or the All-NBA Team in his seven-year career.
Funny to say, Wiggins, who has averaged 19.7 points and 4.4 rebounds per game so far in his career, is actually pretty good in terms of personal data. Among the ten No. 1 picks in the league from 2010 to 2020, his personal data is completely acceptable.
Ranked at the upper-middle level, but except for the Rookie of the Year and the All-Rookie First Team during his rookie season, he has not won any individual honors.
In the 2021-22 season, Wiggins, who has already started playing for the Warriors, participated in the All-Star Game for the first time in his career, and he still played as an All-Star starter.
But in this time and space, the situation has slightly changed.
The Warriors did not acquire Wiggins through a trade. The Timberwolves also tried to trade Wiggins in the middle of the season, but they did not receive a satisfactory offer. Therefore, Wiggins still played all the games with the Timberwolves in the 19-20 season and continued to stay.
in the team.
It's a bit far. Wang Feng's request is that he doesn't want to play with All-Stars and All-NBA players. That's easy for the Timberwolves.
They are not willing to pay for Towns and Wiggins at the same time, but if it is just Towns plus some additions and first-round picks, they can still talk about it.
…
"That's probably the case."
On the phone, Wang Feng quietly listened to Bill Duffy's narration and fell into deep thought.
After considering the offers from several teams, the Lakers are most satisfied with the Timberwolves who are willing to bring Towns back.
The remaining teams, such as the Knicks, Pistons, Cavaliers, etc., can only offer potential players and first-round picks as bargaining chips.
Wang Feng pondered for a moment.
"Timber wolf..."
At this moment, his brain was working rapidly.
In the past few days, he has also carefully studied the system upgrade tasks again.
The condition given by the task is that he must lead a team with a winning rate of less than 30% and no All-Stars or All-NBA players to reach the finals.
There is no doubt that this task is quite difficult, and at the same time the operability is relatively high, because the conditions of the task are limited to the situation in the 19-20 season.
Wiggins is a vivid example. In terms of strength, Brother Wolfberry is definitely at the All-Star level. Although he has been criticized for his unmotivated and unmotivated style of play, Wiggins is just like Butler said.
Si's talent is definitely at the top level among small forwards in the league.
With Wiggins by his side to help, the probability of reaching the finals will of course be greater.
Wang Feng is not so arrogant that he really has the idea of overthrowing the entire alliance by himself without relying on anyone else.
Choose teammates with stronger strengths to the maximum extent possible under conditions.
In addition, the Timberwolves have another extra point in Wang Feng's mind, that is, after this year's failure, the team got the No. 1 pick as they wished. Not surprisingly, the Timberwolves will use this No. 1 pick to sign a combo guard.
Anthony Edwards, a player with superstar status, averaged 19+5 per game in his first season with the Timberwolves.
In another time and space, the reason why the Timberwolves traded Wiggins to the Warriors was also to welcome Edwards, who is in the same position as Wiggins.
"Then so be it."
With this in mind, Wang Feng made a decision.
Although the configuration of Wiggins + Edwards is much lower than that of the Lakers, it is not completely ruined. With a little bit of attention, Wang Feng is still confident in leading such a team to the finals.
…
In a few days, the NBA 2020 draft will begin.
The Timberwolves, who were last in the Western Conference and had the second-worst record in the league, chose to use the No. 1 pick to select combo guard Anthony Edwards, who overlapped Wiggins' position.
Edwards' position overlaps with Wiggins, and the Timberwolves should not have selected him. However, among this rookie class, the only players worthy of being selected with the No. 1 pick besides Edwards are the blue-collar blue-collar insider Wiseman and the three-goal Lame.
Lowe Ball.
Compared with the latter two, Edwards is obviously worth more.
The Timberwolves, who chose Edwards, were ready to trade Wiggins at any time, but the Wiggins trade project was temporarily suspended before it started.
The reason is simple. Wang Feng has spoken.
Although the Timberwolves are no longer optimistic about Wiggins, who has played for the team for many years but has not achieved any decent results, Wang Feng knows that Wiggins is still very good, especially in the next two years with the Warriors.
Wiggins has assumed a very important tactical position, especially on the defensive end. During the 2022 Finals, Wiggins' defense against Celtics forward Tatum was a textbook, and the effect was better than Antetokounmpo and Butler.
Of course, Wiggins, whose annual salary in the new season is close to 30 million, is indeed a bit expensive in terms of price, but who makes him meet the standards of the system upgrade task and is quite strong?
The deal between the Timberwolves and the Lakers is close to being concluded, so they will naturally attach great importance to Wang Feng's views.
…
The time soon came to July 1, which is when the free market officially opened.
Everyone's eyes are almost entirely focused on the free market. Although some people in the industry have vaguely learned some news through their own channels, most people are still very curious about what kind of team Wang Feng will join.
On the day when the free market opened, the first thing that came to mind was a series of contract renewal news.
Adebayor reached a five-year, 163 million contract extension with the Heat.
Bogdan Bogdanovic signed with the Hawks for 4 years and 72 million.
De'Aaron Fox signs a five-year, $163 million contract extension with the Kings.
Gordon Hayward signs with Hornets for 120 million in 4 years...
Of course, the much-anticipated Los Angeles Lakers also made moves. Magic Johnson completed the first signing after the free market opened, retaining Brandon Ingram with a five-year, 158 million contract.
This is an inevitable contract extension. Ingram performed well last season, averaging 20+4+3 per game. His growth as the team's third scoring point is visible to the naked eye.
Now that Wang Feng is about to leave the team, Ingram's tactical status and future expectations within the Lakers are also being paid more attention to.