Chapter Forty-Four: Nets Again?

  "Mr. Gren, can you tell me what this thing is?" Zhuang Fei slapped the contract agreement on the table in front of him and asked Glen Taylor, the boss of Forest Wolves, angrily.

  "Zhuang, don't get angry first, no one will know about this matter, we've done it very discreetly. This way, not only can we strengthen our power, but also we won't have to worry about the salary cap issue. What's there to lose?" Gren Tellar saw Zhuang Fei getting angry and thought it was unnecessary. It's no big deal, even if we get caught, it's just a loophole in the league. We're just making reasonable use of the rules.

  This contract is about Joe Smith, a 76ers insider. Since Garnett will occupy most of the team's salary cap from next season, and other core players are unwilling to renew their contracts, it is unlikely that the Timberwolves can sign a strong player from the free market, as there is little room for maneuvering with the salary cap. However, this problem did not stump Glen Taylor, the boss of the Timberwolves, who came up with a clever idea - a secret contract. As an inside player who averages 14 points per game, his annual salary should be worth $10 million? Even Zhuang Fei didn't believe it, and when he was sorting out the team's internal documents, he saw this agreement and felt quite unhappy.

  This is just an agreement, and the two parties have not yet signed a contract. The agreement was also signed before Zhuang Fei entered the main team. In short, Joe Smith first joined the Timberwolves as a free agent with a 2-year contract worth $1.75 million. After 2 years, the Timberwolves are willing to renew his contract for 7 years and $86 million. For a player who was once an All-Star, this is simply unthinkable. This matter is definitely a violation of regulations. If the league finds out, they will definitely be punished. As the number one pick in 1995, this is simply a humiliating contract.

  "Mr. Glenn, I hope this matter never happened and I've never seen this contract before. I also don't want Joe Smith to appear on my team, he's not the kind of player I need. So Mr. Glenn, you and that agent Fegan handle this privately." Zhuang Fei let out a sigh as he spoke, at the same time becoming dissatisfied with agent Fegan. What is ruining players if not this? The league actually has such trashy people.

  "Village, you don't have to worry so much, actually..."

  "Mr. Glen, it's not a matter of whether I'm worried or not, I just want my team to be clean in every aspect, I have OCD." Before Glen Taylor could finish speaking, Zhuang Fei interrupted him. Although he didn't understand the NBA well, there was always a dark side everywhere, and every year the NBA would have some brainless things happen, it's inevitable that there wouldn't be any problems here either, but Zhuang Fei hoped his team didn't have any problems.

  Glen Taller also had to follow Zhuang Fei's instructions, and the more he interacted with Glen Taller, the more he felt that Glen Taller was like a small-minded person. It wasn't that his character was particularly bad, but rather that his behavior had some "small-minded" tendencies, such as being fond of speculation and profiteering, liking to show off his cleverness, and being extremely greedy for profit. Moreover, he was somewhat impatient for quick success and immediate gain.

  Zhuang Fei has only been here for less than a week and already feels speechless about the Timberwolves' ups and downs, which are even more complicated and chaotic than the Knicks.

  .........

  .........

  "Mr. D'Antoni, you're looking for me? Is there something going on?" Steve Nash was puzzled, the team had already gone on vacation, why would head coach Mike D'Antoni still come to find him, could it be about contract extension talks? Nash thought to himself, and at the same time, he was full of anticipation for this meeting today.

  "Steve, I'm informing you that you won't be on the Phoenix roster next season. I could have told you over the phone, but I thought it would be better to tell you in person."

  Denny Ang looked at Nash with a somewhat sympathetic shake of his head.

  He spent two years with Nash, and was drafted in 1996 as the heir apparent to Kevin Johnson. Nash had speed, a beautiful ball-handling ability, accurate shooting, and good passing skills, although his defense was poor and he wasn't physically gifted. The Suns were able to sign him with the 15th pick, which also showed they looked highly upon his potential. Unfortunately for him, the team didn't need him at all because they already had a far superior point guard in Jason Kidd.

  As a backup point guard who averages 9.1 points per game, his position is awkward. If he had slightly better stats, other teams would definitely come to poach him and the Suns could get something out of it, but with such mediocre stats, it's not like he's particularly impressive or eye-catching. If his stats were a bit worse, Danny Ainge wouldn't mind re-signing him at a low price, but this in-between performance makes it hard for the team to decide what to do - letting him go would be a loss, keeping him would mean overpaying, and neither option is ideal. This is why Nash is currently in an awkward position because the Suns are also hesitant about whether or not to re-sign him.

  But just in time, someone was willing to take over such a player, and the Suns management didn't have to worry about Nash's contract extension anymore. The chips for trading him away weren't bad either, which made Danny Ainge feel slightly relieved.

  "Steve, don't think too much, I have high hopes for your ability, you can find development space in other teams, but the current Suns are indeed not suitable for your development, Jason is too excellent, and we don't need you that much now, so changing environment is good for both parties."

  Nash left the team's head coach's office and returned home, ultimately unable to escape his fate of being cleaned out.

  "Go to the Forest Wolves, it seems their head coach is that Chinese guy, maybe my career will take a turn like Coach Danny said." Nash muttered to himself.

  ..........

  ..........

  "Is the sun willing to trade? That's great!"

  After receiving the good news from DeAntoni, Zhuang Fei almost jumped up from his chair. This was the best news he had received in a long time and it slightly eased his emotions which had been gloomy for a while.

  The final trade between the Suns and Timberwolves was a one-on-one swap of Cherokee Parks (the 12th pick in '95) for Steve Nash (the 15th pick in '96), with no other terms or draft picks involved.

  "Coach, what's got you so excited?" McHale walked into Coach Zhuang's office and saw him jumping around excitedly, occasionally bursting out laughing. This surprised McHale, as he had rarely seen Zhuang so happy since joining the Forest Wolves. Usually, Zhuang was always serious-faced. This made McHale think that Zhuang was an iron-fisted coach, but had he changed his ways today?

  "Haha, nothing, just Mack made that deal." Zhuang Fei said to Michael after calming down a bit.

  "It's that backup point guard from the Suns team." McHale was taken aback and shook his head, this guy is really weird, giving up Cassell to get that rookie backup, what a strange style. But still hope he can lead the Timberwolves to turn things around.

  "Right, Kevin, judging from your look, there should be some progress too." Zhuang Fei took a measure of Michael, seeing him nodding in agreement, which confirmed this idea. Then Zhuang Fei asked expectantly: "Which team is willing to take over?"

  "Still Nets," Mackay said, and Zhuang Fei furrowed his brow, why Nets again?