So there’s a reason why the Kings are terrible—they passed on Lillard when they could have picked him next after already owning Cousins.
Any reasonable team would have selected a guard to pair with him.
The Warriors at the seventh pick chose "North Carolina Blackhawk" Harrison Barnes, forming the Warriors’ left arm (headed by Curry, right arm Thompson).
While watching the draft, a pop-up news alert on his phone caught his attention.
Windhorst had posted again, updating the range of teams James was interested in.
Apart from the New York Knicks, James was also interested in The West’s Clippers and Spurs. Thıs text ıs hosted at 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✶𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮✶𝓷𝓮𝓽
It seemed like his request to go to the New York Knicks had been rejected by Riley.
Windhorst mentioned in the article that the Clippers had not previously been associated with "success."
And James, having led Cavaliers to success in Cleveland, was very interested in doing the same in Los Angeles.
This was within Hansen’s expectations, as Nike wanted James in a big city, previously mentioning New York Knicks in New York and Clippers in Los Angeles.
Why not go directly to the Lakers?
Kobe hadn’t retired yet, James could handle Wade, but Kobe? He would really be playing the role of Pippen if he went there.
The Spurs were somewhat of a surprise to Hansen.
San Antonio was a barren basketball market, the type where even championships couldn’t uplift it.
He carefully read what Windhorst had written.
Both the Spurs and James had experienced a failed season; they could make perfect complements for each other.
He even quoted Popovich’s praise of James from years ago "He’s so good I can’t even understand it" to suggest the possibility of their cooperation.
"San Antonio is lacking a small forward, and LeBron could extend the championship aura for that city."
Hansen stroked his chin and thought it through.
James urgently needed a championship to prove himself; not only were the Spurs the most likely to achieve this, but with the GDP (Duncan, Parker, Ginobili) aging, he would also become the team’s leader.
Of course, the most important point, and one everyone might subconsciously overlook, is that just because James goes somewhere now doesn’t mean he’ll stay there forever!
By 2014, James could opt out of his contract and become a free agent, at which point he could leave freely.
After finishing the news, Hansen felt things were starting to get interesting.
Even though it was still uncertain where James would ultimately go, it was clear he was headed to The West!
Honestly, James was his ultimate number one detractor, the biggest of them all.
He couldn’t help but feel a bit excited.
After he had finished browsing the news, the first round of the draft had already drawn to a close.
In the second round, the Warriors picked Green at 35th.
That guy who had trash-talked him in NCAA had finally, after four years of college basketball at Michigan State, joined the NBA and the Warriors to form the "core."
The Grizzlies didn’t have a first-round pick this year, and ultimately selected Robert Sacre at 56th.
Hansen had some memory of the name; if he thought carefully, it seemed like he was the guy who had made a name for himself sitting on the bench as a waterboy during his time with the Lakers.
He remembered him as a big center; it looked like the team wasn’t planning on continuing with Haddadi this summer.
Speaking of which, he had a pretty good impression of Haddadi; the guy was quite adept at handing out water.
He hoped Sacre would inherit Haddadi’s duties and guard the Grizzlies’ water cooler well.
The draft had just drawn to a close, but fans didn’t have much time to discuss the rookies, because just two days later, the 2012 free agency market officially opened.
The shortened season had impacted everything up to the draft, but now the free agency timing was back on track.
This year’s free agency didn’t have many big fish, the top catch probably being Deron Williams from the Brooklyn Nets but there were plenty of noteworthy free agents like Nash from the Phoenix Suns, Lin Shuhao from the New York Knicks, Garnett and Ray Allen from the Celtics, Kidd from the Mavericks, and Ibaka from the Thunders.
Hansen also received a pre-extension contract offer from the Grizzlies management on the very first day.①
A 5-year, $85 million contract.
Hansen frowned as soon as he read it.
He was aware of the pre-extension, and Thomas had already discussed it with him.
Whether it was being selected for the All-Star starters twice in a row or making the All-NBA Team two years in a row, he met the conditions to trigger the "Rose Rule."
"Hansen could get a maximum contract of $95 million," Thomas corrected promptly.
Wallace also explained.
The Grizzlies were facing enormous salary pressures, with Hansen’s big contract kicking in next summer, pushing the team nearly $20 million over the luxury tax threshold, needing to pay $50 million in taxes.
By then, the team would have to consider breaking up the core five players.
But if Hansen opted out of the Rose Rule, he could save the team nearly ten million in luxury tax each year. By then, if the Grizzlies swapped out a few role players, they could reduce the luxury tax to below $30 million, just enough to maintain the core lineup.
This situation was also happening at the Thunders, with Westbrook having met the "Rose Rule" terms, but he hadn’t used it and had only signed a 5-year, $80 million contract with the Thunders instead.
"Our goal is for a three-peat," Wallace finally said.
Hansen looked at Wallace, noticing his troubled expression.
Based on what he knew about Wallace, of course Wallace knew this would upset him, but he had to do it anyway.