The Godfather of Basketball

Although White has been trying to persuade Butler to stay in the Timberwolves, Butler still obeyed Tang Tian's words and chose Congxin.

"Welcome back, Jimmy." Tang Tian was also a little excited on the phone.

He knows the role of Butler, that is, to strengthen PJ Tucker in the second gear, and integrate offense and defense. He will be the spiritual leader of the Nets on the field and will also share a lot of offensive pressure for Deron.

The 4-year maximum salary contract of 72.56 million US dollars, because he has not played in the NBA for a long time, and the "Ross clause" has not been triggered, the first-year salary of this maximum salary is only 15.26 million US dollars, which is really cheap.

Even after signing Butler and before renewing Yi Jianlian, the Nets still have room to eat a similar maximum-salary contract, such as Millsap.

But doing that would mean the Nets would have to pay the luxury tax again in the future, and considering the renewals of Jokic and Devin Booker, it would not be wise to sign such a contract.

And the most important point is that player training requires possession of the ball, and blindly signing players at the All-Star level will hurt both sides.

However, the road to reinforcement for the Nets did not stop there.

After reaching a contract with Butler, the Nets then signed a three-year 12 million contract with Barton, with a team option in the final year.

After this series of signing operations, the Nets' lineup has also become much more substantial.

Tang Tian also began to calculate the salary space of the Nets.

The team's existing contract: Deron (21 million) + Butler (15.26 million) + Livingston (5 million) + Bojan Bogdanovic (3.43 million US dollars) + McGrady (2.5 million) = 47.19 million.

Including Taylor Johnson, Jonathan Simmons, Pralim, Devin Booker and Jefferson, the rookie contracts of the five are about 7 million, which is about 54 million.

(Note: Yi Jianlian and Barton are contract extensions, which can be operated on the cap, so it can be ignored here for the time being.)

Prior to this, the league announced that the salary cap for the new season was $70 million, and the luxury tax trigger line was $84.7 million.

Then there are two options left for the Nets.

The first is to directly sign 3 players with a basic salary. Counting Yi Jianlian and Barton (the total salary of the two is about 16 million) to make up a starting lineup of 15 people, then the salary is just around the salary cap.

The second is to sign another high-quality multi-million-level player or split up several million-level contracts to keep the total salary below the luxury tax.

The record of the Nets last year was much better than expected, which made fans have great expectations for their new season, so Tang Tian actually chose the second method without much consideration.

Ten million level, calculated according to salary, the maximum salary that can be given is 16 million (7000-5400), if the luxury tax line is 10 million (8470-7100-2 basic salary).

In other words, this will probably be a contract with a starting salary of between 10 million and 16 million.

Because Jokic's rookie contract can still be used for 3 years, a 3-year or 4-year contract with a team option is the most appropriate.

A contract with a relatively clear scope, there are not many players worth this price in the free agent market.

Thaddeus Young of the 76ers, Iman Shumpert of the Cavaliers, Tyson Chandler and Monta Ellis of the Mavericks, Rajon Rondo, Monroe of the Pistons, Thunder of the Thunder Middleton, Spurs' Belinelli, Danny Green, Raptors' Amir Johnson.

Of course, there are some who can choose not to execute the player option, such as Jeff Green of the Grizzlies, Ruhr Deng of the Bulls, and Eric Gordon of the Pelicans.

Considering the lineup of the Nets, in fact, the choice is really not very big.

Signing Jeff Glenn, Thaddeus Young or Luol Deng can give the team depth at the power forward position, and they are all swinging at the 3/4 position, with great mobility.

If you sign Belinelli or Eric Gordon, you can consider letting Booker start directly, so that the backup firepower will be very fierce.

"We have other options. Louis Williams once played under you. His current market price is only about seven or eight million a year. We still have room to win other power forwards." Jones gave Tang Days for more suggestions.

This is indeed an option.

After thinking about it, Tang Tian finally chose Eric Gordon.

Due to injuries, Gordon has changed from an All-Star player to a second-tier player. His strength and talent have also been re-proven in the Rockets in his previous life.

This time should be when his market price is at its lowest, and low-priced income has always been Tang Tian's favorite thing to do.

And the system is already ready to move. If Gordon recovers from injury, the Nets will pick up an All-Star player for nothing.

Jones was instructed to start negotiations with Gordon's team soon.

Because of injuries, Gordon's market conditions are not good. He and his team tend to finish the contract and seek a new contract next summer. After all, his last year's contract is worth more than 15 million.

But Jones is an old fritter after all, with strong negotiating skills.

After some contact, the two sides quickly reached a contract extension with a starting salary of 12.39 million and a four-year contract extension of 53 million, of which the fourth year is a player option.

Considering that both Livingston and McGrady's contracts expire next summer, this contract will not impose too much burden on the Nets.

After winning Gordon, the strength of the Nets has obviously increased by more than one level.

Point guards: Deron, Livingston, Tyler Johnson, TJ McConaughey

Shooting Guard: Devin Booker, Eric Gordon, Will Barton

Small forwards: Jimmy Butler, McGrady, Bojan Bogdanovic, Jonathan Simmons, Jefferson

Power Forward: Yi Jianlian

Center: Jokic, Pralim

This lineup is a bit top-heavy, and subsequent transactions have to follow up.

After weighing, Tang Tian put Bojan Bogdanovic on the shelf again.

Unlike Bogdan, Bojan was basically squeezed out of the roster in the playoffs last season, and his defense is a problem in high-level confrontations.

However, his excellent three-point shooting ability has been proved. In the small ball era, there is no shortage of market for players like him.

Bo Yang's deal has not yet been carried out, and the signings of other teams have been reached one after another.

Brook Lopez and the Suns have reached a three-year, $60 million contract extension.

The Nuggets and Millsap reached a three-year contract extension of 58 million, of which the third year is a player option.

Love and the Cavaliers signed a five-year 110 million maximum salary contract.

James and the Cavaliers signed a two-year maximum salary contract with player options, and his economic team is also seeking to maximize his interests as before.

...

Marc Gasol, Jordan Jr., Draymond Green, Danny Green, Middleton, etc. have also successively reached contract extension agreements with their home team.

In this year's free agent market, more than half of them chose to stay with their home team.

However, some people did the opposite. David West of the Pacers announced that he had jumped out of his 12.6 million contract for the last year.

After jumping out, he said directly, not chasing a higher salary, but just hoping to join a championship team and satisfy his championship dream.