Go to the Bulls and find DeRozan?
Or go to the Clippers and lead Ingram?
Or maybe head to the Rockets and have a chat with Ben Simmons?~~
Clearly, none of those would work.
What Old Zhang needed was a team that was "only one experienced small forward away," not a team that lacked everything and was so broke that all it had left was money!
So at this point, Old Zhang's situation was genuinely awkward.
It seemed that only three options remained before him...
Either he went back to the Lakers, talked things over with them, signed another short-term deal, and waited patiently for a better opportunity next year.
Or he went to the neighboring Clippers and pulled the same old trick again. He could repeat his past tactics, get the Clippers to spend heavily on assembling a "championship-contending roster," and then battle those powerhouse teams.
Or he could contact the Cavaliers and see whether or not he could play the "glorious return to his hometown" card...
It was an extremely difficult choice.
And for Old Zhang, none of them was really the optimal solution.
Yet at this moment, he truly could not find anywhere better to go.
Heavens, have mercy—where was Old Zhang supposed to go?
Time moved on to June 29.
Before they knew it, June had reached its end.
As teams steadily pushed forward with their roster upgrades, LeBron James finally made his choice.
He signed a two-year, $87 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, with the second year being a player option.
Unsurprisingly, for a star of his caliber and years of service, an annual salary of just over $43 million was definitely a considerable sacrifice.
Especially since the protagonist was a famously "business-minded" player.
This was Old Zhang's helpless compromise.
Because aside from