In response to Irving's trade application, League major teams rushed to make offers to Cavaliers.
This is Kyrie·Irving! Championship Point Guard!
Various rumors are flying in the sky, what Spurs is willing to produce Parker plus Aldridge, what Bucks is willing to produce Jabari·Parker, what Knicks is willing to produce Anthony plus Bledsoe, and so on.
After lengthy trade negotiations, Celtics's Ainge came out on top, using Isaiah·Thomas, Jay·Crawford, Ant·Nenad Kristic and Nets First-round pick in 2018, in exchange for All-Star defender Cleveland Cavaliers Kyrie·Irving.
Now it is just a relatively ordinary transaction, and Cavaliers will undoubtedly suffer a loss.
If you add a future perspective, this is undoubtedly a lose-lose deal.
Then there are Warriors, whose contract was renewed for 201 million in 5 years, Stephen·Curry, Iguodala, which was renewed for 48 million in 3 years, and 24 in 3 years Livingston renewed his contract with a million, and tried his best to retain the championship-winning lineup, which made the salary space suddenly tense, but there was no way, the owner Warriors was willing to pay the luxury tax and rush to the dynasty.
Zhu·Holiday renewed his contract with Pelicans for 126 million in 5 years, Cavaliers signed a veteran with basic salary as Jose Deron Williams, retained Korver with 22 million in 3 years, Raptors retained Kyle Lowry with 100 million in 3 years.
Each strong League team moved quickly, accelerating the pace of reinforcement and launching a charge for next year's NBA Championship.
Thunder is naturally not completely inactive.
Presti once approached various teams, seeking to trade a relatively outstanding Power Forward. Unfortunately, the progress was not smooth.
Lakers is willing to give away Larry Bird·Nance and Zubac, but the premise is that Thunder will help them get Luol Deng's junk contract, and even wants to exchange it for Adams.
Orlando Magic is willing to give Aaron Gordon, the runner-up of Slam Dunk Contest, Rookie Contract will expire at the end of this season, and the next one will definitely be a big contract. If they can have good chips, they don't mind selling it and bringing back a cheap labor force. Unfortunately, the chips currently offered by Thunder cannot impress them.
Nets made an offer and wanted Allen, but the defender bargaining chip given was useless to Thunder.
Wait, wait, wait, transactions between League are always so difficult. No one wants to suffer, and everyone wants good things, but time waits for no one. Presti needs to complete most of the target transactions as much as possible before the end of September, so that the team can start running in Pre-season.
Thunder's goal is NBA Championship. For this reason, he doesn't mind paying the luxury tax for one or two years. This is the answer Presti got from the boss, which also means that he can relax a little bit.
On August 11, Thunder officially released the news, exchanging potential point guards Carmelo Payne and Bench Center Lovington for Aaron Gordon from Orlando Magic.
In terms of combat power alone, there is no doubt that Thunder will make a lot of money, but the problem is that Gordon's Rookie Contract will expire next summer, and it is impossible to be willing to cut salary in the next contract. Thunder, whose salary is tight, is 90% unable to retain him. It is equivalent to exchanging Payne plus Lovington for one-year usage rights of Aaron Gordon.
On August 16, Thunder traded Jarrett Allen and Dakari Johnson to Hawks Team for John Collins. The two rookies of the same class exchanged clubs before they had time to play for their home team.
The main purpose of Hawks is to immediately cut off Johnson after the trade is made to free up some salary space. At the same time, Allen is also a fairly good potential Interior. Although he is only 2.06 meters tall, his wingspan is 2.26 meters. He is also a Model Monster.
Thunder is for the height of Collins and Athleticism, so as to increase the height and speed of Interior.
The media's evaluation of this deal was that it was barely a win-win situation. After all, they were just two rookies.
The real big news is yet to come.
On August 24, Thunder sent Steven·Adams, and exchanged Pistons for Tobias Harris, Luke Kennard and a 19-year Second Round sign.
In the end, Presti finally bit the bullet and sent away Aquaman in exchange for Wing, a swingman at the third and fourth positions with excellent shooting, and a rookie. The main goal was to compress salary space. After all, after the previous transaction, the team had already touched the luxury tax line.
Although the boss said it was acceptable, as a qualified manager, it is very difficult to refuse through operations to control the tax line just below the luxury tax line. Moreover, with the progress of Sabonis, With the addition of Collins and Gordon, Thunder and Interior are not in short supply now. I will be looking for a Power Forward in the future, which will be enough.
On August 30, the Thunder made their last trade this summer, trading Josh Hustis and Corey Brewer from the Wizards for Markieff Morris, also known as Big Mo, a 2.08-meter-tall striker.
Thunder is to supplement Power Forward, and Wizards is to save money. In exchange for Brewer and Justis, both of them have expired contracts, which will save at least 80,000 yuan in salary space next summer.
At this point, Thunder's lineup for the new season has taken shape.
The final lineup is as follows:
Point guard: Westbrook
Shooting Guard: Chen Xi, McDermott, Kennard
Small forward front: Butler, Roberson, Grant
Power forwards: Harris, Gordon, Morris, Nick Collison (this is a super veteran brought from Seattle SuperSonics to Thunder. He is a mascot and retired at the end of the 17-18 season)
Center: Sabonis, Collins
In order to deal with the super Wing, Durant, James, Leonard, etc. in the strong teams of League, Presti deliberately hoarded a large amount of Wing while replenishing Interior in the transaction.
Thunder currently has three defensive heroes in the third and fourth positions, as well as four Wing who have good shooting sizes. (Butler is versatile in both offense and defense)
As a result, the only fly in the ointment is the shortage of point guards. After Anthony Morrow's contract expired, the team did not choose to renew it. Payne was sent away again, so Westbrook has to carry the banner.
Fortunately, in terms of organization, Butler and Sabonis can completely share some of Westbrook's tasks. Under special circumstances, Chen Xi can also serve as point guard, so it is still within an acceptable range.
And the salary is also perfectly suppressed to nearly 117 million, which is only 2 million away from the luxury tax threshold. (I calculated everyone's salary after checking it. I listed the detailed data in a grid and will post it in the paragraph review or at the end of the chapter later.)
At the same time, there are still rumors circulating that Presti has communicated with the Pacers management. Paul George is already dissatisfied with the team's inaction.