The NBA Draft was gradually drawing to a close.
The real drama was only just about to begin.
What left the front offices of various teams and the fans feeling especially exasperated was this:
Chen seemed to have no awareness at all that he was at the center of the storm.
He was attracting a ton of attention and drawing all kinds of eyes.
And yet this guy was choosing to keep a low profile.
With a casual wave of his hand, he left Moon to handle the business, then flew off to Europe with his wife and kids for a weeklong vacation.
The media interpreted this move as a way of putting pressure on the Thunder.
Because a week later, July would arrive.
Chen, who had proactively declined the player option for the final year of his contract, would officially become a free agent.
At that point, he could also abandon the sign-and-trade option altogether, sign a huge contract with another team, and then join them directly.
Although he had previously said he was willing to use a sign-and-trade to leave his original team with some assets,
that had only been a verbal promise.
In fact, it had only been Moon's verbal promise.
Chen could simply choose not to follow through~~
Of course, from Chen's own perspective, it wasn't all that complicated.
He just felt he should make the most of this hard-won vacation.
Besides, he'd promised Talan ages ago that they'd spend some time traveling around Europe together. He might as well use this chance to make good on it.
Otherwise, once he signed a new contract and settled on a new team,
Chen Xi would be heading to a big city, where he'd inevitably face one commercial event and endorsement deal after another.
By then, his schedule