Chapter 599: Chapter 433: League of Losers Chapter 599: Chapter 433: League of Losers “`
Chapter 433: The Loser’s League
The first big news of the 2008 NBA offseason belonged to the SuperSonics.

It’s worth mentioning that this piece of news wasn’t directly related to Yu Fei.

Last season’s fourth-year forward with the championship-winning SuperSonics, Josh Childress, had his rookie contract expire.

The SuperSonics offered him a 4-year, $26 million extension.

Internally within the SuperSonics, they even considered the contract to be an overpay.

Because Childress was seen as either the seventh or eighth man on the team.

But since he was a lottery pick that they chose and developed, and was still young with room to improve, they thought, overpay if we must.

However, Childress was not satisfied with this contract.

That led Childress to decide to test the free market.

Presti said, “Please, start your performance.”

The SuperSonics had reason to be calm because Childress was a restricted free agent, which meant as long as no other team went crazy with a significantly higher offer, they could match any outside offers.

Little did they know, stepping out into the market is a totally different story.

Last season’s Eastern eighth seed, the Atlanta Hawks, after a seven-game bloodbath with the Celtics in the first round, developed illusions.

Hawks’ general manager Billy long-armed, long-legged “Spiderman” Knight couldn’t resist his old ways, astonishingly threw down a 5-year $35 million mid-level contract at Childress.

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Keep in mind, Kwame Brown was also making $7 million a year with the SuperSonics.

If the SuperSonics matched this contract, it wouldn’t just be an issue of overpaying, but it would cause a salary structure issue within the team.

Presti decided to knock on the Hawks’ door, pressuring them to go down the sign-and-trade route. Since the Hawks didn’t know the SuperSonics’ true intentions, Presti was very likely to succeed.

However, a dramatically ironic incident occurred that not only spoiled the SuperSonics’ plan but also saved the Hawks from being the big suckers.

Childress realized he deserved a higher salary.

Moreover, the new offer didn’t come from another NBA team, but from the European basketball championship club, Olympiacos. They offered Childress a 3-year contract netting $20 million after taxes. It’s noteworthy that this is the amount after taxes, whereas NBA official contracts are all quoted before tax. After considering various taxes, the player’s actual take-home pay is often less than half of the total contract amount.

For Childress, in the State of Washington where the SuperSonics were based, the European team’s offer was equivalent to a 3-year, $33 million contract.

Thus, Childress announced the thought-provoking statement that “the future of professional basketball is in Europe,” becoming the first American player in NBA history to choose to leave the NBA for an overseas league not because of contract disputes, while still having competitiveness and a broad space for survival in the NBA.

In fact, Childress’s departure to Europe was indicative of an underlying trend in the NBA at the time.

In recent labor negotiations, the players’ union has been committed to restoring the “no upper limit on individual player salaries” clause that was abolished during the 1998 lockout. This clause was the reason Jordan could command a $30 million annual salary in 1997. It was also the biggest victory for the owners in the 1998 lockout; it took them fourteen years to finally fix the malignant bug that lingered since the inception of the salary cap.

Since there are many NBA players in the players’ union, they all threaten to leave the NBA while demanding the owners restore this rule.

But threats aside, Childress was actually the first to take the plunge.

When Yu Fei heard that Childress was leaving the NBA to play in the European league, he didn’t believe it.

“You’re kidding, right?”

But the reality was that Childress truly left the NBA.

This was a loss for the SuperSonics as they lost a versatile substitute wing without any compensation.

It didn’t take long for Presti to find a replacement.

Matt Barnes, who played for the Celtics last season, entered free agency.

As a confrontational type of 3D forward, he was underrated.

Since he appeared as helpless as a lamb against Yu Fei, the Celtics had no plans to keep him.

Therefore, Barnes hit the free market and was consistently undervalued by it, receiving offers that were only veteran minimums.

Since it was all minimum, he chose a promising team of course.

The defending champions, the SuperSonics, were logically selected.

Barnes signed a one-year minimum salary contract with the SuperSonics.

In hindsight, Presti admitted that he preferred this to keeping Childress with a 5-year, $35 million contract.

No pain, no risk, and even no cost.

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Moreover, Presti found that when players realized the SuperSonics were a championship bandwagon, there were many who wanted a ride.

Especially those veterans who hoped to snag a ring before retiring.

Former Mavericks captain, Michael Finley who dutifully played for the Suns in recent seasons, turned down an invitation from the Spurs. He had already missed the prime Spurs in ’05, and in the following years, the best accolade for the Spurs was to become the footnote to the Bucks’ second consecutive championship. Then, Yu Fei arrived in the Western Conference, and just as he did in the Eastern, he signaled the end for other Western teams’ dreams of dominance.

Although Finley loved the family atmosphere of the Spurs, revered Popovich’s coaching philosophy, and was deeply familiar with the Spurs’ fundamental skills, everyone knew he was chasing that final 101st hammer blow.

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