"Man, I'm exhausted!"
Divac lounged half-sprawled on the leather sofa in Chen Yilun's office, a cigar clenched between his lips, completely lacking any sense of decorum.
"Any other important trades?"
Chen Yilun sat across from him, scrolling through news on his phone with clear interest.
"The Lakers finalized a trade. They sent Isaiah Thomas, Channing Frye, and this year's first-round pick to acquire Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr."
"That's basically the biggest trade of this offseason."
Divac smacked his lips and sighed. "Who would've thought? Last season he was dominating the playoffs as the 'King of the Fourth Quarter,' and just one year later he's turned into a hot potato, getting kicked around everywhere."
"He just never understood his own positioning."
Peja said this as he walked in from the doorway.
"After putting up some results, he started swaggering around, demanding Danny Ainge show up with a truckload of cash for an extension. But with Ainge being that old fox, how could he ever do something like that?"
As he spoke, Peja handed a document to Chen Yilun.
"Latest news. The Cavaliers just traded Amir Johnson to the Jazz in exchange for Rodney Hood and a future second-round pick."
"Oh?"
Chen Yilun took the document and glanced through it.
Sure enough, due to his interference, the Cavaliers still made a move, but the personnel differed from the original timeline.
Without George Hill, who knows if JR would ever get another chance to reenact the classic "dribbling straight into nowhere" moment.
"What else?"
Chen Yilun asked casually while flipping through the pages.
"The rest of the trades aren't very important. The Suns traded a second-round pick to the Magic for Elfrid Payton."
"Who?"
Chen Yilun tilted his head and thought for a moment. "Oh, oh, oh—mop guy!"
Although he was just another low-profile player in the league, Chen Yilun felt it was still necessary to introduce this well-known mop guy to everyone, just in case some of the handsome readers didn't know his story.
Elfrid Payton was selected 10th overall in the first round of the 2014 draft by the Magic. In his rookie season, he played all 82 games, averaging 8.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 6.5 assists, earning a spot on the All-Rookie First Team.
At the time, it looked like a rising star point guard was about to emerge.
Over the following years, Payton became known for maintaining a very distinctive hairstyle, which made him easy to recognize on the court and became part of his public image.
However, as his career progressed, Payton struggled to make consistent improvements in key areas of his game. His shooting efficiency, offensive impact, and overall influence on winning failed to develop at the pace teams had hoped for, and his on-court effectiveness gradually declined.
After a couple of seasons, both his individual statistics and his impact metrics dropped noticeably, leading to reduced opportunities and eventually his departure from the team.
Although Payton later made adjustments and tried to reset his career, the most critical development window had already passed. Other teams were hesitant to invest further minutes and resources, and he ultimately faded out of the league.
Payton thus became an example often discussed in hindsight: a player with early promise whose career stalled due to a lack of sustained growth rather than a lack of opportunity.
"Also, the Heat traded Luke Babbitt for the Hawks' Okaro White. Basically a trash-for-trash swap."
Chen Yilun skimmed through everything and found no trades of real value. After closing the file, he asked,
"No movement from the Wizards?"
"None."
Peja shook his head and explained, "But according to my sources, Grunfeld secretly contacted several teams a few hours ago, trying to trade DeMarcus Cousins. The timing was too tight, so nothing went through."
"He's probably dreaming."
Divac exhaled a puff of smoke, his tone full of mockery.
"No matter what, DeMarcus Cousins is still an All-Star–level player. Any return would have to be All-Star–level too. Trying to conjure a deal from scratch in just a few hours? If he pulls that off, I'll eat my computer screen."
"What do you think?"
Chen Yilun suddenly spoke up. "With the roster we have now, there shouldn't be any problems, right?"
"What problems could there be?"
Divac sprang up from the sofa in one smooth motion.
"Right now, Josh is starting. Sure, he's not outstanding, but he's absolutely at the level of a qualified NBA starter. Durant, Butler, and Jokić are all All-Stars, and Booker is half a step away.
Even though LeVert is gone, we still have Oden, Rose, Caruso, Fred VanVleet, Siakam, and plenty of capable players on the bench. If we still can't win a championship with this lineup, we might as well pack it in."
"Speaking of which, how's Butler's recovery?"
"The team doctors say he's cleared to play, but I've still only let him participate in team practices lately. We have to make sure he's completely healthy before letting him back on the court."
Chen Yilun explained.
"Right, right! Better safe than sorry!"
Divac nodded repeatedly.
"We can't risk leaving hidden problems for the playoffs just for a bit of regular-season gain."
"Our regular-season objectives are already complete."
Chen Yilun cracked his neck and sat back down. "You two can take a break for the next couple of days, but make sure to come back soon. We'll need to start preparing for the offseason."
"Alright!"
Hearing they could rest, both Peja and Divac looked visibly pleased.
"There are some major issues this offseason,"
Chen Yilun continued. "Durant's contract extension is a big one. The fact that he didn't opt out and extend last year was already a risk. With the salary cap rising, if we want to keep him, his annual salary will be at least $35 million or more.
Booker will also need an early extension after this season. And then there's Fred VanVleet and Caruso—both undrafted guys on one-year minimum deals. They're already part of the regular rotation now. If we want to keep them, we'll have to pay up."
"Everyone wants a raise. Where are we supposed to find that much money?"
Chen Yilun's words instantly wiped the smiles off their faces, replacing them with expressions of pain.
"So what do we do?"
Divac scratched his head in frustration. As the current team GM, all of this fell squarely on his shoulders. In the past, he could dump these issues on Blackstone, but now that Blackstone was gone, the burden rested entirely on him.
"Boss, let's hire more people. I honestly feel like my ability isn't enough anymore."
Divac couldn't help but plead.
After following Chen Yilun for several years, Divac increasingly felt that his own level was starting to fall behind. When Chen Yilun was still at the forefront, things were manageable—he just needed to assist.
Now that Chen Yilun had become a shareholder, Divac felt completely overwhelmed by the countless tangled matters within the team, unable to keep up at all.
...
(Same old routine—once the trade deadline passes, it's full speed into the playoffs.)
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser