The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!

At pick number 11 in the first round, things started to get interesting...

The Golden State Warriors did as expected and took Klay Thompson.

This future top-tier "3D" player with a face that seemed to have a hint of "Buddha's grace" probably didn't expect that he would become a symbol of "meritorious basketball" in the future.

Of course, Thompson's pride wasn't an issue at all.

Four championships are indeed worthy of respect.

However, from the Warriors' perspective, not offering him a max salary wasn't an issue either.

Because in the max contract that they offered Thompson, there were two years where they essentially paid to keep him on the roster, and another year they were paying max money for a substitute. From their angle, they did their utmost for Klay Thompson and could not possibly offer another max salary.

Both sides felt they were in the right, which ultimately led to them parting ways.

At the 15th pick of the first round, which originally belonged to the Pacers... it still belonged to the Pacers!

Thanks to the generous "legacy" that Su Wan left them, the Pacers gave up two first-round picks to take this slot from Washington.

Originally, they had traded this pick to the Spurs for George Hill.

This time, they selected Kawhi Leonard themselves!

"Little Card" is going to the Pacers?

Su Wan was a bit surprised.

But thinking about the current lineup of the Pacers, indeed, the small forward position lacked a sufficiently excellent wing...

"Kawhi has gone to the Pacers?" Erin was also somewhat surprised.

In Su Wan's predictions for this year's rookies, Leonard was one of the few with the highest growth potential.

The Pacers already had a very strong frontcourt, and now they were adding a tremendously talented wing.

Erin turned to Su Wan, "The Pacers might very well become a formidable obstacle to the New York Knicks' pursuit of 'three consecutive championships' in the future!"

Her tone was not a question but a statement.

Su Wan did not refute her point, because Erin was not wrong.

The Pacers' starting lineup for the next two to three years was to be:

"Point Guard Lin Shuhao, two Afflalo, small forward Leonard, Power forward Zach Randolph, five Marc Gasol."

And on the bench, they still had:

Millsap, Little O'Neal, and Billups!

This was definitely a championship-contending team...

I didn't expect the story to take this turn!

Su Wan was actually looking forward to the Pacers, this formidable opponent he had helped create.

As for the Heat Team...

They were probably in for big trouble!

Afterward, Erin saw the Knicks, following Su Wan's thoughts, select Jimmy Butler, and she was suddenly surprised. This name wasn't on Su Wan's list of "quality rookies." She turned to Su Wan, who said with a smile, "I have to keep some tricks up my sleeve!"

Could he reveal everything?

Notably, he had specifically mentioned Chandler Parsons.

And then, this guy was taken by the Mavericks at the 27th pick of the first round.

Mark Cuban...

It's your turn to make a fortune!

Then the New York Knicks picked Isaiah Thomas with the 55th overall pick in the second round.

This selection was booed by the home crowd in New York.

It wasn't directed at Little Thomas, but at the name "Isaiah Thomas."

This made the future "Greatest 5-foot-9 Player on Earth" quite awkward.

However, when faced with the cameras interviewing him, Little Thomas was quite excited, "I'm really looking forward to becoming teammates with Su Wan. He is an idol for our generation, there's no doubt about that!"

With that, the draft came to a close, and Su Wan immediately returned to his homeland.

As he was leaving, news came from the League:

The labor and management sides still had not agreed upon terms, and the League was likely to enter a lockout for the first time since the summer of '98.

This caused some panic.

On July 1st, the panic arrived.

David Stern announced that since the labor and management sides had not reached an agreement before the contract expired, the League officially entered an indefinite lockout.

Worth mentioning, before the NBA lockout, America's NFL, which had the highest attention, had already experienced one.

The lockout in the football league ended with a complete victory for the management side.

But their method was not one that the NBA owners could follow.

The NFL opted to bring in players from secondary leagues to play, and the scene was still very heated.

After all, football is a team sport that greatly tests the cooperation within the team. Individual ability has far less impact in this sport than in basketball.

So even with player substitutions, as long as the game was engaging, the NFL's viewership did not suffer.

The NBA was different; the best 400 players in the world were here. Without such extreme individual talent, the level of spectacle would decline significantly.

Even if they ended up creating a "new NBA," it would deal a heavy blow to the NBA.

Therefore, there was no other option but negotiation.

During the lockout, NBA players would not receive salaries, NBA teams could not negotiate with players, and they could not sign or trade players.

Also, players could not use the team's training facilities under any circumstances, and the teams could not hold any summer training camps, exhibitions, team meetings, or coaching clinics.

In addition, NBA team websites could no longer use the images of players, nor could they use players as promotional representatives.

NBA Commissioner David Stern stated, "Thank you to all the fans who enjoy NBA games; the past year has been a great one. Yet for the team owners, even such an amazing season has not been profitable. The smaller-market teams have not at all enjoyed this fun. Our goal is to make the operations of the League more cost-effective and allow all 30 teams in the League to be competitive."