Sports Medicine Master System

Chapter 652: Chapter 578: Trade Plan

Backstage, Chen Yu was looking over the list of teams from the East and West that had made it into the playoffs.

West.

First, Oden.

Second, Jennings.

Third, Tyreke Evans.

Fourth, Thaddeus Young.

Fifth, Austin Daye.

Sixth, Nolan Smith.

Seventh, Evan Turner.

Eighth, DeJuan Blair.

And in the East.

Eric Gordon had led his team to first place in the East.

Following close behind was DaJuan Samos from Maryland.

Third, Kevin Love.

Fourth, DeRozan.

Fifth, Rose.

Sixth, Durant, who made a late push, surged into this spot.

Seventh, the Lopez Brothers.

And eighth, the final spot, went to Curry, who had barely squeezed into the playoffs with a one-game lead.

On stage, the order of the trades was now being announced.

Some were happy, others were worried.

"Chen, who do you think will win the championship?" Owen asked.

The five of them, plus Jordan, were only paying limited attention to the show. Chen Yu knew the growth process of these kids best.

Wes Unseld chimed in, "Without a doubt, it’s still Oden."

Seeing the others look his way, he continued, "He’s physically gifted and has an extremely strong low-post offense. More importantly, he has excellent rim protection and defensive skills."

"You can look at the stats. Oden’s defensive efficiency rating is the highest among all the big men. While winning their games, they’ve held their opponents to an average of just 38.6 points."

"In other words, at a time when everyone else worships offense and relies on it to win games, Oden’s team is the only one built on a foundation of defense."

"They are truly balanced on both offense and defense and have what it takes to win the championship."

Jabbar nodded slightly in agreement.

In his mind, the game was still ruled by big men.

And Oden’s height, strength, and athleticism allowed him to protect the rim very well.

His average of 3.2 blocks per game was the best proof of that.

Compared to winning games with offense, he was a firmer believer in the adage that defense wins championships.

Chen Yu nodded along.

In fact, Chen Yu also favored Oden the most.

His physical gifts were just that good.

And after three months of training, his skills had improved significantly.

Especially his straight-armed jumper near the rim.

In comparison, Chen Yu felt that both Durant and Curry were a notch below Oden in terms of raw talent.

This trade would fill the last remaining hole in Oden’s team. If that happened, Chen Yu didn’t think any team could beat Oden’s team.

And in Chen Yu’s vision, this wasn’t even Oden’s final form.

He had a massive injury risk lurking in his body.

He couldn’t afford treatment because of money.

But Chen Yu had already made arrangements for him. A one-million-dollar championship prize, to be split three ways, and a three-million-dollar endorsement bonus—that money was destined for Oden.

After taxes, he could pocket nearly two million.

As long as he wasn’t a complete idiot, he would take that two million, find him for surgery, and completely resolve his leg-length discrepancy issue.

A one-year recovery period after surgery wouldn’t affect his future draft stock at all.

Once his treatment was complete, he would enter the NBA in a completely new, healthy state.

His future would be truly promising.

However, this was all just Chen Yu’s plan. Whether Oden could ultimately win the championship still depended on his own efforts.

Back on stage, Rose, who had been lucky enough to get a high-priority trade pick, quickly made his choice.

Back during the mock draft, his team manager, Karen, had devised a strategy for him: pick two weaker teammates to give Rose the chance to rack up insane points.

This strategy happened to align perfectly with Jennings’ own.

And by relying on this rampant stat-padding, Rose had managed to force his way into the playoffs.

But his roster had huge flaws.

Therefore, Rose didn’t have much of a psychological burden about trading away his teammates.

He chose a big man.

Byron Mullens, ranked tenth in the West.

Standing at 208 cm, the 15-year-old, though white, might not have Oden’s freakish athleticism, but his skills were more polished.

A broad frame, excellent fundamentals, and a skilled mid-range game—he was probably the best big man among the eliminated teams.

In his freshman year of high school, he averaged 16 points and 9 rebounds.

On the show, he averaged 24 points and 11 rebounds, and even dished out nearly 3 assists per game, making for a very well-rounded performance.

As soon as this choice was made, many in the audience showed expressions of regret.

Quite a few teams had their eyes on Mullens.

However, after Rose made his choice, the large screen behind Ernest paused for a moment before a giant X appeared.

Byron Mullens had rejected the trade!

Next to Rose, the smile on Karen’s face suddenly froze.

Rose was also a bit stunned, not quite processing what had just happened.

The next moment, Karen hurriedly asked Ernest, "What does this mean? They can refuse?"

Backstage, Jordan asked the same question.

Chen Yu nodded. "Of course. This is a trade, not a draft. A trade is a two-way street. You choose them, and they also choose you. Naturally, they can refuse."

Clearly, after discussing it with his team manager, Byron Mullens wasn’t interested in joining Rose.

As for why this wasn’t made clear earlier, it was naturally for dramatic effect.

And just like that, they had their drama.

Many people were caught completely off guard.

On stage, Ernest clarified this rule and gave Rose another chance to choose.

Just this once. Otherwise, he would lose his turn and have to wait until the next round to make another trade.

This unexpected twist forced Karen and Rose to deliberate for a full three minutes before making another choice.

Greg Monroe.

Standing at 205 cm, he averaged 19.6 points and 8.2 rebounds during the show’s regular season.

This time, Monroe did not refuse and chose to complete the trade.

He went from being a team captain to a regular team member.

Backstage, George Gervin said, "Chen, doesn’t that mean some captains could choose to give up, not make any trades, and just forfeit the playoffs?"

Chen Yu nodded, but he figured no one would do that, especially after he had announced that the upcoming playoffs would be broadcast live.

’Who wouldn’t want more attention?’

"Chen, you’ve made this way too complicated," Jordan muttered.

In his mind, this was all just kids playing around anyway.

Chen Yu didn’t mind, saying with a smile, "We’re filming a show. It can’t be helped."

Just as he was speaking, Chen Yu noticed Brian appear in the distance, waving him over.

Telling the others to keep watching, Chen Yu walked over.

As soon as he got close, Brian pulled Chen Yu toward the office area.

"Chen, the Mavericks have agreed to the trade proposal in principle," Brian said in a low voice.

Chen Yu was startled.

This trade had been proposed back in August, and now, after a month, there was finally some progress.

After weighing all the options, the Phoenix Suns had ultimately chosen the Mavericks.

Realistically, looking at all the possibilities, the best asset they could get was still Nowitzki.

In terms of skill and star power, there was no better choice than Nowitzki.

Once the general direction was confirmed, the next step was negotiating the specific details of the trade package.

The trade had to be balanced.

Initially, the Suns had proposed a package deal: Nowitzki and Antoine Walker in a direct swap for O’Neal.

As soon as the trade market opened, rumors had been constantly circulating that the Mavericks wanted to offload Antoine Walker.

The Mavericks’ management wasn’t too keen on this three-point-shooting power forward.

Most importantly, his contract was too large.

They wanted to take advantage of his expiring contract in its final year, trade him away, and get some valuable assets in return.

The specific trade partner had also been revealed at the time.

It was the Hawks.

The Mavericks wanted to trade Walker to the Hawks for Terry to fill the void left by Nash’s departure.

But because of the O’Neal trade, this deal had been dragging on without being finalized.

Setting aside Walker’s actual skill, what Brian was interested in was his expiring contract.

But the Mavericks disagreed, feeling it was a bad deal. Using Walker’s expiring contract as a trade filler was too much of a loss for them.

After some back-and-forth, they proposed a counteroffer.

They would send Walker, but the Suns had to include David West.

The Mavericks were willing to do it for a promising first-round rookie.

But the Suns were not.

They had traded away McDyess specifically to focus on developing David West.

Besides, they had paid a steep price to get David West in the first place, giving them even less reason to trade him away.

The Mavericks then went back to proposing Danny Fortson and Lightner as trade fillers.

This was their initial proposal as well.

The Suns weren’t too keen on that either.

Fortson was still on the hook for a three-year contract worth nearly 19 million.

Moreover, as an undersized tough-guy big man, his performance had declined to an unbelievable degree due to injuries and a lack of self-discipline, even though he was only 28.

There was a high probability he’d become dead weight on their payroll, making him far less manageable than Walker.

"So what’s the final deal? Plan A or Plan B? Also, why do I get the feeling you’re not very excited?" Chen Yu asked.

Plan A was Walker, and Plan B was Fortson.

Most importantly, even though the trade was agreed upon, there wasn’t a hint of joy on Brian’s face.

"At the end of the day, we’re trading away Shaq. How do you expect me to be happy?" Brian sighed.

This wasn’t a move to strengthen the team, where you get the player you want and jump for joy.

This was a reluctant move to save on salary, letting go of a top-tier superstar.

And the key thing was, this was O’Neal.

Getting O’Neal was a stroke of luck for any team.

Losing him was really nothing to be happy about.

"It’s A. But don’t worry, we kept David."

The trade package both sides agreed on was: the Mavericks would send Nowitzki and Walker, and the Suns would send O’Neal, along with Kendrick Perkins and Marquis Daniels.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!