NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 334% of 2 Mi Ai

The Hawks could easily choose not to offer him an extension early and wait until he opts out of his contract next season before discussing a new deal. The problem is that by then, he'll be a free agent, able to sign with other teams that have salary cap space, putting the Hawks under significant competition. And if they opt out, as his parent team, they are the only ones qualified to offer an extension.

The Hawks have a lot of assets. They acquired Jia Fei as a base player, without giving up any assets. They haven't traded spare change or future assets for star players in the past two seasons. Theoretically, if they wanted to, they could easily trade for a star player.

This is why Jia Fei made such a demand. If the Hawks didn't have much to offer, he wouldn't have used this method to pressure the team to strengthen its roster.

The real issue is that Jia Fei wants accolades because, given his status, he'd be on a max contract no matter which team he plays for. So money isn't what he's after. The Hawks definitely have a chance to win a championship, but if the team isn't willing to strengthen its roster or pay the luxury tax, and role players start demanding high salaries, the payroll will inevitably inflate. Many teams fail to win consecutive championships later in their careers because injuries and an aging roster are one factor, but another is that players demanding high salaries makes it unaffordable for the team.

“Jia, whichever team you go to, I’ll go to too!” Art Mayork declared his loyalty when he learned that Jia Fei had made a deal with the team.

Jia Fei felt a warmth in his heart. Although Art Mayork had also benefited a lot because of him, this buddy really stood up for him when needed! In the recent Finals, when Green fouled him violently, Art immediately stepped in without hesitation. Just for that, he deserved the spot as the "bodyguard with a knife"!

"Don't worry, Art, I'll definitely call you wherever I go, as long as you're willing to come with me!" Jia Fei smiled slightly, reassuring Art Mayork.

Jia Fei doesn't know if he will leave the Hawks in the future, but if the team is unwilling to strengthen its roster, is satisfied with winning one championship, and is unwilling to pay the luxury tax for winning the championship, then he might choose to leave.

He has already played for different teams throughout his career and is no longer eligible for the "one man, one city" best loyalty award, so leaving doesn't put him under much moral or psychological pressure.

The Hawks' management responded quickly, informing Jia Fei's agent, Jeff Schwartz, that the team would definitely strengthen its roster, focusing on the frontcourt and bench. They hoped Jia Fei could finalize his contract extension with the team as soon as possible.

The frontcourt and the bench? Jia Fei thought it was a bit far-fetched. The team's bench wasn't particularly strong, but wasn't the most pressing issue for this team to improve their roster? They had too many capable players, but their seventh or even eighth man was somewhat lacking. At point guard alone, Teague and Schroder were somewhat redundant, not to mention Shelvin Mark. The wing players were a bunch of 3-and-D players; replacing them with a better 3-and-D player was the right thing to do.

Good players are often expensive. The Hawks don't seem to like paying the luxury tax and are very strict with their salaries, so they hire cheap players. That's how they strengthened their roster last offseason. Whether it was Thabo Sefolosha or Steve Cupcat, they were all bargains. Do you expect to find good deals on Taobao? That's a low-probability event. The Rockets did this a lot back then, wasting Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady's talents.

As for the frontcourt, with Horford and Middleton already on the team, it's certainly possible to strengthen the frontcourt, but it's impossible to add an All-Star frontcourt player, otherwise who would be the backup between Horford and Middleton?

So if the Hawks were to trade for a star player, the most suitable option would be a guard or a wing player.

Therefore, based on this analysis, the reinforcement plan proposed by the Hawks' management seems somewhat like empty promises.

Reason told Jia Fei not to renew his contract early. He could choose not to, observe the team's moves, and decide next summer whether to renew. Renewing early would allow him to avoid risks, but he was so young and had no history of injuries, so there was no need to worry too much about it.

The draft has passed in the blink of an eye, and there are only a few days left until the free agency market opens on July 1st.

Jia Fei entered the system and checked the task completion status. He found that several tasks had been completed, namely "Scoring 40 points in a single NBA playoff game", "Winning the NBA championship", and "Winning the NBA Finals MVP".

He happily received the points reward, which suddenly brought his total to [number missing]. He redeemed them all, and as a result, his "Iverson Peak Skill Integration" increased from 90% to 92%!

That's fucking slow!

Jia Fei couldn't help but complain, "This is way too slow! How long will it take to reach this level of fusion? I'm speechless. Do I really have to retire before I can reach this level of fusion?"

Admittedly, his strength is already considerable even though he hasn't reached 100% fusion, but not reaching it is not reaching it. He really wants to see just how terrifying 2-meter Ai can be.

There's a saying among the people: "Reasonable Kobe, Healthy McGrady, Two-Meter Iverson." A rational Kobe, a healthy McGrady, and a two-meter Iverson are all synonymous with strength. While you can't see the power of a rational Kobe or a healthy McGrady for long periods, you can at least see them for short stretches. But a two-meter Iverson truly only exists in imagination; you can't judge just how strong he would be if he actually appeared.

Moreover, Jia Fei's own skills and years of training, when combined, make him stronger than Allen Iverson at his peak of 2 meters tall. He really looks forward to the fusion reaching 100%.

The competition next season will be even fiercer, which makes him even more eager to reach 100% fusion level as quickly as possible. The frustrating thing is that the system is clearly designed to hold you back, preventing you from reaching the maximum level immediately, which is just frustrating.

Thinking of this, Jia Fei had an idea. Were there any decent tasks that could quickly increase his fusion level? Otherwise, how long would it be worthwhile to slowly accumulate rage through small tasks? What if he ran out of tasks to accept, offended everyone in the alliance, and still hadn't reached 100% fusion level? That would be a real tragedy.

Jia Fei focused his attention on the system again, searching for a suitable task. He searched and searched, but couldn't find one that was suitable. Undeterred, he continued his diligent search.

Finally, his eyes lit up!

Got it!

This task doesn't seem particularly remarkable, and it doesn't appear to be very difficult. But what's strange is that the font color of this task is different from that of the other tasks.

The other tasks have white text, but this task has red text.

As for why it was red, Jia Fei didn't know either. He asked the system NPC, but they simply ignored him.