Besides sharing the news with Tang Tian, Butler also asked him about his contract situation with the Mavericks.

Should he sign a four-year, $75 million contract, or a five-year, $95 million contract?

The final year of both contracts was a player option; the only difference was the length.

The Mavericks weren't too insistent on this point, letting Butler choose for himself, as a sign of respect.

Tang Tian quickly gave Butler a clear answer: choose the four-year one.

The salary cap was about to explode, and for players with real ability, if they could extend their contracts in the summer of '16, they should wait until then. If not, they should sign as short a contract as possible.

This would ensure the maximization of the player's interests.

He had already discussed this with Walker last year when he extended his contract early.

Walker's contract extension was also for three years.

"Okay, see you on the court in the playoffs."

Butler listened to Tang Tian's advice and was excited about going to the West.

He was the kind of person with an extremely strong desire to win, and he saw Tang Tian as his role model.

For him, nothing was more exciting than a head-on clash with his role model in the playoffs.

The day after Butler and Tang Tian finished their phone call, Woj broke the news of the Bulls and Mavericks trade.

The Mavericks sent this year's 11th pick, Devin Booker, Luol Deng, and a 2016 first-round pick with top-five protection to the Bulls for Jimmy Butler.

Jimmy Butler first signed a four-year max contract with the Bulls and then completed the trade.

Luol Deng returned to the Bulls. He averaged 15.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists last season and was ready to play immediately.

Booker, as the 11th pick, played in two games in the recently concluded Utah Summer League, averaging 27 points, 5 rebounds, and 6.5 assists, showing great potential.

And there was also the high probability of getting next year's first-round pick.

Having already decided to trade Butler, the Bulls basically got the return the management wanted.

The Mavericks sending Booker away was a bit unexpected for Tang Tian, but it also made sense.

On the one hand, the Mavericks didn't have future sight and didn't know how far Booker would go in the future.

On the other hand, Nowitzki's age was a factor. Cuban truly loved him and definitely wanted to compete for the playoffs before he retired.

And after completing this trade, Cuban then signed Deron Williams, who had just completed a buyout with the Nets.

Deron + Butler + Harris + Nowitzki + Embiid, plus Devin Harris, Jose Barea, and a bunch of other quality substitutes.

Cuban really only took two seasons to rebuild, and the Mavericks suddenly became a force to be reckoned with in the West.

The arms race in the Western Conference was intensifying.

At this time, Woj broke another shocking piece of news: the Rockets were interested in Paul!

Morey was really going to make some moves this season!

If they could really get Paul, Paul + Harden + Cousins would definitely be an epic lineup.

Tang Tian was also stunned when he saw this news.

However, he didn't think the Rockets would actually be able to trade for Paul in the end.

Paul did go to the Rockets in history, but that was in 2017.

Now, Paul was only 30 years old and still in his prime, the standard first point guard in the league, and the Rockets didn't have the assets to trade for him.

Not to mention, the Clippers had no reason to trade Paul to a direct competitor.

So this was just wishful thinking at best.

The free agent market was coming to an end, and as Tang Tian thought, the Rockets and Clippers trade did not happen.

However, the past ten days or so had definitely been the most turbulent free agent market in recent years.

In the West, there were now six teams with the strength to compete for the championship: the Warriors, Pelicans, Spurs, Rockets, Clippers, and Mavericks. Their rosters on paper were all capable.

Of course, what they would actually become and what kind of results they would achieve would only be truly seen when the new season began.

Tang Tian would have his usual Nike China tour in late July.

Olsen was pregnant and couldn't go back to China with him, so he also planned to bring his parents to the United States for a trip this time.

The manor and the super yacht should make his parents happy.

However, this China tour was still not just him alone.

The partner for his first China tour was Yi Jianlian, last year it was Thompson, and this year it was Guo Ailun.

Speaking of Guo Ailun, he was a bit lucky this year.

When Demps asked Tang Tian for summer league candidates at the draft, Tang Tian suggested Bryn Forbes.

The latter had shown bright spots in the past Utah Summer League and Las Vegas Summer League, averaging 16.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.2 assists, with a three-point shooting percentage of 44%, performing better than most second-round picks.

After the Summer League, the Pelicans successfully reached a three-year partially guaranteed contract with him.

This was what Tang Tian expected, but what he didn't expect was that.

When he was looking at the list, he looked at Guo Ailun's name for a long time, and Demps actually invited Guo Ailun to play in the Summer League!

Guo Ailun participated in five games in the Las Vegas Summer League, averaging 7.1 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists, performing very well.

Although these statistics made it difficult for him to get even a training camp contract, this period of experience was very important to him.

He experienced the training methods here in the NBA, as well as the daily life of NBA players, which would be of great help to his future development.

A week after the Summer League ended, Tang Tian and Guo Ailun boarded a plane back to China together.

During the London Olympics, Guo Ailun entered the national team, and he and Tang Tian met at that time.

Once they got on the plane, he called him "Brother Tang" and closed the distance between them.

Guo Ailun was from Liaoning, very talkative, and quite humorous, so it was really interesting to sit on the plane with him.

The theme of this year's Nike China tour was "Next Stop, Champion."

This was a very meaningful theme. Tang Tian and Guo Ailun, both of their teams were very strong in the NBA and CBA, but neither of them had won a championship as a core player.

This theme was to give fans a kind of expectation and hope.

What's late is not necessarily bad, the next stop is the championship.

Guo Ailun was humorous and funny, and Tang Tian was also witty and humorous, and the activities went very smoothly.

Although the Pelicans did not win the championship last year, it could be felt that Tang Tian's popularity only increased.

Just like the theme of the event, the ups and downs of the past two years have made domestic fans look forward to Tang Tian leading the team to win the championship even more.

When the event reached Shanghai, Tang Tian met someone.

To be precise, it was two people.

One was Yao Ming. Yao Ming had previously sold the Shanghai team and was now the chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association. He came to Tang Tian to talk about the construction of Chinese basketball.

And Tang Tian didn't know the other person. He looked twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old and was quite handsome.

"He is Lin Huanyu."

This was Yao Ming's introduction.

After the introduction, he smiled and said with his big face, "He is a *fuerdai* (second generation rich)."

"Hello, I am Lin Huanyu."

Lin Huanyu smiled and reached out to Tang Tian.

"But I'm really not a *fuerdai* (second generation rich)."

PS: Special thanks to Silly Sea Dog for the ten thousand reward!!

PS: Today is the last day of March, and the monthly tickets will expire tomorrow. Hurry up and vote for the lovely Water Eggplant, Water Eggplant is throwing you a big wink ❥(^_-)