"Aldridge just signed a four-year, $84.07 million deal with the San Antonio Spurs!"
"DeAndre Jordan re-signed with the Clippers for four years and $87.6 million?"
While Chen Yilun hadn't made a move yet, the two biggest offseason bombshells had already dropped.
First, Aldridge, who had been wavering between teams, finally made his decision. It wasn't the Rockets, who had gone all-out to recruit him, nor the Raptors, who had been desperately waiting for him.
The Spurs, usually quiet in the trade market, came out with a massive move.
After years of patience, Buford finally made his big move, landing one of the league's top power forwards.
To get Aldridge, Buford had to bite the bullet and trade away starting center Tiago Splitter.
At least Splitter ended up in a good spot—the Atlanta Hawks, the so-called "Spurs of the East." In a way, it felt like an in-house move within the Spurs' family tree.
As for Jordan re-signing with the Clippers, Chen Yilun didn't know who was happiest, but one thing was for sure: a certain short billionaire in Dallas was probably losing his mind.
This was the infamous "DeAndre Jordan Free Agency Fiasco"
After blowing a 3–1 lead in last season's playoffs, Jordan carried some bitterness and started thinking about leaving.
The Dallas Mavericks immediately jumped at the chance.
Owner Mark Cuban personally flew to Los Angeles with Jordan's friend Chandler Parsons to recruit him.
Under Cuban's pitch, Jordan gave a verbal commitment to the Mavericks and was ready to sign.
But when the Clippers realized Jordan was serious about leaving, they panicked. Owner Steve Ballmer, along with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, literally camped out at Jordan's house.
They appealed to both his emotions and his logic, and eventually convinced him to flip back and stay with the Clippers.
Sensing things slipping away, Cuban caught a red-eye to L.A. for one last shot—but when he got to Jordan's house, he was blocked at the door by the Clippers.
In the end, Jordan re-signed with the Clippers.
The Mavericks, meanwhile, became the league's laughingstock. After Jordan's verbal commitment, Cuban had even let go of last season's second option, Monta Ellis, just to clear cap space for him.
The fallout from the fiascoIncident was ugly.
The league office and the players' union clashed for more than half a year.
The league argued that Jordan's actions were disgraceful—backing out after giving his word, derailing all of Dallas's moves. He deserved punishment.
The players' union countered: a verbal agreement meant nothing. No signature, no deal. An unsigned agreement is as good as toilet paper. Why punish him?
The argument dragged on until March 2016.
Finally, the league had enough and introduced a new rule: starting in 2016, the free agent moratorium would be shortened to just five days.
This became what fans came to call the "DeAndre Jordan Rule."
Chen Yilun pulled his thoughts back to the present.
"We've reached out to David West three times. They don't seem interested at all," Peja reported seriously from across his desk.
"That's normal. He opted out of a $12 million deal—clearly, he's after something else. It's no surprise we can't compete."
Going after West was just a side play for Chen Yilun. He was one of the few possible steals on the market—worth a shot, but no big deal if it didn't work out.
"But are we really just going to sit on our hands?" Peja hesitated. "The whole West is stockpiling talent. If nothing unexpected happens, next year's playoffs will be even tougher."
"How's Divac? Haven't heard from him in a while." Chen Yilun deflected.
"I called him yesterday. He's still in Europe working with Jokić." Peja sighed. "Poor kid, even during vacation his coach is chasing him down for extra training."
"That's good."
Chen Yilun nodded. "Divac is dedicated. I was worried that little fat guy would let himself go in the offseason, but with Divac keeping an eye on him, I can relax."
Then he suddenly remembered something.
"Forget the player market—start looking for any unemployed coaches. Malone's mentioned it to me a few times already. We need a defensive-minded assistant."
"Defense?" Peja raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. Everything else is secondary—we have to tighten up our defense first. LaVine, Ben, Crowder, Oubre—tell me which of them doesn't need extra defensive work?" Chen Yilun counted them off on his fingers.
The Kings were overflowing with talent.
With so many young prospects waiting to be developed, the coaching staff had to step up.
If they failed, all that talent would go to waste.
"Go talk to Crowder. A two- or three-year deal is fine." Chen Yilun packed up his papers and got ready to leave.
Crowder had a team option this year, and the Kings could extend him early.
"Got it. We'll keep it within the price range we agreed before." Seeing his boss about to leave, Peja got up as well.
Watching Chen Yilun grab a massive briefcase and head for the door, he asked,
"Another business trip?"
"Yeah, to San Antonio." Chen Yilun grinned mischievously. "I'm going to poach someone!"
...
"You'd better explain yourself! What are you doing here?"
In a San Antonio street restaurant, Popovich and Buford sat shoulder to shoulder, glaring across the table at Chen Yilun.
"Come on, am I not still family? Why are you treating me like this?"
With two old foxes staring him down, Chen Yilun could only smile bitterly.
"Is my reputation really that bad in the league now?"
"You sure you're not hiding anything?" Buford eyed him suspiciously.
"Look at your roster—who could I even poach?" Chen Yilun complained. "You've already signed Aldridge. Who could possibly steal the GDP? And even if I wanted Kawhi, he's restricted—no way he'd leave!"
"That's true..." Buford muttered. The Spurs were rock-solid, with a smooth transition from the old guard to the new. They were top contenders for next year's title. Even if Chen Yilun wanted to poach someone, nobody would leave.
"So you really just came back to see us?"
"What else? I miss the Spurs' atmosphere. You have no idea how exhausting all the scheming is with the Kings. Look at this—I've already got white hair!"
After his little diversion, the two old foxes gradually let their guard down and enjoyed the meal.
...
"Ring ring ring!"
The shrill ringtone yanked Buford out of bed.
He'd drunk too much last night, and Chen Yilun, that sly kid, had run circles around him.
Groaning, Buford picked up his phone and glanced at the caller ID.
"Hello? Pop, what's going on? Why are you calling so early?"
On the other end, Popovich's furious voice roared,
"I knew it! That brat didn't come back with good intentions! Damn it! He's poaching right under my nose!"
Pop's words carried so much fire that Buford sobered up instantly.
"What? He really stole someone? Who did that kid poach?"
"He didn't take a player!" Popovich was still shouting.
"He's after my coaching staff!"
"He poached Chip Engelland!"
...