The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 973 The Mist Disperses
On February 21, the last day of the trade deadline, Danny Ainge was extremely busy.

Although the Glorious had just defeated the second-ranked Nets in the East and performed well, the team's search for a second offensive weapon, which began at the start of the season, has not yet been resolved.

As a new general manager, Angie faces multiple challenges, one of which is that people are not very willing to make deals with Glorious.

All team managers are wary of Forrest Gump. If he were allowed to assemble a strong roster, the league would return to Forrest Gump's dominance, which is something no one wants to see.

You've only had a season to catch your breath, and now you're back?

Fortunately, the Glory team has many constraints, and the players they select are all newcomers, veterans, and fringe players.

With the salary cap restricted to 70% and set to expire next season, Ainge has very few trade assets.

Several second-round draft picks have already been traded for Arenas and Wallace, but the first-round draft picks will remain untouched for the time being.

Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice. Anji was in a real hurry. Since last December, he had been begging and pleading, making phone calls here and inviting people to dinner there, trying to get some information and find out about the teams and players, hoping to find an opportunity.

The most difficult thing about being a professional player manager is having to treat your players like commodities to be traded.

Especially for players with whom you've built good working relationships and worked together for many years, when you signed them, shook hands, and shared your bright visions for the future, you had pleasant collaborations, many exciting nights, watched them grow, settle down in a city, have family, friends, fans, and achieve success.

Suddenly one day, he declines or becomes less capable, the team has new plans, and you decide to send him to another unfamiliar city.

At this moment, in the general manager's eyes, the players are no longer living people, but commodities, a pile of data, and a trading object for spot and futures.

But for Danny Ainge, none of that matters.

The real question is, who's willing to trade with me? I'd trade myself if anyone was willing.

That's the kind of person Ainge is. He values ​​the final result. As for the friendship between people, you can be friendly after the game, but don't talk to me about those things on the court.

It's just a transaction, not sending you to the front lines to die.

Gan Guoyang was well aware of this characteristic of Ainge. He explicitly told Ainge, "If one day, trading me would be beneficial to the team, you can consider doing so, as long as someone is willing to take over."

Ainge actually took it to heart, so he tentatively suggested to several teams what would happen if the offer was Forrest Gump.

He immediately received a very positive response, but Angie quickly said that it was a joke and that trading Forrest Gump was not feasible at all. He would be beaten to death by the casino owners and then stuffed into a stable and trampled into mud.

Even on the night of the game against the Nets on the 20th, Ainge still hadn't found a suitable trade partner.

On that day, the Phoenix Suns and the New York Knicks completed a trade, with the Suns sending Tony Derrick and Rodney Rogers to the New York Knicks in exchange for Joe Johnson. The Suns were tanking while gradually building their ideal roster.

With the trade deadline fast approaching, Angie is running out of options. He's made every call he can and used every connection he can, but so far there are still no good trade options.

At most, they can only make some minor adjustments, but that's not what Ainge wants. For the current Glory team, they need a strong addition to help them achieve some results in their playoff push.

For a newly formed NBA team, making it to the playoffs in their first season is no small feat.

With Forrest Gump on the team, the playoffs shouldn't be a problem, but whether they can go any further is another story.

In his previous career, Gan Guoyang had never missed the playoffs, or more specifically, he had never missed the Western Conference Finals.

His dominance in the playoffs was quite astonishing.

With this year's roster, the Glorious Ones can forget about winning the championship.

The roster is full of the elderly, the infirm, the new recruits, and the seasoned veterans, lacking any fresh blood.

Even Forrest Gump himself is an old man now, and his consistency in the regular season is not as good as before.

I wonder how much of that explosiveness will be left for the playoffs.

At least try to find a way to win at least one round, right?

However, if the Radiant team is in the bottom half of the bracket, it won't be easy for them to upset the teams above them.

On the 21st, just as Danny Ainge was preparing to activate Plan B—to abandon the trade plan if no suitable trade partner was available, maintain the current roster, and plan for the future—he received a call from Denver.

It was Denver's general manager, Van de Wesley, who called Danny and said to Ainge, "Danny, let's make a trade. We're ready to send Van Exel away."

Angie immediately became interested and asked, "What kind of stakes do you want?"

"Matching chips is fine, whatever you want."

Ainge had contacted Van de Wesley before; the Nuggets did indeed want to trade Van Exel.

But their first destination was the Dallas Mavericks, because the Mavericks could offer better assets.

Angie had nothing left to exchange for, so he had to give up. Unexpectedly, Vandeweghe called him and said he would exchange anything for her.

"Mark Jackson and Eddie House, plus some cash, that's the best we can offer."

"No problem, prepare to report to the alliance office. I'll wait for your reply."

"Hey, is that all? Why?"

"Why? You want it, I want to sell it, isn't that enough?"

"But... others have better bargaining chips."

"But you have Forrest Gump, so consider this a gift from me to him."

Danny Ainge immediately realized that it wasn't that simple. Vandeweghe was Gan Guoyang's teammate during his time with the Trail Blazers. Vandeweghe won three championship rings with Gan and achieved great success.

It is said that the management initially wanted to trade Vandeweghe to another team in exchange for a better defensive player to build a championship team.

It was Forrest Gump who firmly disagreed with trading Kiki and insisted on keeping him with the Trail Blazers. He personally plugged the defensive loopholes and created the Trail Blazers' first dynasty.

Van de Wesley enjoyed this glory and became a cornerstone player of the first dynasty.

Although he was traded to the Knicks late in his career, his career ended quickly, and his glory and honor all came from Portland.

This season, Vucic became the Nuggets' general manager. Like Ainge, he is also a rookie manager and faces the same situation of lacking connections and resources.

"Hey Qiqi, consider this a debt I owe you. Just let me know if you need anything in the future."

"Can I have Forrest Gump?"

"Can I give myself to you?"

The two laughed on the phone. After hanging up, Angie immediately called the league office and reported the incident.

Then he called Gan Guoyang to report the situation: "We acquired Van Exel in the trade."

"I know."

"Oh, Kiki told you."

"Of course he would trade with us if he didn't tell me."

"What conditions?" "What conditions? You think we're making a secret deal?"

"Isn't there any?"

"Danny, you fucking underestimate me. My favors are conditions, understand?"

Angie stopped talking. He understood the weight of those words and the favor Forrest Gump had done for him; he knew he would need it someday.

Besides, Vandeweghe and Forrest Gump are former teammates and good friends. Given this relationship, it's normal for the new general manager to give them face.

As for Van Exel, the Nuggets didn't want to keep him anyway. He was indeed very strong, but he was too eccentric, and it had become more and more serious in recent years.

After leaving the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1996-1997 season and being traded to the Hawks, he moved to the Warriors and then to the Nuggets, but couldn't stay for more than a season and a half.

In Van Exel's view, he seems to have never been able to get over the departure in 1997, the moment when his fate changed.

He left Portland and began a nomadic journey, while the Trail Blazers successfully launched their third dynasty the following season, winning three championships and a miraculous 77-win season—all of which had nothing to do with Van Exel.

The more successful the Trail Blazers became, the harder it was for Van Exel to accept. He thought he was very important to the Trail Blazers, but he didn't realize that it was Van Exel who was important without him.

Over the years, Van Exel's statistical level has remained stagnant. He played similar games, lived similar lives, and received similar contracts with mid-to-lower tier teams like the Hawks, Warriors, and Nuggets, gradually drifting away from the real big stage.

He took more and more three-pointers, but he became increasingly reckless with each attempt. His shot attempts continued to increase, but his shooting percentage remained stable at around 35% without any improvement.

In November 2001, Van Exel celebrated his 30th birthday. He was playing well for the Nuggets, and his scoring stats reached a career high, averaging 21 points per game.

But everyone knows that this statistic was built up by piling on possession, and the team's record was a complete mess.

Denver Nuggets legend Dan Issel was fired, and Mike Evans took the helm. Everyone knows that Evans is a transitional figure, as is Van Exel.

With the Nuggets' rebuild imminent, new general manager Vandeweghe will certainly have to make some trades.

Van Exel knew he wasn't in the Nuggets' future plans. Back in December, he publicly stated that he wanted to be traded and go to a team that could contend for a championship.

Van de Wesley has been trying to trade Van Exel since January, but has been unable to find a suitable trade partner.

Or they might be like Glorious, dissatisfied with the trade offer and complaining that they're not giving enough.

Either they're unwilling to accept just van Exel, but also want to include Lafrentz.

Van de Wesley didn't want to trade away this white center, but many teams wanted to sign Frenz, and Van Exel was more like a burden, a freebie.

After going around in circles, with the trade deadline fast approaching, Gan Guoyang called Van de Wesley and said, "Let's just hand Van Exel over to us."

Regarding the issue of the players, Gan Guoyang said, "I selected all the players, and they won't be particularly bad."

After observing Eddie House's performance, Vandeweghe agreed with Gan Guoyang's assessment.

With the help of Gan Guoyang, Vandeweghe agreed to the trade, called Ainge, and completed the exchange before the deadline.

The league quickly approved the trade, and Vandeweghe called Van Exel to inform him that the guy hadn't played for two weeks and hadn't even practiced with the team recently.

Gan Guoyang must have known this situation too. The Nuggets were on the verge of exploding, and if they didn't make a trade, this troublemaker would just rot in their hands.

Once the transaction is complete, whatever the stakes are, at least they're usable.

More importantly, the Nuggets will be focused on tanking next season in preparation for the 2003 NBA Draft.

That was touted as another super draft year, following the 1984 and 1996 drafts.

No team has traded this year's first-round draft pick recently; the bad teams are all waiting to try their luck.

Van Exel received a call from Van de Werner. On the 21st, he did not train with the team or go to the away game. Instead, he packed up at home and prepared to leave.

He didn't know where the Nuggets would trade him to. He hoped it would be Dallas, or Los Angeles, or maybe the East, to Boston, where he wanted to win a championship.

A championship was extremely important to him; otherwise, he felt his life would forever be stuck in the memory of his departure during the 1996-1997 season.

He couldn't remember why he left the team. Even an idiot like Riddle didn't leave, so why did he?

He only remembered that it was a foggy day in Houston. Larry Bird decided to replace him in the starting lineup, which he couldn't accept, so he decided to leave alone and teach the team a lesson.

But the Trail Blazers didn't pursue him. They finished their series against the Rockets and then traded him to the Hawks in the summer for Blake.

From then on, Van Exel felt as if he had never emerged from that hazy fog.

The Hawks rebuilt, then traded him away; the Warriors rebuilt, then traded him away; the Nuggets rebuilt, then are going to trade him away again—although this time it was him who suggested it.

It's more dignified to bring it up proactively than to be suddenly notified of a trade.

"Nick! Congratulations, you've been traded."

"I knew this day would come. Thank you, Qiqi. Where did you take me?"

"A good place, a very good place, you will like it, there are your old friends there."

"Old friend?"

"Yes, welcome to Las Vegas!"

"..."

Van Exel never expected that he would be traded to Las Vegas to play for the Radiant.

He likes Las Vegas, no player dislikes it, the problem is, it's Forrest Gump's team.

Had he come full circle and found himself back in Forrest Gump's clutches? Van Exel struggled to describe his feelings.

What he didn't expect was that on the 22nd, when he arrived alone at the sunny and even somewhat hot Las Vegas airport, the person waiting to pick him up in the parking lot was none other than Gan Guoyang himself.

He personally drove an old gold Cadillac convertible, like a Vegas gambler in an 80s movie, to greet Van Exel's arrival.

“Nick, welcome to Las Vegas.” Gan Guoyang pointed to the trunk, indicating that he should put his luggage in the back.

Las Vegas is not very big, and the population is not large. If Gan Guoyang drives out by himself and is well concealed, he will not attract a crowd.

Van Exel put down his luggage and got into the car obediently. Gan Guoyang put on his sunglasses and gave Van Exel a pair as well, saying, "Even though it's February, the sun here is still very bright."

Van Exel put on his sunglasses, and his eyes did adjust a bit. Gan Guoyang then asked, "Where are you planning to go? To the MGM Hotel to rest, to the casino to play a couple of rounds? Or to find a girl to help you relax?"

Van Exel turned to look at Gan Guoyang, who pulled his sunglasses up slightly to feel the glaring sunlight.

"Take me to the training facility. I haven't trained in a long time, and I want to practice my three-pointers."

“As you wish, buddy. Welcome back.” With that, Gan Guoyang started the car.

Van Exel had a feeling that the fog had finally lifted.

(End of this chapter)