LeBron James, your house got robbed.

The first thing Andrew does every morning when he wakes up is to turn on his computer and check the team's latest updates.

Born and raised in Cleveland, Andrew's entire family are Cavaliers fans, and he naturally became a die-hard supporter of the team.

James' departure left him disheartened, and he burned all his jerseys.

But Chen Shuo's actions this past summer rekindled his hope.

The team has a group of promising new players who are full of talent and have been disciplined and hardworking in training camp, which has given Andrew renewed confidence in the team's future.

Especially this year's number one draft pick, Kyrie Irving, his dribbling seems to be connected to the ball by a string, his footwork is gorgeous and ghostly, and his offensive skills are diverse.

Andrew believes that given time, Irving can lead the team back to the playoffs.

After skillfully opening the homepage of the Cleveland Plain News, Andrew froze on the spot.

"The Cavaliers have officially made an offer to the Hornets, and they are willing to use Kyrie Irving and Anderson Varejao as the main assets."

Andrew's goodwill towards Chen Shuo vanished in an instant.

As a seasoned fan, he knew very well that Paul wanted to go to a big city, and that the team's forced trade might not be able to keep Paul, and in the end, they would lose Irving instead.

Moreover, in Andrew's view, Irving's future prospects may not be weaker than Paul's.

For the Cavaliers, building the team around the young Kyrie Irving is undoubtedly a more secure and promising path.

Andrew suddenly remembered Chen Shuo's season goals, which he had proposed at the press conference.

"Shit, he wouldn't take those words seriously, would he?"

"This idiot will ruin the team."

Andrew clenched his fists again without realizing it.

A chill ran down Chen Shuo's spine. He draped a blanket over himself and glanced at the odds on the betting website.

Even though he forcefully pressured the management and made the decision to bring out Irving, the team's most valuable asset at the moment.

In the odds for Paul's next team, the Cavaliers are still ranked third, with the Warriors and Clippers taking the top two spots.

The council recently rejected the three-way trade for basketball reasons and is unlikely to intervene again in the near future.

After all, such an action would have a huge impact on the league's reputation.

Although the NBA is a commercial league, it still needs to keep its investors as hidden as possible behind the scenes of competitive sports so that fans will be willing to support it.

Therefore, the decision-making power regarding Paul's subsequent trades rests with the Hornets' management.

However, Chen Shuo believes that Stern still has the power to intervene within a certain scope.

According to Grant, the Hornets are currently most satisfied with the Warriors' offer.

Chen Shuo wasn't in a hurry; he was patient and waited, since he knew more than most people.

In the original timeline, the Clippers were the ultimate winners.

Around noon, Grant called to tell Chen Shuo the latest news.

Paul's agent, in an interview, stated that if he cannot reach a competitive major market, Paul is likely to opt out of his contract in a year.

Chen Shuo hung up the phone.

This is a blatant threat.

Not long after the call ended, the odds on the betting website changed instantly, with the Clippers rising to the top of the odds list and the Warriors quickly falling out of the top three.

Clearly, the Warriors have withdrawn from the bidding.

Although Oakland has a decent basketball market, much better than Cleveland, the Warriors are not very competitive without Curry.

West clearly has no confidence in keeping Paul next year.

That evening, WoJ made a new revelation on Twitter.

"Paul is very close to joining the Clippers, even though the Cavaliers seem to have a slightly better offer."

Currently, given the relatively small difference in trade value, the Hornets' management seems inclined to send Paul to the city he wants to go.

This was probably at Stern's behest; star players need to go to big cities to maximize their commercial success.

Furthermore, Stern was unwilling to see the Cavaliers squander their potential for a rise due to foolish actions.

With both the city and competitiveness at a disadvantage, the Cavaliers will need an overwhelming advantage in assets to overcome this challenge.

Chen Shuo carefully compared the stakes of the two teams.

The Clippers offered Kaman, while Chen Shuo offered Varejao.

Kaman was once selected as an All-Star reserve, while Varejao was selected as a Second All-Defensive Team player. Their basic stats are similar, and both suffered major injuries last season.

Kaman's contract is worth 1100 million, while Varejao's is only 748 million, so the two can be considered as roughly equal assets.

The Clippers offered Aminu, while Chen Shuo offered Ramon Sessions, both of whom were valued at the first round.

The core offer was for Eric Gordon, who had impressive stats last season, to be matched against this year's number one draft pick, Kyrie Irving.

For a rebuilding team like the Hornets, Kyrie Irving is naturally a better choice; being the number one draft pick means having a higher ceiling.

In addition to these assets, the Clippers are also willing to give up a first-round pick.

This means that while the Clippers' offer is slightly less than the Cavaliers', it's still a very sincere one.

Chen Shuo has no intention of increasing his bets.

As for the players, although the team has several rookies, 11 was a weak draft year, and without any special insight, only Kyrie Irving has enough value.

If Klay Thompson or Kawhi Leonard were traded, they would only receive less than one-tenth of their true value.

In most people's eyes, Kyrie Irving and Varejao are the best players the Cavaliers can offer.

If we want to increase our stakes further, we can only do so through draft picks.

After the Cavaliers traded first-round picks with the Kings, they acquired the Kings' unprotected first-round draft pick in 12, and thereafter the Cavaliers kept all their draft picks in their own hands.

In addition, when James left the team, he opted for a sign-and-trade deal so that the Heat could sign Mike Miller, thus leaving the Cavaliers with two draft picks.

The Heat's first round picks in 13 and 15.

Given the Heat's roster, these two picks are destined to be low, especially since Riley added top-ten protection to both first-round picks.

However, adding more draft picks would be a completely unprofitable deal.

Moreover, Chen Shuo was unaware of Stern's thoughts.

If he is determined to send Paul to the Clippers, even adding two more first-round picks might not be effective.

After all, the Clippers already have all their future first-round picks in hand, and adding more would just turn it into a meaningless bidding war.

Therefore, Chen Shuo chose the safest approach.

Since we can't compete, we might as well flip the table.

Shortly after Woj's revelation, another news story quickly went viral across major media outlets.

Sterling is suspected of discriminating against players during a phone call with his girlfriend.

Specifically, they did not want her to take photos with her Black friends in public or post those photos on social media.

Furthermore, anonymous sources indicated that they possess phone recordings.

This news immediately caused a huge uproar, with many players demanding that the league thoroughly investigate the matter.

Although the news was vaguely worded and the source was unclear and ambiguous, most players believed that the incident did indeed occur.

As the saying goes, a person's reputation is reflected in their actions. Sterling's discrimination against Black people is nothing new in the NBA, but there has never been clear evidence.

In the original timeline, the Sterling phone recording discrimination scandal only broke in 14, and the recording itself was made by his then-girlfriend in 13.

It's only been 11 years now, so this recording shouldn't exist.

However, thanks to his exceptional memory, Chen Shuo clearly remembered that Sterling's wife stated in court that Steviano was not Sterling's first lover.

Over the past few decades, Sterling has had at least a dozen lovers.

Therefore, it is reasonable to infer that Sterling, who is severely racist, would certainly impose the same demands on his former lover, forbidding her from taking photos with his Black friends.

Chen Shuo had handed the basin of dirty water to Gilbert several days earlier.

With Gilbert's influence, finding a safe way to throw this dirty water on Sterling wouldn't be difficult at all.

Even if Sterling eventually manages to prove his innocence, it will take at least one or two weeks, by which time the offseason will be over.

Prior to this, the trade between the Clippers and the Hornets had to be put on hold.