unfinished glory

Chapter 122
Long before the All-Star Game, the Spurs' uniform team had contacted Li Chongxiao's management team, and offered Li Chongxiao a five-year, $5 million contract with a starting salary of 1600 million and a team option for the final year.

This offer was treated as a joke by Li Chongxiao's management team, and he rejected it without even thinking about it. At the same time, he made it clear that Li Chongxiao deserved the maximum salary, and the Spurs would not give it. Some of them were willing to give it.

After hitting a wall a few times, the Spurs got a bad idea, bypassed the economic team, and contacted Li Chongxiao directly.

After all, Li Chongxiao was also the son of a business tycoon. After his father made a fortune, his business blood automatically followed him. How could he be deceived like a child.

He immediately rejected the Spurs general manager Buford's proposal to directly discuss the contract with him, saying that he only focused on playing, and he handed over contract issues to the economic team.

Seeing that they couldn't be deceived, the Spurs began to play the emotional card, saying how good the team's culture is, everyone is like a family, so why bother.At the same time, he also took Parker and Ginobili as examples, saying that their family conditions are average, and they are willing to sign with the Spurs with a salary cut.

On the other hand, he said that Li Chongxiao's family is so rich, why should he care about such a small amount of money, it is better to leave it to the team to strengthen, so as to get more honors.

Then he said that it is not easy to train Li Chongxiao. The team has put in a lot of thought and then made a big cake. Now the team belongs to Duncan, and after five years, it will be Li Chongxiao's.

In fact, Li Chongxiao has long had the mentality of repaying his gratitude and is willing to make a certain salary concession, but the contract offered by the Spurs is an "insulting offer" in the words of his father Li Guoqiang.

Referring to the contract between Parker and Ginobili, if Li Chongxiao really agreed to this offer, it would not be a repayment, but would be regarded as a fool.

However, the repeated insinuations of the Spurs annoyed him. Li Chongxiao simply revealed some news, saying that he was willing to accept some salary cuts, but the contract would be signed after the end of the season.

And this is precisely what the Spurs cannot accept. When the season is over, Li Chongxiao will become a restricted free agent. Any team with a salary of 1060 million will be willing to offer him a five-year maximum salary contract of 5 million.

Once Li Chongxiao agrees, the Spurs will either give up or match.

So the Spurs hope to finalize the contract first, but the stingy Spurs owner Holt has been unwilling to raise the offer, and it will stop at 5 million in five years.

Moreover, the boss was very annoyed, thinking that the team had cultivated Li Chongxiao, so the other party should accept the team's arrangement honestly and work hard for the team like some Chinese employees he had contacted.

Giving Li Chongxiao 5 ​​million for 2500 years, which is 8 times his current salary, is not enough.

More than once, Holt accused Li Chongxiao of being ungrateful in private.

These words reached Li Chongxiao's ears, and he was very angry. He approached Popovich twice and asked what the team meant, but Popovich fudged them.

Li Chongxiao was angry at Holt's words, but he didn't care that much.An American unscrupulous capitalist who keeps his mouth open and keeps talking about kindness instead of money, what kind of cultural person is he pretending to be?

Besides, his contribution to the Spurs far exceeds the salary given by the boss. The team's kindness has long been repaid, and the rest is nothing more than a little gratitude to Popovich.

So he is more concerned about Popovich's attitude. It is indeed because of the support of the head coach that he can achieve what he is today.

Li Chongxiao could understand Popovich's move to lower the price before. This was from the overall situation of the team.

If a team wants to continue to advance steadily, there will always be sacrifices. Li Chongxiao always thought that he played the role of sacrifice because he had the lowest qualifications.

But this time Holt made such an obvious cross-line move, Popovich obviously had the ability to calm down, but he repeatedly shied away, allowing Li Chongxiao to understand the other party's attitude at once.

Probably in the other party's heart, no matter how experts and the media tout it, or how he behaves, he has never been his chosen leader to succeed him.

After knowing this fact, Li Chongxiao was very disappointed. His long-cherished wish was to live forever, and now this wish was shattered by the team and the head coach.

……

The contract between Li Chongxiao and the Spurs will only expire on June 6, so other teams can only agree to an interview time with Li Chongxiao, and the Spurs can discuss the details of the contract with Li Chongxiao.

Because he gave up on the Spurs, Li Chongxiao completely handed over the matter of contract renewal to the brokerage team to discuss.

While training at home, he took time to watch the East and West finals, and refused to have any contact with the team's uniforms.

Seeing that Li Chongxiao was slow to agree to the team's request to cut his salary and renew his contract, the Spurs adopted Plan B and began to operate the transaction.Prepare to use him to sign first and then trade for Bosh of the Raptors.

Li Chongxiao had no objection to the trade, nor did the team, but some people disagreed.

After Duncan got the news, he was very angry. He found the team manager Buford and head coach Popovich, and made it clear that he did not want Li Chongxiao to leave the team.

Buford and Popovich naturally didn't dare to neglect the demands of their star players, and they explained the team's difficulties to Duncan all day long.

Buford's point of view is that the team will still take the championship as the team's first pursuit in the next few seasons, but now the Spurs are under great salary pressure, and Li Chongxiao's request for a maximum salary contract will destroy the team's signings.

Popovich answered Duncan's question about Li Chongxiao's replacement for Bosh from the perspective of the team's team building ideas and tactics.

In his team building ideas, as long as Duncan remains competitive, he must be the core of the team's tactics. Players like Li Chongxiao can add to the cake, but they are not necessary.

The growth of Li Chongxiao this season has actually compressed the space for Parker, Ginobili, Bowen and Barry. If he is traded away, other players can make up for it.

But Bosh is different. If there is such an inside player added, Duncan will definitely be liberated to the greatest extent, and the Twin Towers can almost sweep the league.

After five or six years, Duncan will be able to complete the handover of power with peace of mind, just like David Robinson did back then.

Of course, this is also risky. Starting next year, the two insiders will lock up the team's salary space.

The best solution at present is that Li Chongxiao accepts a salary cut to help the team maintain its competitiveness.

These words made Duncan silent for a long time, and Popovich was very straightforward.

He is also the player who was selected by the gray-haired coach in front of him and helped the core of the team. The nine-year master-apprentice relationship is not just talking casually.

Having known each other for many years, he clearly realized the stubbornness of this former US military agent. Duncan couldn't understand why Popovich decided that Li Chongxiao was not suitable to be the core of the team.

But he understands that it is almost impossible to change the other party's mind at this stage.

From Popovich's point of view, the team will not open a contract for a role player that affects the balance of the team.

"But 5 million in five years, this contract is really too little." Faced with Popovich's request to persuade Li Chongxiao and play the emotional card, Duncan didn't know what to say for a while.

Compared with Ginobili and Parker, how can this contract be worth it?

Duncan decided to let it go and let the deal go through.Popovich got Bosh, his favorite inside player, and Li Chongxiao can get a maximum salary and have the opportunity to become a team leader.

Although he was reluctant to part with Li Chongxiao, the deal might be the best ending.

(End of this chapter)