All-Around Forward Swingman

"I have been in the league for 16 years, and I have seen a lot of things, big and small. Now I want to share my experience with you, that is, you must always take the initiative by yourself." O'Neal is about to retire, so he feels like chatting with Yang Shan own business.

Then he said why he didn't sign with the Magic back then, but went to the Lakers.

In the early 1990s, the Magic first got the No. 1 pick in the draft, then selected Webber and then traded for Penny Hardaway with the Warriors.

The combination of O'Neal and Hardaway was very powerful in that era. After Jordan retired, he entered the finals directly. Although he was repaired by Olajuwon, he also showed the potential of this pair of rookies.

However, the brain-dead Magic uniform team made great contributions. In 1996, O'Neal's rookie contract expired.

You must know that 1996 was a big year for free agents. Just like 2010, Jordan, O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning and other top players in the league all entered the free agency.

market.

At the beginning of the free market, the Heat directly signed Mourning with a seven-year price of 105 million, and then Juwan Howard also got a seven-year 105 million contract. Naturally, the desired contract cannot be lower than this number.

If it is a normal team, it will definitely give O'Neal a big contract immediately, but the Magic uniform team just doesn't think so, they feel that they can secure O'Neal. They don't know where the confidence comes from in the starting lineup, and they always feel that it is impossible for O'Neal to leave the Magic.

The second is that their salary space is enough to give O'Neal a super big contract, even 20 million a year, but they are worried that Penny Hardaway will be unhappy if they give O'Neal a big contract.

They can also match any contract about O'Neal, so if other teams can't give O'Neal such a big contract, they don't need to spend too much money.

So they told O'Neal that if you want to renew your contract, you can only get a contract that is less than Hardaway's, which makes it difficult for O'Neal, who has a strong self-esteem, to accept it.

As long as you are not blind, you can see that Hardaway or O'Neal, who has the greater potential, that season O'Neal averaged 26.6 points, 11 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. Of course, Hardaway's statistics are also good. He can average 21 points, 4.3 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game.

But that was an era when the center was king, not to mention that O'Neal was more advanced than Hardaway in the league, so O'Neal should be the main player anyway.

Everyone knows that O'Neal is a super player, and teams that are interested in him will not easily offer him. After no one made an offer, the Magic actually offered a seven-year 69 million contract.

This is an insult to O'Neal, Juwan Howard can get 105 million for seven years, you give me 69 million?

The Magic immediately offered a contract of 80 million for 4 years. Logically speaking, the average annual salary of 80 million for 4 years is higher, but O'Neal doesn't care how much money he gets in a (good) year, he wants a big contract of hundreds of millions of dollars.

This kind of thinking was mainstream at that time. For example, the magician signed a 25-year 25 million contract with the Magic.

You must know that the magician was 22 years old at the time, and no one in history has ever exceeded 40 and is still playing, but the Lakers still gave such a big contract.

This shows respect for the magician. In addition, $1 million was the top contract that year. .