One Guard

The Grizzlies were eliminated by the Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs last season. This was something that many Grizzlies fans and even the management couldn't stand. The Grizzlies have Mike Conley, the best young guard, and Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, the most threatening interior combination in the league, but they still can't go any further in the playoffs.

For this, the head coach must take the blame. So this summer, the first change the Grizzlies made was to fire Lionel Hollins.

Although they fired their coach, the Grizzlies still hope to maintain the stability of their lineup. Tony Allen has been waiting for the Grizzlies' offer. However, the price of $1,800 over four years offered by the Grizzlies did not make Tony Allen feel the Grizzlies' sincerity.

Tony Allen likes the Grizzlies. He likes to play in a defense-focused team and he gets along quite well with his teammates. But with a salary of only 4.5 million US dollars a year, if the offer was not from the Grizzlies, Tony Allen and his manager might not even take a look at it.

Although the Grizzlies' offer is not fair, Tony Allen is ready to devote the next four years to Memphis. For a place you love, it doesn’t seem unacceptable to take less money. At this time, Cuban put a four-year, $23 million contract in front of him.

18 million and 23 million, even children know which one to choose. The difference is not one or two million dollars, but a full five million US dollars!

Faced with Cuban's higher offer, Tony Allen hesitated. Join a team that just knocked you out of the competition? It's not simple. But what if all this is for the championship and for his own survival?

As we all know, there are countless examples of NBA players going bankrupt soon after retiring. Although Tony Allen is not a guy who spends money like water, he also knows that if he works hard to make more money now, he will have more security in his life after retirement. After all, he is not a superstar, and he does not have a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars for him to squander. 5 million US dollars is not a small amount for Tony Allen.

Maybe in the eyes of those superstars, 5 million doesn't mean anything. But facing the biggest contract he has ever received in his career, Tony Allen couldn't just say no.

On one hand, he loves Memphis, he loves his teammates, he loves every street in that city. On the other hand, he needs a higher salary, more honors, and needs to see the true appearance of the O'Brien Cup before he is completely old.

After a night of tossing and turning, Tony Allen finally made a decision in his heart. Early in the morning, before the sun had fully risen, Tony Allen took out his cell phone.

He originally wanted to call Cuban.

But after hesitating for a minute, he finally called Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace. It's time to make your ideas public.

※※※

Cuban came to the office early and looked at the free agent market list that was almost memorized. Come August, there's not much "gold" left on the free agent market. Fortunately, the Mavericks' lineup for the new season is almost complete. Even if they sign again in the future, it will be to expand the depth of the bench.

This year's signings went very smoothly with Carlisle's participation. Although the stars they signed are not that famous, they are all capable and are very suitable for Carlisle's system.

Dazzled, Cuban closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. This offseason is even busier than at the beginning of the season. However, watching the team's lineup take shape day by day, the huge sense of accomplishment will make Cuban full of motivation.

"Dong dong dong..."

Just as Cuban closed his eyes to relax, someone knocked on the door of his office hastily.

"Come in!" Cuban shouted. It didn't take much to figure out that the person coming must be Carlisle!

Sure enough, Carlisle pushed open the office door and walked to Cuban's desk in two strides.

"Is there any good news Rick?" Cuban looked at Carlisle's frowning expression and felt a little nervous. Is it possible that the Tony Allen matter has collapsed?

"Tony Allen, he decided to go with the Grizzlies..." Carlisle said here and paused deliberately.

"Hey, what a pity! There is no player comparable to him in the free agent market now!"

Looking at Cuban's frown, Carlisle smiled instead.

"Listen to me, Mark, Tony Allen, he has decided to part ways with the Grizzlies!"

Cuban suddenly raised his head and stared at Carlisle with wide eyes.

"Damn, this is not humorous at all, Rick!" The two middle-aged men looked like lunatics, frowning and suddenly bursting into laughter...

※※※

“I’ve never been one for words, so when the airport reached out to the Grizzlies and asked me to be an ambassador for the Memphis Airport, I didn’t hesitate to accept the offer.

This is not an advertisement! do you understand me? It's an honor to be an icon of this city, with my large posters hanging everywhere. Tony Allen on the poster points at you with a smile, as if to say, 'Man, you chose a great airport. ’ You see Tony Allen everywhere in the airport. Passengers arrive in Memphis, get out of the plane, walk out of the aisle, open the door, and then you see a big poster of Tony Allen.

As the visiting team steps off the plane, they might see me looking them up and down. Welcome to Memphis, home to Tony Allen. As if the game hadn't even started yet, I was already playing world-class defense.

If you stay in the league long enough, you'll notice the difference in Memphis. In many teams, cornerstone players will become fan favorites, receive major advertising sponsorships, and become the face of the team. But Memphis is a city like no other. It’s unlike anywhere else. They're not going to let a blue-collar guy like me do all the dirty work and then get no good reviews. Memphis is real. When they hug me, they buy my jersey, buy T-shirts with my picture on them. I never get tired of saying this, let alone making me an ambassador for an international airport.

I will never forget it and I will always be grateful to Memphis for letting me represent this city.

On some level, I know there will be a difference. I'm no longer a Grizzlies player, and for the first time since my Celtics days, I'm going back to Memphis as a visiting player. I'm not going to say that now: it's difficult to play against them, it's difficult to walk into that stadium. Putting on the jersey of a new team, I knew I might never get it back, but it still wasn't goodbye.

I'll come back to Memphis at some point in the future, I promise. Whether it's playing for this team, working somewhere else in the city, or just being a bum around Memphis, eating BBQ or whatever. One day you'll tap an old guy on the shoulder and say, 'Hey, it's Tony Allen.' No matter what happens, I will definitely come back to Memphis. So like I said, this is less of a farewell letter and more of a thank you letter.

Flying to Dallas, see you soon. ?——Handwritten by Tony Allen”

Later that day, the Mavericks officials and Tony Allen's social media both officially announced that the highly respected defensive champion in Memphis would officially switch to the Dallas Mavericks for a hefty price of $23 million over four years. Also released to the world at the same time was the above handwritten letter of thanks from Tony Allen to all Memphis fans.

Compared with Iguodala and the Nuggets' direct breakup, Tony Allen's breakup with the Grizzlies was relatively peaceful.

The Grizzlies officially tweeted to wish Tony Allen a better career in Dallas, and fans also wished Tony Allen to get what he wants in Dallas. No matter what happens, the door to Memphis will always be open for him.

Yiyang, who worked hard with Gobert in the training camp, immediately received the news of Tony Allen joining. Although the Mavericks advanced to the playoffs last season on the corpse of the Grizzlies, Tony Allen Yiyang's defense really impressed him. He was about to pick up his cell phone to welcome Tony Allen, but unexpectedly he received a text message first.

"Let's create a great era together!" A few simple words made Yiyang feel full of power. He didn't expect that Tony Allen would take the initiative to send him a text message first. It seems that this guy, like himself, can't wait for next season.

Gobert, Iguodala, Tony Allen, Nick Young, Dalembert... Yiyang roughly imagined the Mavericks' lineup for next season.

Return to the finals? No, Yiyang’s goal is to regain the championship!