CHAPTER 1267: CHAPTER 401: THIS TEAM IS HARD TO BEAT

Why is a girlfriend an exception? Because dating can go hand in hand with sleeping, maximizing the use of free time.

Whenever he thinks of how Roger almost gave up life’s pleasures for victory, Gary Payton finds a bit of solace in his heart.

Roger won, but he also paid a different price for it. He gained the championship but lost something else.

But Bob Bass’s answer shattered all of Gary Payton’s fantasies.

In other words, that jerk Roger didn’t need any devil training at all, didn’t need to put in too much effort, and still managed to perform so terrifyingly.

For Roger, winning is as ordinary as eating or sleeping. He doesn’t need to give up everything for it; that’s just how cruel the reality is.

Payton snapped out of this cruel reality, ready to leave the office. He still had to go to San Francisco to look for a house: "Tell Roger to call me when his mini-training camp begins."

"You clearly have his number; you can contact him directly. When you decided to join the Warriors, didn’t you contact him yourself?" Bob Bass couldn’t understand why Gary Payton had to pretend like he didn’t know Roger at all.

At this point, is your pride still that important?

But Gary Payton displayed a self-important look: "To be honest, Bob, I don’t want any private interaction with that jerk at all."

Gary Payton is a proud person, and that’s the only pride he can maintain now.

In early August, Cattino Mobley was discharged from the hospital without any major issues, but the doctor advised him not to engage in strenuous exercise anymore.

What counts as strenuous exercise? It’s hard to define. But undoubtedly, the NBA, being the league with the highest intensity and longest schedule in the world, certainly doesn’t align with the word "mild."

However, there is a troublesome matter now as Old Cat renewed his contract with the team for three years in advance just last season, and the new contract started this year.

He can’t play, but the team can’t handle his contract either, even if Old Cat Mobley voluntarily gives it up.

The existence of the NBA Players Association is to protect the interests of players. From Oscar Robertson to Roger during the last lockout, the efforts of many union leaders have made the NBA perhaps one of the best leagues in the world in protecting player interests.

Even if a team cuts a player, even if a player can’t play due to personal reasons, as long as he signed a guaranteed contract, that contract must be honored until it ends, and not a cent less will be earned.

Rules can’t be broken. Even if Old Cat willingly gives up, he can’t go against the rules. The Warriors must fulfill his three-year contract.

This means a player not on the roster will occupy salary cap space for the next three years.

The best solution currently is to buy out the contract and pay Old Cat his salary in installments. For instance, extend the originally three-year contract to five or six years without changing the total salary, thus diluting the average salary each year and reducing the cap space Old Cat occupies annually.

But this will still take up some salary cap space and will still be an obstacle to strengthening.

Ultimately, to deal with this problem, Allan Houston, who had already left, unexpectedly helped the Warriors Dynasty one last time.

Because Allan Houston’s performance was poor last season, and coupled with being plagued by injuries, the salary structure was locked down, adding another bad contract for the Trail Blazers.

Now, the team has reached a point where it can’t operate at all. Unable to trade, unable to sign, they can only stay in a bad state.

To resolve this issue, David Stern introduced a new clause—to carefully observe, you’ll find that most of the NBA’s patch clauses are to prevent stupid general managers and franchise owners from playing themselves to death.

For example, the rule that prohibits trading draft picks for consecutive years is to prevent certain idiots from being tricked out of all their draft picks.

The new clause is called the Allan Houston Rule, or the Amnesty Clause.

The clause allows teams exceeding the NBA salary cap to waive one player before each season starts. The player’s salary must still be paid, but it does not count against the salary cap.

If this clause eventually passes, Cattino Mobley will be able to receive a "pension" without taking up salary cap space and retire peacefully.

Actually, it’s just a matter of time before the clause passes because most team owners need such a right to free up cap space, so the vote will certainly not be a problem.

With all the difficulties resolved, everyone temporarily put aside their worries and prepared a retirement party for Old Cat at his home. Except for newcomers to the team, Bass, Ellis, Payton, and those who have already left, Van Exel and Anderson, everyone and their families came to attend. No one distanced themselves from the team because it was the offseason.

Even Erik Spoelstra and Jeff Hornacek didn’t miss it.

It was the most relaxed party Roger had ever attended. He could wear big shorts, hold a glass of red wine, and find a deck chair to lie down on without worrying about reporters’ cameras, the GOAT image, or being harassed by unknown women.

Roger never liked parties. Before this, there was only one party he truly enjoyed, which was the farewell party he held before leaving Orlando in the summer of 1997.