Chapter 372: Collecting Stamps
“Everyone understand?”
Inside the Kings’ home locker room in Sacramento, Malone looked at the players in front of him as he spoke.
“Understood!”
The players answered in unison.
Compared to last season, the Kings’ tactical approach had undergone noticeable changes this year.
The offensive focus on the Durant–Butler wing duo had begun to ease. During regular play, both ball control and shot opportunities were gradually shifting toward Booker and Jokić.
Everyone on the team understood perfectly well why this adjustment was happening.
After Booker signed that five-year, $110 million contract, the Durant–Butler pairing was no longer something the team could realistically maintain.
This season was the final year of Butler’s previous deal.
A major reason the Kings had been able to assemble such a superteam in the first place was Butler’s contract. It had been signed before the salary cap exploded, and even now, in its final year, his annual salary was still only around $20 million.
It was precisely this team-friendly contract that gave Chen Yilun the room to sign Durant and extend Jokić and Booker.
But now, that contract was about to expire.
Whether intentional or not, Butler’s deal represented a very real sacrifice for the team.
So for his next contract, Butler would inevitably be seeking a max.
He had once carried the team as the sole star, trading blows with the peak Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. After Durant arrived, he became the clear second option on a championship team and single-handedly elevated the entire defensive system.
A player like that—once Butler gives the nod—would have teams lining up with max contracts in hand.
Under those circumstances, the only way both he and Durant could stay would be for Durant to decline his player option this offseason, take a massive pay cut to make room for Butler, and for Chen Yilun to clear out two bench contracts.
That was an impossible task.
After all, Durant had already voluntarily taken a pay cut of nearly $4.5 million this season.
It was that pay cut which allowed Chen Yilun to keep the team below the second luxury tax apron and avoid an enormous tax bill.
Asking Durant to take yet another cut—especially a significant one—was not something Chen Yilun could bring himself to do.
Since keeping everyone wasn’t possible, changing the way the team played became an urgent necessity.
Originally, the Kings’ system was simple: Durant swung the scythe, cutting down defenses, with Butler cleaning up as his support.
Now, the ball was slowly but surely being placed into the hands of Jokić and Booker.
The most obvious sign was Booker. Last season, he was largely a catch-and-shoot option; now, he was taking on far more responsibility in controlling the offense.
Neither Durant nor Butler—the team’s first and second options—had any objections to this shift.
After two years together, both All-Stars had long since come to see the Kings as their home.
If they couldn’t stay, then the least they could do was leave the team with something behind.
At this stage of their careers, neither Durant nor Butler needed flashy stat lines to secure their next contracts.
With their futures essentially guaranteed, they were more than willing to create opportunities for others.
What would have triggered vicious internal politics and power struggles on most teams was handled with remarkable calm and ease in Sacramento.
“With generals like these, the throne is all but guaranteed,”
Malone muttered to himself as he looked at the players chatting nearby.
“Don’t get too confident.”
Chen Yilun suddenly appeared from who knows where.
“I’ve always lived by a saying of my own—”
“I know! It’s the one about recogn—”
Malone’s excited response was cut off halfway when Chen Yilun slapped a hand over his mouth.
“You’ve already used that joke three times. Isn’t it getting old?”
“Ahem.”
Chen Yilun cleared his throat and continued.
“As the saying goes, when you walk a hundred miles, ninety miles is only halfway. This is the most critical moment for us.”
“What does that mean?”
Malone blinked, curiosity written all over his face.
Even after working with Chen Yilun for so many years, Malone still struggled to fully follow his way of thinking when he spoke like this.
“It means,”
Chen Yilun thought for a moment before explaining,
“when you’re trying to go a hundred miles, the last ten are the hardest—and that’s when you need to be the most alert.”
Malone nodded in agreement.
“That’s really well said.”
He might not fully understand it, but Malone firmly believed that if it came from Chen Yilun, it had to be right.
“Everything arranged?”
Seeing the clarity in Malone’s eyes, Chen Yilun didn’t bother checking whether he truly understood and asked with his hands on his hips.
“Of course,”
Malone replied, giving him a sly wink.
“It’s all been taken care of.”
What Chen Yilun and Malone were preparing to do next was simple: fully elevate Booker and Jokić into leading roles.
The key step was to stack some undeniable honors onto their résumés.
With Durant and Butler all but guaranteed All-Star selections, the Kings planned to push Booker and Jokić into the All-Star Game as well.
Four All-Stars from a single team—just saying it sounded impressive.
The last time that happened was the Hawks in the 2016 season.
But that Hawks team benefited from a strong West and a relatively weak East, where star talent was thin. Their balanced success allowed them to squeeze four players into the All-Star Game.
If the Kings managed the same feat this year, it would be a truly historic achievement.
“Got it,”
Butler said with a grin, nodding.
“So I just play support for Booker. No big deal.”
“Hey, hey, hey!”
Booker jumped up from his seat, waving his hands frantically.
“Butler, don’t scare me like that. I still have a future in this league.”
“What are you scared of, you little punk?”
Butler hadn’t even responded yet when Gay, sitting behind them, spoke up first.
“We’re family—why talk like that?”
The locker room erupted in laughter.
“Exactly,”
Butler said, laughing as he picked up the thread.
“Relax, Booker. I’m just saying it casually. Kevin and I are both in our thirties now—this team’s future is going to rest on you.”
The laughter died instantly.
Everyone knew the team would change drastically once this season ended.
But hearing Butler lay it out so plainly still stirred an unavoidable sense of sadness.
“Why bring that up?”
Durant spoke, breaking the silence.
“That’s just how this league works. Being able to share this stretch with all of you has already been good fortune for me. So don’t worry about what comes next. Finishing this season together—happy and united—is what matters most.”
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