Maximum salary to drain the Lakers blood? First James James: Refusing to cut his salary by 1.2 billion yuan, otherwise the Lakers could keep Caruso!

Skip mocked James for holding the $52.6 million player option while not letting go, while sending his agent Ritchie Paul to force the Lakers to "reinforce immediately, otherwise you will be responsible for the consequences" - In Skip's opinion, this threat is ridiculous: "Otherwise, what? The fourth quarter of the 48th minute of the playoffs was zero, which made the Lakers swept 1-8 by the Thunder?"

Skip specifically mentioned Caruso's sentence after winning the Thunder, "Now I have a real championship", pointing to James' 2020 Bubble Championship. He even put the Lakers in Caruso's pot on James: "You get less money in 2021. As for how to keep him? I'd rather squeeze every penny out of it, than cut the salary and change the helper!"

In fact, it was the Lakers who chose the former between Horton Tucker and Caruso. Even though the Lakers knew that Caruso was the more suitable for James' championship puzzle...

In Skip's view, a rich man worth 1.2 billion yuan refused to give in to the fifth championship for 20 to 30 million yuan - he held up an example of Jordan's salary cut that year and continued the dynasty, and every sentence poked James' lung tube.

But Skip never mentioned the "cold violence" of the Lakers' management: James did not talk to the team about contract renewal before executing the option. While shouting the slogan of winning the championship, the Lakers let go of Finney Smith, missed high-quality centers such as Capela and Lopez. What's even more ironic is that there is internal news that the Lakers deliberately did not sign the center to force James to play the No. 5 position in order to consume him, and both sides have long used actions to undermine each other.

Now, James and the Lakers are getting farther and farther away. What James wants is a decent retirement tour + fifth championship, but the Lakers are clearing up their stocks for Doncic era. When the 41-year-old veteran's fuel tank bottomed out, the team didn't even match a reliable center, and compete for the championship? It would be better to force him to leave by himself.

James holds the veto power of the transaction but remains unmoved, which is more like an ultimatum waiting for the Lakers to strengthen - there are no innocent people in this game, only a naked duel between interests and ambitions, and Skip, who has the traffic password, looks like the real winner.