In the 05 and 11 seasons, the Lakers recruited Yao Ming twice, what offer was made at that time? Kobe Bryant promised a championship
Recently, the Lakers led by James seem to be struggling in the middle of the season, hovering in the play-off area, although they have James and Brother Thick Eyebrows, but due to lineup problems, the game is often not very smooth, and now there are often trade rumors about the Lakers, which can't help but remind me of some old things that happened when the Lakers competed for Yao Ming more than ten years ago, when the Lakers recruited Yao Ming twice in the 05 and 11 seasons, hoping that Yao Ming could partner with Kobe Bryant to form a new version of the OK combination, so what kind of offer did the Lakers give at that time, and what was Kobe's attitude, let's review that time together！
First of all, we have to know what kind of status Yao Ming was in that era, why did the Lakers have a strong interest in Yao Ming, and what can Yao Ming bring to the Lakers?
After being elected champion, doubts were overwhelming
In 2002, a big event happened in the NBA draft at that time, and the Rockets selected this big man from China with the top pick: Yao Ming. In the face of such a draft result, many people expressed doubts, can this tall and thin man withstand an NBA-level confrontation? There are also some people who think that the rocket has taken a fancy to the Chinese market and chose Yao Ming to be eye-catching and mascot. Doubts were overwhelming, and Yao Ming stepped into his first season.
The debut was frustrated, but the confidence remained
Yao Ming's NBA debut attracted the attention of fans from all over the world, after all, everyone wanted to see what the Rockets were capable of. In the second quarter of the first game, Yao Ming made his official debut, but because he was too nervous, he made consecutive mistakes and was immediately replaced by the coach. It wasn't until the last quarter of the game that he had a second chance to play, and he didn't score a shot and made a walking error, and was once named by O'Neal Jr. in a row. Yao Ming's debut performance was very dismal, with 0 points and 2 rebounds, which confirmed everyone's pre-game opinion: parallel imports. Major media also rushed to report, saying that Yao Ming was the biggest parallel import.
But Yao Ming was not discouraged, and he also said such a sentence in a later interview: I will not be bothered by this, I care about today and tomorrow, and I don't worry about yesterday.
Slap Barkley in the face and score 20 points on 100 percent shooting
Barkley was also ruthless to Yao Ming, saying that Yao Ming could not score 19 points at all, and if I could, I would kiss the butt of my show partner, but Yao Ming only played 23 minutes in a later game against the Lakers, and scored 20 points with a 100% shooting rate, and slapped him in the face, and Barkley later kissed the donkey's ass as a substitute.
Yao Ming grew into a top-level interior lineman, and the Lakers chased it for the first time
With the passage of time, Yao Ming gradually grew into one of the league's top two insiders, and by the time of the 04-05 season, the third-year Yao Ming had been able to contribute an average of 18.3 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, and in 05 years, Yao Ming faced the problem of contract renewal, and the Lakers at this time saw Yao Ming's potential, after all, O'Neal's departure in the previous year made the Lakers have no successor, so the Lakers showed a very strong desire for Yao Ming, hoping to take him down.
It just so happened that at this time, the Rockets were unwilling to renew Yao Ming's contract with a top salary, and as soon as the news came out, the Lakers felt that the opportunity had come, Kobe Bryant called Yao Ming to show him the future prospects, and the two of us will definitely be able to win the championship together. The Zen master claimed that he would treat Yao Ming the same way he treated O'Neill.
Although the Lakers' sincerity is enough, Yao Ming is a more nostalgic person, after all, the Rockets single-handedly cultivated him, so Yao Ming still renewed his contract with the Rockets, and the renewed contract is 5 years and 75 million.
Yao Mai teamed up, and Kobe Bryant also waited for Gasol
Although Yao Ming failed to join forces with Kobe, the Rockets found Maddie as a partner for Yao Ming, and Maddie, as one of the four quarterbacks, performed not inferior to Kobe, and even won two scoring titles in a row, so the Yao Mai combination is extremely exciting.
Kobe Bryant didn't succeed in recruiting Yao Ming, so he led the team to watch the team move forward alone, but then the Lakers finally found him a helper: Pau Gasol, Kobe and Pau Gasol teamed up to win two championships.
was seriously injured in the playoffs, and Yao Ming was a turning point in his career
The 08-09 season is the most promising year for the Rockets, this year they finally broke through the first round in the playoffs, and the Lakers will meet in the Western Conference semifinals, the first game was extremely anxious, but in a breakthrough Kobe Bryant hit Yao Ming's knee, Yao Ming fell directly to the ground, returned to the locker room, not long after, Yao Ming endured the pain and returned to the king, leading the team to win the game, but because of this knee injury, Yao Ming announced the season reimbursement, the Rockets finally lost to the Lakers 3-4, missed the Western Finals, if it were not for this injury, Yao Ming is likely to achieve higher achievements, and it is not impossible to enter the finals.
Things are not people, and the Lakers quoted Yao Ming again
After several years of ups and downs, Yao Ming because of the Olympics and the NBA's multiple attrition, the strength is no longer what it used to be, the 10-11 season only played 5 games before he was injured again, in 2011, Yao Ming became a free agent, at this time the Lakers still love Yao Ming, willing to offer him a short-term contract.
However, Yao Ming still refused, and out of responsibility for his body, he officially announced his retirement in 2011. In this way, Yao Ming failed to join forces with Kobe Bryant twice, which also became a big regret in the hearts of fans.
Later, Lakers coach Zen Master once commented on this matter: He rejected me, rejected Kobe, and rejected the championship.