"Good! Very good!"
Chen Yilun looked at the two men in front of him, the smile on his face impossible to suppress.
Standing before him were the front-office executives he had personally recruited from the Rockets and the Pelicans using his extraordinary abilities.
Bryson Graham had already been quietly exchanging signals with Chen Yilun for quite some time. Because of Blackstone, many members of the Pelicans' front office had long been on good terms with Chen Yilun. Some of them had even secretly hoped that Chen Yilun might take a liking to them the same way he had to Blackstone, and lead them onto a bright and promising path.
So when Chen Yilun extended the olive branch, Graham accepted without the slightest hesitation.
Hesitating even for a moment would have been disrespectful to his own career.
The other man, McNair, had been caught completely off guard.
The Rockets and the Kings had always been competitors, with almost no interaction between the two organizations. Over the years, their relationship had even developed a faintly hostile edge.
So when Chen Yilun came knocking, McNair was completely stunned.
Did he even know this guy? Why would Chen Yilun come looking for him?
Despite his confusion, McNair ultimately surrendered without much resistance to the hand Chen Yilun was waving—stuffed with cash.
"I'll be counting on both of you a lot from here on out."
After a brief welcome, Chen Yilun went straight to the point.
"Graham, you'll be my deputy. You'll serve as the team's Executive Vice President, overseeing sponsorships and internal personnel matters."
Those responsibilities had previously been handled by Divac. Now that Divac was gone, there was no way Chen Yilun was going to sit in the office every day dealing with trivial administrative work.
Graham happened to be especially skilled in this area, so Chen Yilun naturally intended to make full use of him.
"The most pressing issue internally right now,"
Chen Yilun continued, "It was already exposed during this year's Finals. We've moved into a new arena—bigger venue, better facilities—but our staffing still hasn't caught up."
"That's why during the Finals, a lot of areas were understaffed, which hurt the fans' viewing experience. We even had to hire temporary workers afterward just to plug the gaps."
As Chen Yilun spoke, Graham was already taking notes at lightning speed.
"For other internal matters, go coordinate with Peja later. He'll connect with you and get you up to speed."
Chen Yilun then smiled and added,
"Work hard, Bryson. From now on, you're basically the team's head steward."
The two men smiled along politely.
"Don't worry, Mr. Chen,"
Graham said, patting his chest confidently.
"I'll make sure everything at home runs perfectly smoothly!"
After settling Graham's responsibilities, Chen Yilun turned to McNair.
"Monte, you'll take over Divac's role and serve as our General Manager."
"Alright!"
Although it was Chen Yilun's grand vision that had convinced McNair to leave his job in Houston for Sacramento, hearing the official appointment still sent a surge of excitement through him.
"Your first assignment,"
Chen Yilun said, cutting off McNair's wandering thoughts.
"Devin Booker's contract extension. This will be your first task after taking office."
McNair's expression immediately grew serious.
"No problem, boss!"
Then, a hint of curiosity crept onto his face as he looked at Chen Yilun.
"But boss, isn't Booker one of your guys? Wouldn't it make more sense for you to handle this personally?"
"If I could handle it myself, why would I need you?"
Chen Yilun shook his head with a wry smile.
"When Jokić renewed his contract, the salary cap wasn't nearly as inflated as it is now. That's why his annual salary was just over twenty million. But now Booker is the team's primary scorer, and that makes his contract situation pretty awkward."
What Chen Yilun was describing was the Kings' current dilemma.
In terms of team hierarchy, Booker was essentially the fourth option.
But despite that, Booker—only in his third year—had already shown the potential of a super-elite scorer.
That kind of talent was innate. Even with Chen Yilun and Malone consciously or unconsciously trying to rein him in, they couldn't stop Booker from pouring out his brilliance on the court.
This created a contradiction.
Judging purely by team status, a mid-level contract—or slightly above—would be enough.
But if you looked at his on-court performance and long-term potential, the contract number became much harder to pin down.
Although Booker still had one year left on his deal, there were already murmurs spreading around the league.
If Booker could maintain this season's level of play next year—or even improve slightly—
there would definitely be teams willing to gamble on his future and offer him a max contract.
Under those circumstances, Booker's extension naturally became a thorny issue.
After listening to Chen Yilun lay everything out, McNair smiled calmly.
"It's not that hard. I'm confident I can handle it."
"Big talk, huh?"
Chen Yilun laughed. "Alright, tell me—what's your plan?"
"Simple."
After a brief pause, McNair continued.
"First, we need to do the surface work properly. We have to create the impression that the team desperately needs Booker."
He looked at Chen Yilun as he spoke.
"I'm sure you already started laying that groundwork the year Booker was drafted, Mr. Chen."
McNair wasn't just flattering him.
The Kings' chemistry over the past two years had been outstanding—so good that the players genuinely saw the Kings as home.
Even those who had been traded away—LaVine, CJ, Ben, that whole group—
whoever you asked outside the team, they all spoke highly of the Kings.
Even the most volatile of them all, DeMarcus Cousins, who was currently stirring things up in Washington, was still saying things like, "This dump doesn't even come close to Sacramento."
The seeds Chen Yilun planted back then were now slowly taking root across the league.
"Booker's already won two championships with this team. He's bound to have his own ideas,"
McNair continued.
"He's a very old-school guy. So use honors, legacy, historical standing—tie him down with those things. Give him enough hope, and he won't walk away."
"And one more thing."
Before Chen Yilun could respond, McNair kept going.
"With how the league is trending right now, inflation is only going to get worse. So no matter what, extending Booker is an absolute win from a long-term perspective."
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser