If you don’t leave today, you’ll still be abandoned tomorrow or the day after, and you might get traded to a place you don’t want to go.
It’s better to take advantage of your bargaining power, hold the initiative in your hands, leave the Heat, and go to a place where you can continue to shine.
Olajuwon’s mindset is different from Drexler’s; Drexler has lost his ambition, having won enough championships, but Olajuwon still wants to fight for another one.
The place Olajuwon most wants to return to is Houston, his second hometown. Although he left due to various reasons and a fallout with the Rockets, with a new owner now, Alexander might not reject the return of this former Houston son.
Unfortunately, Olajuwon overestimated his status in the hearts of Houstonians and the Rockets.
The Rockets are now Chris Weber’s team, the young Weber represents the Rockets’ future.
Olajuwon, on the other hand, has entered the twilight of his career, his abilities are gradually declining, and he’s still the former ball hog and training ground bully.
The Rockets don’t want to invite an old big shot back and risk alienating their young new core, plus they can’t offer Olajuwon the salary level he wants.
So, the Rockets didn’t respond to Olajuwon’s overtures at all; the management said there wouldn’t be any major moves in the summer.
Bumped against a wall by his old team, Olajuwon set his sights on other Eastern Conference teams; if he couldn’t return to the Rockets, he wasn’t willing to go to the Western Conference.
Going back to the Western Conference means facing Ah Gan four times each season, and such an experience isn’t pleasant; it’s much more comfortable in the East.
However, Olajuwon’s situation is quite awkward; if he were 28 or 29, he’d be the darling of every team, with team managers blowing up his phone, swinging checks for him to fill in.
Even Pat Riley couldn’t let him go, would definitely come kneeling with a big contract.
But born in January 1963, he will turn 35 in the 1997-1998 season, and in the 1990s NBA, 35 is a formidable barrier.
Looking back at history, limited by injury management and science levels, the league barely has any stars whose form hasn’t experienced a cliff-like decline by the age of 35.
Jabbar is the only exception, but he only declined slowly rather than staying at his peak, and at 35, compared to 30, the difference was between MVP tenth and MVP first.
Other famous super centers, at the age of 35, have all entered the countdown of their professional careers, set to retire within a year or two.
The summer of 1997 brings good news for Olajuwon, as last season he was still a 20+10 All-Star center; no matter what, in the 97-98 season, he definitely still had residual power.
The bad news is, there’s not much confidence in how long this residual power can last because his decline is visible to the naked eye, and everyone knows once it starts, it’s hard to reverse, only accelerating, eventually in free fall.
As September approached, the summer league was over, yet Olajuwon hadn’t received a decent offer, making this superstar quite embarrassed.
Of course, there were teams expressing interest, but none were willing to offer Olajuwon a large or long contract, only willing to offer a medium-priced, two-to-three-year ordinary contract.
How could Olajuwon be satisfied with such offers, knowing that the summer of 1997 was his last chance to get a long big contract? By summer 1998, the standard contract implementation would end the veterans’ benefit period.
At this moment, an opportunity suddenly arrived, as the New Jersey Nets changed ownership.
Paul Allen, a tycoon from Microsoft, bought the Nets, becoming the new master of the team.
In 1988, Allen wanted to buy the Portland Trail Blazers but lost in competition with Tang Jianguo.
In the following ten years, he watched Tang Jianguo, a guy who knew nothing about basketball, win championship after championship.
After acquiring massive wealth from Microsoft, Paul Allen was keen on playing to his heart’s content in professional sports.
After failing to acquire the Trail Blazers, Allen turned to the NFL and, in 1996, bought his hometown Seattle Seahawks.
Unlike in 1988, by the mid-to-late 90s, Paul Allen’s wealth had further expanded, and money was no longer an issue for him.
After successfully acquiring the Seahawks, Allen’s interest in buying an NBA team was reignited, with his love for basketball surpassing that for football.
Failing to buy the Seattle SuperSonics, Paul Allen turned his attention to the struggling New Jersey Nets, who were preparing for restructuring.
At that time, the Nets’ owner was a group of seven New Jersey businessmen led by Allen Cohen and Joe Taub, known as the "Secaucus Seven." (The Secaucus Seven is a 1980 American movie.)
This group held the Nets’ shares for 20 years, but the team never made any significant progress.
Whether in performance or market presence, the Nets always ranked lower-middle in the league.
The NBA has always been a stage where each team has its highs and lows, periods of rise and fall.
But for 20 years, the Nets have remained in the downside without any ups, and the situation has just gotten worse.
The once ambitious Secaucus Seven, after 20 years of setbacks, had lost hope for basketball achievements.
Fortunately, with the NBA riding the wave of great development, the value of the Nets increased significantly; selling at this juncture in 1997 meant the owners could make a big profit.
When they bought the Nets in 1977, the seven people pooled $1.5 million, and by 1997, when selling the team, Paul Allen gave a generous $30 million.