February 21st, the last day of the trade deadline, Danny Ainge was in an absolute frenzy.
Although the Glory team just defeated the Eastern Conference's second-ranked Nets, performing well, the issue of finding a second offensive option that the team has been seeking since the start of the season still hasn't been resolved.
As the new general manager, Ainge faced multiple challenges, one being: not many want to trade with the Glory.
All the team managers remain wary of Ah Gan, fearing that if he assembles a strong roster, the league will once again fall under Ah Gan's reign, which no one wants to see.
It's only been a season of respite, and here you come again?
Fortunately, the Glory team has many constraints, with players being rookies, veterans, or fringe.
The salary cap is restricted, allowing use of only 70%, and it won't lift until the next season, leaving Ainge with almost no trade assets.
A few second-round picks have been traded for Arenas and Wallace, and the first-round picks are not to be touched for now.
It's hard to make meals without rice, and Ainge was getting anxious. Since last December, he began contacting everyone he could, making calls and treating people to meals, trying to glean some information, gather team and player dynamics, seeking any potential opportunities.
The toughest part of being a professional player manager is treating people as commodities to be traded.
Especially with players you have built good professional relationships with over the years, whom you initially signed, shook hands with, shared dreams for the future, celebrated thrilling nights, watching them grow, settle in a city, build families, friends, fans, and achieve success.
Then one day, they decline, or lack the required ability, the team has new plans, and you decide to send them to another unfamiliar city.
At this moment, in the eyes of the general manager, players are no longer living people but commodities, a bunch of data, a mix of spot and future trading targets.
But for Danny Ainge, these are damn not the problems.
The real issue is, who is willing to trade with me? As long as anyone is willing, I'd even trade myself.
Ainge is that kind of person, he cares about the final result. As for human relationships, once you're off the court, you can handle them however you want, but don't bring them up during the game.
It's just a trade, it's not like sending you to the front line to die.
Gan Guoyang knows this trait about Ainge, he explicitly told Ainge, "If one day, trading me benefits the team, you can consider doing so, as long as someone is willing to take over."
Ainge actually took it to heart, so he tentatively indicated to several teams what if the trade included Ah Gan.
He immediately got very positive responses, but Ainge quickly said it was a joke, trading Ah Gan had no feasibility, he would be killed by the Las Vegas bosses then crushed into mud in a stable.
Until the night of the 20th for the game against the Nets, Ainge had not found a suitable trading partner.
On that day, the Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks reached a trade, Suns sent Tony Derrick and Rodney Rogers, in exchange for Joe Johnson, the Suns tanking while gradually building their ideal roster.
As the trade deadline approached, Ainge was nearly out of options, he had made as many calls as he could, used all available relationships, and yet still no good trade options emerged.
The most he could do was some minor fixes, but that wasn't what Ainge wanted. For the current Glory team, they needed a strong addition, enabling Glory to make some impact during the playoff sprint.
As a new NBA team, making it to the playoffs in the first season is no small feat.
With Ah Gan there, the playoff problem isn't big, but going further is hard to say.
In Guoyang's career, he had never missed the playoffs, or to go further, never missed the Western Conference finals.
His playoff dominance was quite astonishing.
This year with Glory's roster, dreaming of a championship is out of the question.
The roster is filled with old, sick, weak, rookies and veterans, lacking fresh blood.
Even Ah Gan himself is an old veteran, his regular-season stability is nowhere near what it was before.
It's uncertain how much explosiveness remains for the playoffs.
At least figure out a way to win a round?
But if the Glory team is in the lower bracket, upsetting the upper seeds won't be easy.
On the 21st, when Danny Ainge was about to initiate plan B – abandoning the trade plan and maintaining the current roster for future planning due to lack of suitable trade partners, he received a call from Denver.
It was from Denver Team's general manager Vandeweghe, on the call, he told Ainge: "Danny, let's make a trade, we are ready to send Van Exel away."
Ainge immediately got interested, asked: "What assets do you want?"
"Matching assets are fine, anything if you're willing."
Ainge had contacted Vandeweghe before, the Nuggets indeed wanted to send Van Exel away.
But their first destination was the Dallas Mavericks, because the Mavericks could offer better assets.
Ainge truly had nothing to offer, so he gave up, not expecting Vandeweghe to call proactively, saying they'd take anything.
"Mark Jackson and Eddie House, plus some cash, this is the best asset we can offer."