Facing the camera, Zhang Yang, Felton, Brad Miller, and Tyronn Lue put on a 'happy to meet' performance.
The Hornets had a bunch of rookie contracts, with the oldest core player Okafor being in the last year of his rookie contract. The highest-paid on the team was Mike Miller, slightly over 8 million, 'leaving' them with a non-Bird rights cap space to spare.
About this matter, the domestic media were even more anxious than the Hornets management, from the offseason to midseason, offering suggestions across the Pacific about who to bring in, hoping the Hornets would quickly spend the cap space.
After this season, even if Okafor does not immediately execute a new contract and retains Bird rights, the cap hold will still be 150% of this season's salary. Combined with other players' salary increases, the cap space would shrink significantly.
