Early on the morning of December 7, Wayne received a call as soon as he got up. It was from Artest.

"Hey, what's wrong? Do you want me to bring you coffee again today? Got it." Wayne answered the call lazily, thinking that the purpose of Artest's call was the same as usual.

However, Artest's slightly trembling voice came from the receiver: "I was traded, Wei."

Wayne:!!!

"I'm going to Sacramento, I'm going to be the boss, hahahaha... From now on, I will go on my own."

After saying that, Artest hung up the phone.

Wayne is confused, the championship lineup is dismantled?

He hurried to the arena and found Walsh.

"We just have a temporary problem! It just takes time to recover!"

"I know, and I'm here to solve the problem, Way." Walsh replied forcefully.

It's obvious that he's not the kind of manager who likes players to interfere with his work.

That afternoon, Artest came to the locker room to pack his things and leave. The entire locker room was very silent. Except for Wayne and Wu Sheng, no one even spoke to Artest.

Wayne still had to train, so he couldn't send Artest off either.

Seeing that the locker next to him was empty and that silly smile was missing from the locker room, Wayne felt a little disappointed.

"You gotta get used to it, Wayne. That's the way this league is, people come and go, it never stops."

The next day, Wayne sat next to a new teammate, sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic from the Kings.

Has his arrival really made the Pacers better?

Peja is with the Kings this season, and his total shooting percentage is only 40%.

Affected by the injuries to his fingers, groin and lumbar discs, he is no longer as brave as he once was.

After Peja came, the Pacers' three-point shooting did improve a lot, but the defense was stretched too far.

Not only is Peja's running, jumping and shooting affected, his already weak defense has plummeted.

It's too slow to defend the third position, too soft to defend the fourth position, and the positioning is very awkward. Others can't hit it accurately.

Without Artest, Wayne is under greater pressure on the defensive end, and he must devote more energy to the defensive end.

By the end of December, the Pacers' record was 16 wins and 10 losses.

As a defending champion, the record is really not outstanding.

For comparison, the Pistons' record during the same period was 24 wins and 3 losses, and the Heat's record was 18 wins and 8 losses.

Of course, it's quite reasonable, at least it's in the top five.

Pacers fans and players are still a little disillusioned about this season.

But all these illusions disappeared when Xiao Ao was seriously injured in mid-January.

"The knee is severely sprained. Jermaine has had problems with his knee before, but this time the injury is still to the left knee! He will miss most of the games this season!"

On January 13, 2006, in a game against the Wizards, Ou accidentally sprained his knee after landing a layup.

Those knees had become extremely fragile two years ago.

From the beginning of November to now, almost no month has been smooth for the Pacers.

In November, Wayne got into a fight, Artest was traded in December, and Omar was reimbursed for the regular season in January.

When Wayne stepped onto the court again, he looked around.

Last season, he was the only one left in the starting five.

Payton, Miller, Artest and O'Neill are all gone.

If it weren't for the sixth man Wu Sheng sitting on the bench, Wayne would have doubted whether he had changed teams.

There's nothing else to say about this lineup. Wayne must play the leading role alone.

This year's All-Star, Wayne once again became the starter, but he was not happy at all.

Fortunately, Sharapova stayed with Wayne for a while during the All-Star Weekend, which finally eased Wayne's frustration.

Wayne, who had adjusted his mentality and was ready to go, lived up to expectations. By the end of the regular season, he led the team to a record of 48 wins. Even with the lineup almost completely dismantled, they only won 10 fewer games than last season.

Wayne also averaged 22.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.8 blocks per game!

That's a lot better than last season's 17.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.5 blocks.

But Wayne knows that the evolution of this data is mostly because he has more shots and ball rights.

This season, Wayne's improvement in strength is actually not that great.

In addition to using the remaining seven points-adding opportunities, he increased his strength and jumping height respectively, improved his shooting bag to silver quality, and improved "tough defense" and "penal zone deterrence" to gold quality.

Wayne doesn't get any new badges or special moves.

Because Wayne has basically not completed any system tasks well this season.

The 10-win streak mission, the 55-win mission, and several missions to defeat old enemies were all not completed, so no rewards were received.

Finally, with fifth place in the Eastern Conference, the Pacers met James in the first round of the playoffs!

O'Neal Jr. returned in the playoffs, but Peja was injured again after just one game in the playoffs and was immediately reimbursed for the season.

In the end, the Pacers defeated the Cavaliers 4-3 and gave Mousse a first-round tour.

But in the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Pacers were revenged by the still powerful Pistons.

4 to 3, it was another tiebreaker. Only this time, the winner was a Detroiter.

The defending champion Indiana Pacers were defeated by the Pistons in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Wayne finished his 2005-06 season in confusion, although he did grow into a recognized All-Star starting level player, leading the team to fifth place in the Eastern Conference with a single core.

But as a rookie FMVP, people actually have higher expectations for him.

It's not just as simple as the Eastern Conference semifinals.

ESPN's summary of the Pacers is - a beautiful but short-lived fairy tale.

"If the Pacers have gained anything this season, it's Danny Granger."

As soon as the season ended, O'Neal and Peja were once again involved in trade rumors.

Obviously, Walsh wants to rebuild the team.

This season, the team's box office performance is very dismal. The record is neither high nor low. It is very embarrassing to have no draft picks and no hope of winning the championship.

At this time, the team generally has two options - reinforcement or reconstruction.

Walsh chose the latter.

First of all, Xiao'ao's performance after returning from injury is far worse than before, and it is impossible to expect him to return to the top and continue to be the core.

Secondly, Wayne's performance in leading the team alone this season did not meet Walsh's expectations. He is indeed a star, but he is not yet at the level of a superstar.

Walsh believes that Wayne is more suitable as a team leader, rather than the core of the team.

Most importantly, the relationship between Wayne and Walsh has reached a freezing point because of the Artest trade and the fight.

Third, there have been no big fish in the free agent market in the past two years, making reinforcements difficult.

If you continue to hang around like this, it will do more damage to the team and waste more time.

Walsh also asked his boss about reconstruction, and the Simon brothers read the financial report and found that the income had decreased, and they also felt that changes might be needed.

So their response was the same: "Just make up your mind, Donnie."

For this veteran who has been with the Pacers for almost 20 years, the boss has considerable trust in him.

The sense of trust undoubtedly goes beyond Wayne.

So, as soon as the season ended, O'Brien and Peja were sold.

Of course, their trade value is actually not high anymore, and no team will trade draft picks for two injured veterans.

Who is the Pacers' most valuable player right now?

Of course it's Wayne.

When Wayne heard he might be traded, he wasn't angry.

Just like Payton said to himself last season, not everyone can take Reggie Miller's path.

He also doesn’t want to be America’s urban hero.
Chapter completed!