The maximum salary was reduced from 54 million to 5.3 million, and Harden worked hard to help! Bill was injured again. Is he about to retire?

As the new NBA season kicks off, many teams are eye-catching. For example, the Spurs in the Western Conference, like the defending champions, have remained undefeated in the first four games and have quietly tied the team record. Bunyama is leading the Spurs to a super rise with exaggerated data of 31 points, 13.8 rebounds and 4.8 blocks per game. The pattern in the Eastern Conference is a bit chaotic. The Bulls and 76ers were undefeated at the start of the game. Especially for the 76ers, George, the team's second leader, is recovering from injury, and Embiid, the team's leader, has usage restrictions. He played a total of 40 minutes on three occasions, basically in the first half. It is precisely because these two bosses no longer hinder the progress of young people that the 76ers have become super dark horses. The strength pattern in the new season is that the west is strong and the east is weak. The Rockets, Nuggets, Clippers and Timberwolves may all challenge the dominant Thunder.

But at the beginning, some players were happy and some were sad. For the Timberwolves, Edwards went down with a hamstring injury and will be out for at least two weeks. For the Nuggets, Jokic gets a triple-double in every game, and several new players on the bench are getting better, so the regular season puts little pressure on them. After the Rockets ushered in their first win of the new season, Uduka needed to have a clear positioning. If Durant was there, the ball would have to be given to him; when Durant was not on the court, the Rockets' specialty was defensive counterattacks. The Clippers started with an upset defeat to the Jazz, but then successively defeated the Suns and Trail Blazers. Several new players joined during the offseason to help Kawhi Harden. Especially Collins and Lopez, top pie-eaters + three-point sniper gunners, the team's lineup has 11 players capable of rotating, but some people can't stand it at first.

After the Clippers were eliminated by the Nuggets last season, the management made a key decision, which was to trade Powell's expiring contract for Collins from the Jazz. This would completely liberate Leonard and face less defensive pressure when he moves to the third position. The Clippers pinned Powell's scoring potential on Bill, who was bought out by the Suns. In the summer of 2022, Bill and the Wizards reached a five-year super maximum salary contract of 252 million, and was sent to the Suns in 23, but the combination of Bill + Booker + Durant was disappointing. With Bill's remaining two years of salary (53.67 million + 57.13 million respectively), he chose to buy out and defer payment for 5 years. Under Harden's recruitment, Bill eventually joined the Clippers for 11 million in two years, with an annual salary of 5.3 million in the new season and a scheduled starting position.

With the huge gap from 54 million to 5.3 million, many people felt sorry for Bill because he couldn't play in a position he was familiar with in the Suns. Including at the media day, everyone from Harden to Kawhi, including president Frank, supported Bill and believed that he is one of the team's important scoring points in the new season. But poor people must be hateful. After last season, Bill underwent knee arthroscopic surgery and only played one game in the preseason. Bill himself revealed that he couldn't wait to release energy for the Clippers. He has recovered 100%. As a result, Bill only played two games after the start of the regular season and was injured again! The injury this time was the same as the past two seasons: a lower back injury, which is likely to be the root of the problem.

In two games, Bill played an average of 20 minutes per game and could only score 5.5 points and 1 assist. His two shooting percentages were as low as 44%+25%. What level is this? There are two major premises here. First, Harden is the brains of the team. When playing against the Jazz and the Suns, his first priority is to drive his teammates, especially Bill. Including Tyronn Lue, he also tried to change the lineup, allowing Bill and Harden to match Dunn and Lopez, which can share the defensive pressure and open up space. But the efficiency value is too low! To list a few statistics: The Clippers played two games this season because of Bill's starting lineup. With the entire starting lineup, they lost to their opponents by a net of 23.5 points per 100 rounds! However, if you take away Beal and let Harden bring the combination of Kawhi + Zubac + Dunn, he can win 10.9 points per 100 rounds.

What is even more disappointing is that any Clippers' 5-man combination + 4-man combination + 3-man combination + 2-man combination involving Bill will lose their opponents by an average of 15.5 points as long as they play for more than 28 minutes! When Bill and Harden are on the court at the same time, the Clippers lose 12.5 points per 100 possessions; when Bill and Leonard are on the court at the same time, they lose 11.9 points per 100 possessions; and when Zubac is on the court at the same time, the Clippers lose 11.1 points per 100 possessions! All data "BR" can be checked! When Bill missed consecutive games with the Trail Blazers and Warriors due to a lower back injury, the Los Angeles media believed that this might be a good thing for the Clippers! The Clippers originally hoped that Bill could fill Powell's vacancy, but now Bill defends very hard, but his steps are slow and his lateral speed is even slower. On the offensive end, he no longer has confidence, and his shot ratio is not even as good as Dunn's!

It’s quite embarrassing! Harden's initial recruitment, including the team's efforts to promote Bill since the start of the game, did not seem to pull Bill out of the quagmire. If this is the efficiency, Bill is not even worth 5 million. After all, it is a negative effect! This is very reminiscent of Bill's partner in the Wizards, Wall, who was waived by the Rockets many times. His salary was still paid, but he would rather let Wall sleep at home than come to the team. The fact that Bill's motor function has deteriorated and he is suffering from injuries is actually his last chance with the Clippers. If this continues, Bill will soon be unemployed after this contract ends.