Mountain Peak System: a Path to NBA-Chapter 542 - 180: He is the real GOAT! (10,000-word update in a single day, begging for subscriptions and monthly tickets!)
When Qin Yue, like Robertson back in the day, united all the players and led the pressure on the league...
David Stern and the league’s team owners immediately felt a headache.
"They’re threatening us!" Clippers owner Donald Sterling said, "I don’t believe they really dare to refuse to participate in the All-Star Weekend main event!"
Upon hearing this, Warriors owner Joe Lacob, who knew Qin Yue better, said, "Messiah has always been true to his word, and besides, the players just hope we can return to the bargaining table rationally."
Jordan, who had been personally stabbed in the chest by Qin Yue’s boomerang earlier, said, "You should manage your team’s players better instead of letting him use social media to put us in such a disadvantageous position!"
Seeing this, Lacob helplessly shrugged at Jordan, the gesture clearly saying:
——If you have what it takes, go ahead.
The owners couldn’t make a decision for the time being.
In the end, it was Lakers owner Jerry Buss who concluded, "Jordan is right. Since the players just want us not to use the lockout as a threat, there’s really no need to let the All-Star Weekend end in discord for the sake of being tough."
Old Buss’s statement was agreed upon by the vast majority of owners.
Especially Matt Cuban.
After all...
To prepare for this year’s All-Star Weekend, Cuban has rented the NFL Dallas Cowboys’ home stadium, ready to make a big profit.
"But if we choose to compromise with them, they’re bound to only ask for more!" Sterling disagreed with Old Buss’s statement, "They’re a bunch of vampires you’ll never be able to satisfy!"
The next second, Old Buss, with his ailing body, stood up and said, "I spend tens of millions of US Dollars on Kobe every year, yet I never complain. Do you know why? Because I know Kobe can earn me even more!"
After pausing, Old Buss added, "The players are already willing to make concessions. Regarding Bobby Max’s proposal for the super luxury tax, we clearly agree with it. Do we really need to go to war with the players?"
"Trust me, once the NBA is locked out, only you will suffer losses! While I, and those owners who know how to manage teams, we will only earn more and more in the future!"
At this moment, Jerry Buss wasn’t making empty threats.
Because historically, after these labor negotiations, affected by the negative impact of the lockout...
Team owners, including Sterling, who initially advocated extreme pressure on players, were forced to sell their teams due to poor management and various reasons.
Interestingly, when these owners unwilling to spend money on teams gradually left the scene...
A few years later, the league’s teams experienced successive surges in franchise values, to the point where even small teams like the Bucks exceeded 2 billion US Dollars in value.
Although the later surge in team franchise values involved many objective factors, starting from 1998, these team owners, who frequently threatened players with lockouts, also stymied the NBA’s development during this period.
Old Buss always felt ashamed to be associated with these parasites.
Especially Clippers owner Donald Sterling.
In Old Buss’s view, other small market team owners could still use the lack of appeal in their team’s city as an excuse.
But Sterling, who bought the Clippers almost at the same time Old Buss purchased the Lakers, on what grounds does he attribute his poor management of the Clippers to players only knowing how to suck blood?
The Angel City’s market is large enough to accommodate two NBA teams.
In the future, even though the Clippers under Ballmer have not won a championship until Qin Yue crossed over, the Clippers’ franchise value has consistently ranked among the top five in the league under Ballmer’s management. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦
In the conference room, after Old Buss succinctly highlighted the main and secondary conflicts, Stern, knowing it was his turn to mediate, said, "Since that’s the case, let’s negotiate with the players’ union on the morning of the All-Star Weekend main event. I hope everyone can remain calm in that negotiation and refrain from using the lockout to provoke the players."
Actually, if possible, Stern also hoped the league wouldn’t lock out again.
Stern was well aware of the cost the league ultimately paid to eliminate the effects caused by the 1998 lockout.
Nowadays, the NBA has finally begun to thrive again.
In Stern’s view, once locked out, even if the owners could force the players’ union to compromise, in the long run, the disadvantages outweigh the benefits.
...
Morning of February 15.
With Qin Yue, Kobe, Paul, Garnett, and Fisher leading the players’ union representatives, they officially met with the management representatives led by Old Buss, Jordan, Sterling, and Lacob at the league’s arranged location.
To alleviate the tense atmosphere of the meeting...
Stern first acknowledged the outstanding contributions made by the new-generation players, led by Qin Yue, to the league’s development in recent years, specifically mentioning the additional revenue brought to the league’s teams by the BIG3 league founded by Qin Yue.
Since the founding of the BIG3 league, Qin Yue never intended to monopolize the revenue of this senior league.
Due to hosting matches, the BIG3 league required renting match venues of the league’s teams and offered them corresponding ticket shares, so privately, some teams even hoped the BIG3 league could hold more games every summer.
Compared to the historical context, the positive impact Qin Yue brings to the current NBA is visible.
Historically, affected by Jordan’s retirement and the 1998 lockout, the league not only lost a large number of fans.
