Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

Chicago Daily News - Breaking news! Duane may retire next year!
Chicago Tribune - According to a Bulls insider, management is about to launch a championship celebration and Durant's retirement tour.

"Chicago Sun-Times"-The power transfer has just been completed in the Bulls locker room. Nikola Jokic and Stephen Curry have officially taken over Durant's torch, and Durant may leave the NBA.

In just one night, the news that Duane was about to retire spread across the United States.

The local media in Chicago were the first to learn of the Bulls' inside information and published it in newspapers to make it public.

By the next day, not only ESPN, Sports Illustrated and other sports-related media reported that Duane intended to retire, but even the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and other famous American media also came to join in the fun.

From this we can see that Duane, the God of Basketball, has a significant influence in North America.

No media outlet is willing to lag behind other media outlets or organizations, but instead wants to take advantage of the opportunity to follow the trend and share the traffic of the important news that Duane is about to retire.

It must be said that Dunn's plan was successful.

The Bulls just made it to the finals, which should have been the most popular, traffic-heavy, and lively stage in the NBA.

However, with the news that Duane was about to retire, the NBA became the bullied wife.

Not only did no one pay attention to it, even the official message congratulating the Bulls on advancing to the finals was barely reported by the media, and even fewer fans paid attention.

"What's going on? Where are our audiences and fans?"

"Can anyone tell me why the ratings have dropped? And why has it dropped so drastically?"

"Is Durant really that important to us? How come even the ratings of the Western Conference Finals will be affected?"

On the night when the whole country was discussing Durant's impending retirement, Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals was underway.

This was clearly a crucial and decisive battle, but the ratings dropped significantly compared to G4, with only 700 million viewers, not even 530 million.

In recent years, due to the small ball era, players are more homogenized. Shooting must be three-pointers, breakthroughs must be served and elbows, and stars must spread their hands and complain to the referee...

Coupled with factors such as the Negro Leagues, referees controlling the field, encouraging offense and reducing confrontation, and too frequent whistles on the court, NBA ratings have indeed declined significantly.

However, during the competitive playoffs, the ratings are still quite impressive.

In the past, the Eastern and Western Conference Finals had at least seven million viewership. If two teams with high traffic met in the Eastern and Western Conference Finals, or if the favorites to win the championship had a strong dialogue, the ratings could even exceed ten million.

But this time, the decisive battle in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals was hit by the news that Durant was about to retire, which directly reduced the ratings by two million, which can be said to be cut in half.

This situation also occurred in the NBA more than 20 years ago.

When Michael Jordan, the basketball god of the last era, performed his last dance, the ratings of the entire NBA showed a situation that was both concentrated and fluctuating.

But it seemed normal at the time because Jordan's influence was far greater than the entire NBA.

But times are different now. The NBA has become very large, and the rise of Durant has made Jordan, the former god of basketball, become a mere figurehead.

As of now, the NBA is definitely bigger than Jordan.

But Duane, the latecomer and basketball god, created troubles similar to those caused to the NBA when Jordan retired.

With no successor, the NBA's ratings have been halved!

Most fans would rather watch spectacles than watch NBA games.

You know, the NBA is facing a huge problem right now, that is, the local ratings have declined seriously.

The NBA is one of the four major leagues in North America, and in the past it even competed with baseball's MLB for second or third place.

But now it has lost its glory and is almost at the bottom of the four major leagues.

In the past, it was never the NBA's turn to be at the bottom, after all, there was the NHL, the perennial fourth place in ice hockey.

Now the ratings of the NBA regular season are almost the same as those of the NHL in the United States.

You know, NHL is not just a sports league in the United States, but also has some teams and markets in Canada.

It is for this reason that, looking at the entire North America, the NBA has dropped from third to fourth among the four major leagues.

If the NBA is removed from the framework of the four major leagues, in recent years, the ratings of the Kentucky Derby and the Golf Open in the United States have surpassed the NBA.

NASCAR is also close, and there will be the US Open and MMA in the future.

Of course, whether it is horse racing, golf, racing, the US Open, or MMA, the influence and commercial value cannot be compared with the NBA.

After all, basketball is the second most popular sport in the world after football!

From a global perspective, the NBA's influence and commercial value far exceed horse racing, auto racing, and golf, and it even occupies a leading position in the four major leagues in North America.

However, MLB is not bad either. In some Asian countries and regions, NBA is even inferior to MLB. The development status and development strategy of MLB are similar to NBA.

Due to the impact of the Internet era, baseball has become a sunset industry, and its audience is far smaller than that of basketball.

In order to expand the influence of MLB, MLB has promoted its globalization strategy as much as possible and explored the Asian and European markets.

Relying on military bases and cultural invasion, MLB and NBA have developed well in both Asia and Europe.

In comparison, MLB is more of a white sport and is therefore more easily accepted by Europeans and Asians.

If it weren't for Stern's foresight in opening up the Chinese market early on, MLB might even have used the global market to nail the NBA into the perpetual third place position.

In recent years, MLB, unwilling to be second in the global market, has also promoted MLB into the Chinese market in the form of a trendy brand.

It is conceivable that with Duane's retirement and no new Chinese players entering the NBA, the NBA's Chinese market will eventually shrink, and may even be overtaken by latecomers from the MLB.

After all, NBA games are becoming increasingly ugly, and the players are too evil.

The United States is ultimately a white country. When other people of color account for too high a proportion and threaten the living space of white people, Black Lives Matter is destined to become a thing of the past.

By then, black leagues like the NBA will be excluded and suppressed in the United States and even around the world.

Most of the white people in the NBA's top management, and even the Jews who launched the Black Lives Matter movement, can naturally foresee some of the future.

The situation is similar for stakeholders related to the NBA.

Durant is about to retire, and the mere news has caused some negative impact on the NBA and related industries.

Considering the future development of the NBA and their own interests...

But on the second night, Duan was "called for a talk"!

"Can't retire?"

"If I delay retirement for a few years, can you give me one more championship?!"

After receiving these messages, Duan was also speechless.

Because Duane threatened to retire, the skyrocketing situation was broken, and the league's top management was willing to accept the reality that the Bulls would win the championship this year.

And in the next two or three seasons, I would like to see Duane win a championship trophy again.

But the condition is that Dunn cannot retire within four years.

Four years! Emmm, when Du En heard the news, he was also a little dumbfounded.

Even the team owner Jerry Reinsdorf came out and said that he would re-sign the contract during the offseason this summer, and it would be a maximum salary extension!
"I already have a garbage contract! I don't want to hold the team back!"

"That's right, they just hope you become a junk contract and delay the team for a few years!"

It turns out that other team owners were worried that the Bulls' salary would be released after Duane retired.

You have to know that Jokic is now at his peak and has entered his reign as the league's number one player, and this will last at least three to five years.

At this time, the Bulls still have Curry and Wiggins.

Wiggins is not that important, but he is at least at the level of a quasi-All-Star to an All-Star substitute, basically in the top 20 to 30 in the league.

As for Curry, he has declined, but he is still at the tail end of his peak and will be able to maintain his position in the top ten in the league for another year or two.

In short, the first in the league, the tenth in the league, and the 30th in the league, these three people form a team, which is basically a Big Three configuration.

At this time, Duane retired, freeing up 50 million in salary space, although it is impossible to recruit a player with a maximum salary of 50 million all at once.

But at least the Bulls no longer have to bear the salary pressure of paying luxury tax. If conditions permit, they can add a quasi-All-Star worth 20 or 30 million yuan at their discretion.

Duane's retirement means the Bulls can strengthen! So, the reason is simple! In the eyes of other team owners, Duane's retirement means the Bulls can strengthen, and the Bulls dynasty will continue.

Conversely, it becomes very easy to limit the Bulls dynasty.

Let Duane play in the NBA for a few more years. When Curry can no longer play and Jokic's spirit is worn out, then there will be no need to worry about the Bulls.

For league officials, as long as Durant plays in the NBA, the Chinese market will belong to them, and the NBA will continue to hold the top spot in the international market among the four major North American leagues.

The North American domestic market will not collapse all at once.

Of course, it is also urgent to find a new American son and establish a new alliance facade.

They even need to select one or two young players from the far east to play in the NBA, so as to retain the Chinese market after Durant leaves the NBA. (End of this chapter)