So I am the god of basketball?

By mid-August, some of the arrangements Meng Lang asked Tailun to make were gradually producing results.

At least from the outside, it seems that the players' union is working hard for the lower-level players.

It was also at this time that the outside world had a clearer understanding of the low-level NBA players:

It turns out that the NBA is not full of millionaires. There are also some people who, even though they earn hundreds of thousands a year, can actually not save much.

More importantly, the professional life span of NBA players is much shorter than they think, with an average life span of only three or four years. After their professional careers, they only know basketball and have no life skills, which often makes it difficult for them to retire.

When such facts are laid out before everyone, the players' union's insistence is no longer just out of greed, but has a legitimate reason.

Anyway, although Ewing, who is not very smart, did not get the difference, other people in the players' union changed their wording.

Everything is done to provide better protection for the players.

Especially these low-level players.

Of course, among these rights and interests, not changing the "Bird Clause" and allowing the existence of "billion-dollar contracts" are also included.

As a result, it is foreseeable that the owners will make concessions to change the lower-level players. Eventually, the "billion-dollar contracts" will be cancelled.

It looks no different.

But the winner changed from the bosses to the players' union, which is beneficial to the next negotiation and they are in the upper hand!

If Meng Lang remembered correctly, the next labor-management negotiation was originally in 2005, and the players won. The reason was that they were living a good life, while the players lost miserably in 98. In order to avoid the situation of people's unrest, David Stern increased the salary.

As the president of the players' union, Ewing became a hero.

This is probably why he has been working since his retirement.

In addition to his solid basic skills as a center, it also lies in the contribution he made to the players.

At the end of August, Meng Lang began his second phase of training, and labor-management negotiations entered the substantive stage.

At this point, Meng Lang was relieved because Michael Jordan still insisted on the negotiation table and did not choose to retire as originally planned. This meant that Michael Jordan would not retire.

In this league, the only person who can be a rival is probably Michael Jordan?

There will probably not be a third comeback for him, and this time he will become a typical example of “one man, one city”.

what?
Is it possible that he is still thinking about making a comeback when he is 43 years old?

This is impossible, because the original point when he chose to retire in 98 was when he led the team to complete a "three-peat" and led the team to a "grand finale". He felt that he was invincible and chose to retire.

Then, two or three years later, the media kept comparing him to the new generation, which led to Jordan's comeback in a fit of anger, in order to prove that he was still as good as ever. Of course, the result was a failure.

He may still have the ability to average 20 points per game, but he no longer has the ability to lead a team to win a championship.

As for whether he can win the championship if he has a top 5 inside player in the league by his side.

Well this...

Only God knows.

Because there is no way Jordan would deliberately choose to team up with such a person.

It can be seen from his trades with the Wizards. In the first year, they selected Kwame Brown. The "big brother" in the team was the third-year Hamilton, and they also called Laettner, who had been frustrated, to the team.

With such a configuration, if you tell Meng Lang that the Wizards want to open a "childcare and nursing home", he will believe it.

In the subsequent trade, Hamilton was traded away, and the player he got in was also his frustrated "North Carolina junior". In terms of strength alone, whether Stackhouse in 02 could be ranked in the top ten in the league among his position is questionable.

Among all players, he is not even in the top 50.
Such a player, in a normal team, would be used as the "second in command".

And this is Michael Jordan.

Even when the show came to an end, his idea was not to look for his superstar teammates.

If it's a team that can win the championship without him, why would he join?
This is also the arrogance of the stars in the 90s.

It can be seen that even in their fight against Jordan, they never had the peak morale to get together. Barkley even called his last bit of peak time with the Rockets "holding Olajuwon's thigh."

However, he became the "thickest thigh".

This is also the reason why Meng Lang did not choose to let West prepare for a big deal after Barkley retired.

He is the man on the throne of this alliance.

After Michael Jordan was defeated by him, it didn't mean that he had no goals. "Three consecutive championships" was still his goal.

But he has become everyone's target.

Since he is being challenged by everyone, it is naturally impossible for him to find a "powerful second in command" to assist him.

How much Kobe can grow will determine what kind of "second in command" he will have in the new season.

As for Eddie Jones...

Due to the lockout, Eddie Jones, whose contract has expired, has not yet started discussing his contract. But his value is at least over 1 million.

Apart from Meng Lang, there is no player in the Lakers' current roster with an annual salary of tens of millions.

But they still have Kobe and Ben Wallace to renew their contracts.

Functionally speaking, Kobe and Jones have overlapping roles.

When they are still on their rookie contracts, there is nothing wrong with them enjoying some "child labor benefits".

Now that it's time to sign a big contract, Jerry West, as general manager, naturally has to know how to make choices.

So in Meng Lang's opinion, there is a high probability that Eddie Jones will not be in the Lakers' lineup in the new season.

But Meng Lang can't let Jones sign a contract far below his current value just for the sake of a "three consecutive championships", right?
This is not what a "leader" should do.

By September, Barkley was preparing to sell his house in Los Angeles. After announcing his retirement, he quickly found a new job. Just like before, he became a commentator for TNT. TNT's headquarters is in New York, so he had to move to New York.

"Thank you, Dream."

This was the last thing Barkley said to Meng Lang.

Everything I want to say is contained in this sentence.

Meng Lang also knew what he meant.

This time he retired with no regrets. Well, maybe not bringing a championship to the Suns will become his new regret. But there are always regrets and misses in life, this is inevitable.

At the end of September, David Stern officially announced the cancellation of the preseason and some regular season games: "We hope to start our new season after Christmas, but anything can happen."

In mid-October, the most intense dispute between labor and management broke out. David Stern tried to make everything go in a good direction, but it was not satisfactory. The main conflict focused on the "Bird Clause" and of course the protection of low-level players. Ewing, as a representative, said:

"Our minimum annual salary is only $27.2. Everyone knows how life is in this league. We have to buy cars and houses, raise children, and when we have nothing to do, we can have a drink, a big meal, find a girl, and have fun. How can this amount of money be enough to live? It must be doubled on this basis."

Ewing is particularly confident in this matter.

The capital representatives couldn't say a word.

Their original conflict was not about this matter.

It's the "Larry Bird" clause!
Speaking of this, Ewing has more to say:
We play for your business on the court. If we don't play well, we will be kicked out. We take risks to entertain the audience. Why did you have the Bird clause? Wasn't it so that Boshton could better retain Larry Bird? Wasn't it for the ratings brought by the battle between the black and white heroes? Now that the black and white heroes have retired, you investors have turned your back on us, right? It's a beautiful thought. We are all veterans who have contributed our youth to the team. The preferential terms given to Bird should also be kept for our brothers!
The capital side immediately threw out a report.

A third-party investigation report was released, showing that 57% of the league's revenue went into the players' pockets, while the BRI of the previous labor agreement, or basketball-related income, only accounted for 48%-52%.

How many years has it been?

They also specifically cited the example that in order to sign Kevin Garnett, the Timberwolves owner sold one of his companies.

Wow, this is the first time Meng Lang sympathizes with the capital.

This is much more terrifying than the bride price in Jiangxi.

No wonder the original fans all scolded these NBA players for being greedy.

Compared with those who play America's "national sport" - football, NBA players really have it easy.

Of course, sympathy is sympathy, and watching the fun is watching the fun.

Meng Lang has done what he should do, and the next step is for him to enter Cao's camp as Xu Shu.

Then came the players' union's counterattack. The NBA has just signed a huge $26 billion contract with two TV networks, TNT and NBC, and now it is still crying poor. It is really unfair.

But if you do some math, you will know that if 26 billion is distributed to each team, it will be less than 26 million. This money is collected over several years. Even if there are more million yuan contracts, billion will not be enough to fill such a hole.

Besides, some FBI people are watching this money!
It’s impossible for all of it to go into the NBA’s pocket.

This lockout also had another impact. The American Basketball Association gave up using NBA players and instead recruited players from the NCAA and CBA. Gary Payton, Tim Hardaway, Glen Rice, Vin Baker, Terrell Brandon and other players who were originally on the list were all removed.

After this meeting, David Stern announced the cancellation of the November and December games.

By this time, some NBA players who couldn't support their families without games began to panic.

There are cracks within the players' union.

This is actually the fundamental reason why labor is bound to fail.

For most investors, the NBA is just one of their investment projects. If it doesn't work out, then they won't do it. They can afford to wait. But it's different for the players who make a living from the NBA. They need this salary to make money to support their families and their many illegitimate children.

Therefore, even if this war drags on for a longer time, the final winner can only be the capital.

Meng Lang accomplished something big during this time...

At the end of September, Monica excitedly told him: "I'm pregnant!"

In this way, Meng Lang is about to have his second child.

Things changed at Christmas this year, as pressure from the players' union grew, and the employers changed their attitude at this time. In the new labor agreement they proposed, players' income was reduced from 57% to 55%, and the maximum salary contract was limited to between million and million.

The NBA became the first league in the United States to limit the maximum amount of player contracts.

However, the Larry Bird clause was retained, the base salary was raised to $31.34, and a middle-class clause was added.

It is worth mentioning that it was this retained Bird clause that eventually led to the original Warriors losing Arenas, and the "Arenas Clause" named after Arenas was born.

Of course, this is a later story, let's not mention it for the time being.

Signing this contract means that there will still be games to be played in the 98-99 season and the players will still be able to receive salaries.

David Stern announced that the new season will officially begin on February 2th.

Starting from January 1, the free market will officially open. At the same time, each team can conduct closed training camps and hold press conferences.

When everything comes together, you can imagine how chaotic it is.

The Lakers' training camp for the new season was scheduled for January 1, and before that, news broke that Eddie Jones had moved to Miami.

The "magician" gave Jones a contract with an average price of 8 million and million in the last year.

This is almost the price of a "sub-maximum salary".

The Lakers naturally can't afford such a guy with their salary cap.

After all, Meng Lang's contract for the new season is 1245 million, and Divac's salary for the new season is as high as 774 million.

The two of them together have nearly 2 million.

The NBA's salary cap for the new season is only 3 million...

If they sign Eddie Jones, the Lakers' salary cap will be locked next year, and it will be impossible to renew the contract with Ben and Kobe at the same time. So even if it's only 8 million, the Lakers can afford it. But for tomorrow, they can't give a price.

As a result, the Lakers' first training camp of the new season, the team's roster is;
“Point guard: Derek Fisher;
No. 2: Kobe Bryant, Jon Barry;

Position 3: Meng Lang, Mario Bennett;
Four: Ben Wallace, Corey Blount;
Five position: Divac, Elden Campbell;”

With Barkley retiring and Eddie Jones moving to Miami, the Lakers are left with just this group of guys on the roster.

It’s hard to imagine that the Lakers, who were so luxurious two years ago, have become like this.

It can only be said that in the past two seasons, due to the emergence of "billion-dollar contracts", the Lakers' trading work has been too distorted.

It's not just the Lakers, other teams are similar.

Now that the lockout is over, the new agreement has made some things in the league more standardized.

West signed contracts one after another in the following period.

Signed Celtics forward Rick Fox for $175 million.

Ok……

He was the guy who later got into that industry.

Then, Robert Horry, a forward with the strongest ability to play key balls among role players, was spent $480 million.

Jerry West knows how to solve urgent problems.

After signing these two players, at least the Lakers have a regular rotation for the new season. (End of this chapter)