At half past ten, the parade and celebration were about to begin, and Wang Tiejun was woken up by Yu Feihong. After hurriedly washing up and eating something, the two rushed to the Sun Headquarters.
At five o'clock that afternoon, after the parade, Hawksman came to Wang Tiejun's house and brought the Suns' new contract.
After seeing the contract, he was quite satisfied. It was 18 million. The salary cap for the past season was only 16 million. His salary alone had exceeded the team's total salary by 2 million. What else could he be dissatisfied with?
"Eighteen million U.S. dollars?" After hearing this, Yu Feihong, with her intelligence, couldn't help but start calculating how much money this was.
Last year, the exchange rate of RMB against the U.S. dollar reached a record high of 8.6. This year, it has dropped a little, to around 8.3. If converted into U.S. dollars, Lao K's salary for next season will be 150 million yuan.
The current per capita income in the country, not including farmers, but only those from state enterprises and institutions, is only a few thousand yuan a year. One person earns 150 million a year, which is equivalent to the annual income of 20,000 to 30,000 people.
"I think there is no problem when it comes to an initial annual salary of 20 million, Old K, what do you think?" Hawksman said at this time.
"No, this is enough."
Lao Wang is worried that asking for too much price will appear too greedy, which will affect the relationship with the team and cause too much operating pressure.
Now the martial arts gym is developing well and is very profitable, with a lot of commercial income. He has no shortage of channels to make money. This contract is enough to represent his status in the league.
Hawksman analyzed: "Don't worry, Old K, your contract won't occupy much salary space and won't affect the team's reinforcement."
Lao Wang thought for a while and said: "The contract is one thing. Lance, when you talk to Mr. Colangelo, you must clarify the team's future goals. I hope the team's goal is the championship. Next season I will
I hope to defend my title, which is the prerequisite for contract renewal."
Hawksman nodded, but said: "But Old K, you have to know the current team's lineup, it is too difficult to defend the title.
The back line continues to age, the gliders are leaving, the replacements are retiring, and the departures are leaving. There are not many people left in the original lineup.
Now you, the cornerstone of the team, are still there, otherwise it will be a complete rebuild. But you should also know that it is very difficult for a team to be completely rebuilt. It depends on opportunities. Even if it is just reinforcement, it will be difficult.
, you may not be able to trade the right person. Injuries and other situations are even more unexpected and no one can predict them."
He said: "I know that. I just hope that the team's goal is to defend the title. As for whether we can defend the title, we just have to try our best. I don't want to just mess around for a season."
Hawksman nodded and said: "The goal determines the idea of building the team, so your attitude is very important. I will communicate with the management as soon as possible, otherwise it will affect the team's reinforcement."
Lao Wang nodded, and Hawksman told him another news. The Knicks and Lakers have contacted him many times in the past two days and have now arrived in Phoenix, hoping to see him.
"Lance, what do you mean?" he asked.
"I think we should meet."
Hoxman first gave his attitude and then explained: "Although you tend to stay in Phoenix, we also need to compare the contracts and see the attitudes of other teams."
Lao Wang thought for a while and agreed.
"Ding ding ding..."
Hawksman seemed very happy and was about to speak when the phone rang.
"Lance, yours."
Lao Wang pointed at the cell phone that was beating on the table.
Hawksman picked up the phone and looked at it. He glanced at Lao Wang and did not answer the call. Instead, he said: "Jerry West's phone number."
"Lakers?" Lao Wang heard this and shook his head.
Hawksman understood that this meant that Old K rejected the Lakers.
He didn't persuade him either. Although he hoped that Lao K could go to Los Angeles, everything must be based on Lao K's wishes.
And with the entire CAA behind him, he didn't worry about Lao K's resource issues at all.
CAA is different from other brokerage companies. Its operating model is not one-to-one service, but the entire company provides services to one customer together.
Today he is here to provide services for Lao K, but if he changes to another agent any day, it will be the same and there will be no impact at all.
For example, Lao K's commercial endorsements were not obtained by him. They were resources provided by the entire CAA, and were only handed over to Lao K through his hands.
This time he brought a group of world-class top-notch business resources to Lao K, which were specially selected by CAA as the most suitable brand for Lao K.
"Hello, hello, Mr. West."
"Hello, Mr. Hawksman, let me tell you the truth. My boss, Mr. Bass, and I are outside Lao K's door right now. We have brought our sincerity and hope to have an interview."
Hawksman was startled, covered the phone and said to Lao Wang: "Old K, they are outside and want to see you."
Lao Wang was also startled, but he did not refuse. After all, they came with sincerity, and they were just like guests when they came to the door. He quickly stood up and said: "I will pick them up."
"I'll go too." Hawksman also stood up.
On the way out, Hoxman said: "Old K, the Lakers are not the only ones who want to poach you. So far, I have received calls from the general managers of at least two-thirds of the teams. They are all willing to free up salary space for you.
The whole team can be used as leverage."
Lao Wang said calmly: "It doesn't make any sense. The Suns can give me whatever they can give me, and what the Suns have, they don't."
Hawksman nodded. The Suns have the bird rights of Old K, but other teams do not. This means that the Suns have tens of millions more salary space than other teams. This is a huge advantage. For those who want to
It is of great significance for Lao K to defend the championship.
Unless, unless we use methods other than contracts, this requires the league's permission. If Stern doesn't nod, there is no way to do that.
Moreover, although Old K is now very influential, he should not be qualified for Stern to allow the team to do this.
In this league, only Jordan should be qualified.
Jordan's greatest significance to this league is that he made more people fall in love with basketball and let more people know the NBA. He made the NBA a world-class sports league.
To put it simply, Jordan increased the value of the NBA and made all the team owners make a lot of money, so he is qualified and may make Stern allow the team to do that.
Outside the villa, Jerry Buss and Jerry West were a little anxious.
They have received internal information from the Suns. Colangelo has offered K. a contract. The exact size is unknown. This is undoubtedly bad news for the Lakers.
Competing with the Suns, the Lakers are at an absolute disadvantage. Without bird rights, the team must free up huge salary space to provide K. with a big contract.
The salary cap for next season hasn't been calculated yet, it will take a week after the draft, but they already know the approximate salary cap, which should be around $23 million.
In other words, because there is no bird rights for Old K, the maximum contract they provide to Old K cannot exceed this number.
But in fact, of course, they cannot offer such a large contract, because the Lakers are a whole team, not one person.
The maximum that Bass can provide for Old K is 15 million US dollars, and the remaining 8 million will be shared by the other 11 contract players.
However, in this case, the Lakers will enter the process of rebuilding and will spend several years cultivating rookies. They will not have the strength to compete for the championship for the time being.
And this is also the biggest disadvantage of the Lakers. They cannot immediately provide Old K with a championship-worthy lineup, so they have no confidence in taking Old K away from here.
I came here today just to try my luck, in case old K wants to go to Los Angeles. After all, that colorful city is very attractive to young people.
"Hello, Mr. Bass, Mr. West."
"Hello, Mr. K., hello, Mr. Hawksman."
Soon, the two parties met, and then Wang Tiejun invited them into his home.
"Feihong, this is Mr. Bass, Mr. West...this is my girlfriend, Miss Feiyu Feihong."
Yu Feihong greeted the two of them, served them coffee, and then walked away, not intending to get involved in their affairs.
After getting to the point, Hawksman didn't want to waste everyone's time and directly told the starting salary the Suns gave Old K. Of course, there is no need to say the rest. This starting salary alone is enough to explain the problem.
.
"Starting salary of 18 million?"
After hearing what Hawksman said, Bass and West were shocked. They didn't expect Colangelo to be so generous, which completely eliminated any possibility for them to compete with the old K.
They have to offer a starting salary of at least 20 million to be able to impress Old K, but in that case there will only be 3 million left. How to build a team? Are they going to use only marginal and minimum-salary players?
"Bird rights, damn bird rights!"
At this moment, the two of them hated the rule introduced by Stern, which gave the home team too much advantage.
The two of them left Lao Wang's house with some dejection, neither of them had a chance to submit their contracts.
"How big of a contract did they give you?" Yu Feihong asked curiously.
"I don't know, they didn't tell me before leaving." Lao Wang shook his head.
"Definitely not as good as the Suns. In fact, after Mr. Colangelo took out this contract, other teams have no chance to poach Old K, unless Old K is willing to join them with a lower contract." Hawksman
smiled.
The new contract matter was basically settled, and Wang Tiejun was relieved. At this time, he suddenly remembered that he had not opened the system since the playoffs started. Now that he had won the second championship, the system gave him
I haven’t seen how many points he will be rewarded with yet.
When you open the system, there are actually several reward prompts.
"Congratulations to the host for becoming the first player in the history of the NBA to score 50 points in a single game in a row in the finals. 500 points are hereby awarded."
"Congratulations to the host for becoming the first person in NBA history to average 50 points per game in the finals series. 500 points are hereby awarded."
"Congratulations to the host, for winning the NBA championship as a core player. 1,000 points are hereby awarded."
"Congratulations to the host, for winning FMVP in the finals. 500 points are hereby awarded."
There are three rewards in total, with a total of 2,500 points. Adding the remaining 2,400 points, you now have 4,900 points in hand.
…
At this moment, the Knicks management was discussing one thing, whether to continue waiting for Jordan or to find a way to bring in the old K now.
Although they renewed Ewing's contract, Ewing has not led the Knicks to achieve any results in recent years. They cannot even make it out of the Eastern Conference, which makes them very disappointed.
Their original plan was to wait for Jordan's contract to end next year to recruit people with high salaries. They had already thought of ways to renew Ewing with a two-year contract with a huge gap, and prepare for the introduction of Jordan in 96.
If it's not enough, we'll make up for Jordan in ways other than the contract.
The Knicks did not have Jordan's Bird Rights. Even if Ewing's second-year contract was only $3 million, the team could not offer Jordan an annual salary of $20 million, so they thought of a way.
The current major owner of the Knicks is IT Company, and IT Company owns equity in the Hilton Hotel. Their method is to ask Jordan to be the spokesperson of the Hilton Hotel, and in this way make up for Jordan.
For this reason, Knicks president Dave Charcot has already discussed with Stern in private the possibility of the Knicks bringing in Jordan. He proposed a plan to make up for Jordan in the form of endorsements, but was not rejected by Stern.
Stern's objection, it is obvious that Stern will acquiesce to this approach of the Knicks, which makes the Knicks management very excited.
However, this was the previous plan, and now the plan is a little different. As the Suns defeated the Bulls to win the championship, they saw the terror of Old K.
Now they are discussing whether to bring in old K, but some management think that they should implement the original plan and poach Jordan next year.
"No matter how big K's contract is, it's impossible for the Suns to offer him an initial annual salary of more than 20 million. I think we still have a chance to fight for it."
"I think the combination of Ewing and Jordan must be invincible. We should wait for a year."
President Dave Charcot leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and listened quietly to the discussion of his men.
The plan to bring in Jordan next year and the two hugely different contracts with Ewing this year were all made by him.
He talked with David Frank, and Frank said that the Bulls would agree to renew Jordan's annual salary of 20 million. He believed that the Bulls would not be so generous. Jordan had not created a dynasty, and the Bulls could at most offer 15 million in annual salary.
For this reason, he planned to give Jordan an annual salary of 20 million, a team contract of 10 million, and an endorsement contract of 10 million.
It's just that this finals made him undecided.
Jordan failed again. We used an annual salary of 20 million to poach him. Why not use an annual salary of 20 million to poach Old K? Old K’s age advantage is too great.
Just now, he received news that Lakers owner Jerry Buss and general manager Jerry West left Old K's home. Judging from their looks, it seemed that they had not succeeded.
It is speculated from this news that the contract offered by the Suns to Old K should be very large, so the Knicks would not have enough space to accommodate Old K.
He just renewed his contract with Ewing. Next season's annual salary will be as high as 18 million U.S. dollars. Next season's salary cap will be up to 23 million U.S. dollars, and he does not have the Bird Rights of K., so with a normal contract, the Knicks will pay K.
There is no qualification for K quotation.
But things are not absolute. He has another trick, which is to introduce Jordan next year and use another contract to compensate for the shortcomings of the team's contract.
But this requires permission from the league. Without Stern's nod, the Knicks cannot do such a thing.
As for the management's opposition to the introduction of Old K, he thinks this idea is normal, because the combination of Ewing and Jordan is also invincible.
If Jordan had Ewing by his side this time, no matter how strong Jordan was, he would not be able to beat the Bulls.
However, the introduction of Jordan will have to wait until next year. Who can say what will happen next year? It is not a team that wants Jordan.
He believes that every opportunity should be seized, and this year's old K must fight for it.
Thinking of this, he raised his hand to signal his men to stop the discussion.
After the conference room quieted down, he took out his mobile phone and dialed David Stern's office number.
The Knicks management looked at me and I looked at you, but no one said anything.
After the call ended, Chalcot quickly started talking to Stern.
"Mr. President, we have changed our mind and hope to bring in Mr. K..."
At the NBA headquarters, Stern was very unhappy. The Knicks' management was too greedy. Did he indulge the Knicks too much?
Last time, he acquiesced that the Knicks could use other contracts to introduce Jordan next year, but that was Jordan, who had made great contributions to the development of the league. He hoped that Jordan would receive a super high salary to reward Jordan for his contributions to the league over the years.
Of course, he doesn't just acquiesce to the Knicks. He will acquiesce to any team that wants to introduce Jordan in this way, but so far, only the Knicks have talked to him about this matter.
Last time the Bulls boss wanted him to prohibit other teams from using other contracts to poach Jordan, but he refused. It is also for this reason that since the Bulls are unwilling to offer Jordan a super high contract, let Jordan go to other teams.
.
But the current old K is not qualified to allow him to acquiesce in this kind of thing. Although old K is good, his development of the league is far less than Jordan.
For the league, Jordan is the pioneer of the market. It is he who has increased the value of the league many times, caused players' salaries to rise repeatedly, and the salary cap to rise again and again. Superstars like Old K are actually beneficiaries.
The league should treat them differently.
Moreover, Old K's qualifications are too young, having only played for three seasons. He still needs to make more contributions to the league to be qualified to change the rules.
This contribution is not just about winning a few championships, nor is it just about winning a few MVPs, or even creating a dynasty, it is a contribution to the development of the league.
For example, the huge market behind Lao K, but the current consumption power of that market is still too low, and it will take many years of development to promote the development of the alliance.
From another perspective, the Suns own the Bird Rights of Old K, and Old K can also get a big contract there.
And he prefers that Old K stay in the West and not go to the East. There is another giant beast in the East. If Old K, O'Neal, and Jordan are all in the East, then the situation between the East and the West will be somewhat unbalanced.
"Mr. Charcot, I suggest you make a quote to Lao K's agent. This is your right." After saying this calmly, he hung up the phone.
Dave Charcot over there was startled, shook his head helplessly, put down his mobile phone, and said to his management: "Okay, the discussion is over, we have no chance to introduce Mr. K."