At the end of September, the new NBA season is approaching, but negotiations between the league and the players union on the 2016 salary cap increase are still at a deadlock.
On the player side, superstars represented by James and Paul are determined not to give in. Chris Paul, chairman of the union, said at a press conference:
"The careers of players are very short. The increase in the salary cap will not only increase the contract amount of the stars, but also increase the amount of basic salary, short contract, and mid-level contract, which will make every contract player They all get enough money. Many players may only get one contract in their lifetime, and more is naturally the best, so we ask for a substantial increase in the salary cap level. This is a reasonable request, not because of greed. "
Paul's words make sense to a certain extent, and he speaks at a very high level, bringing ordinary players with basic salaries, short contracts, and mid-level contracts into the same camp.
It seems that they are all players and work together, so they have the same interests - in fact, the top stars and the bottom stars are not in the same class at all.
Paul particularly emphasized, "Most of the players playing in the league are African-American players. We believe that everyone can unite and fight for our rights."
The chairman of the union is indeed experienced and stacked BUFFs on the players.
Generally speaking, when the league encounters this kind of combination of racial equality, it basically surrenders. Just increase the salary cap. Anyway, the team spends money, and the league’s income remains unchanged. You black players are willing to spend the money all at once. It's your business to take it, so why should you be scolded for your good intentions?
However, Tatum, the league's vice president as a negotiator, took a rare tough stance, claiming: "The superstars represented by Chris Paul do not represent the interests of everyone. For the league, whether it is a one-time salary increase The total amount of the salary cap, or the gradual increase of the salary cap and the establishment of a fund, the income we spend is the same. Even the latter option requires us to spend more time, energy and manpower, which is not beneficial to our work. The only benefit That is, ordinary players in the middle and lower levels can get more guarantees, and the team will not give out too many junk contracts in the summer of 2016."
Tatum did not directly state in his statement that "super stars are kidnapping the players' union for their own benefit." After all, saying so would make the conflict between the league and the union too intense. However, this was implicit in his words. Super stars and ordinary players are pitted against each other.
Vice President Mark Tatum is of Asian descent, his father is from Jamaica, and his mother immigrated to Vietnam from China, so he also has part of Chinese descent and gave himself a Chinese name "Tan Huimin".
After graduating from Harvard University in 1998, he entered MLB for an internship. The one-year internship allowed him to accumulate enough professional sports work experience, and then he was spotted by David Stern and started working in the NBA league office. Work.
Originally, Mark Tatum was also a candidate for the next president. He received the support of many veterans in the league, and compared to Silva, he listened to David Stern more and followed Stern's words. .
It's just that Adam Silva is more in line with the wishes of the NBA's major shareholders, both in terms of blood (Jewish) and ideas (making money, gambling), so he lost to Silva in the battle for succession and could only serve as the number one player. Vice President.
Tatum has always appeared as a green leaf next to Adam Silva. He is always smiling. His dark skin and Asian face make him look gentle, and he never seems to have sex with others. Disputes and objections will not be raised.
No one expected that Tatum would make such a strong statement in the negotiations this time, and the real speaker, President Adam Silva, has not made any public statements so far.
Silva may be waiting for a final word. As the new NBA season is approaching, any conflict in negotiations between labor and management may lead to protests or even strikes.
However, after Tatum's speech, although Paul and other stars expressed dissatisfaction, the players' union was very calm and no large-scale protests occurred.
Even some middle-level and low-level stars, as well as retired old stars, posted on Twitter, "Today's superstars indeed take too much, and they should give more benefits to others."
Among them, NBA-Batman, a heavyweight breaking account, posted a tweet and calculated that if the 2016 salary cap increases sharply, then players like Mike Conley whose contract expires next year, if the Grizzlies renew their contract, The renewal amount will reach 150 million for 5 years!
Kobe, who was previously the number one player in the league, after winning two consecutive championships in 2010, the Lakers extended his contract to 83.5 million for three years, of which 25 million was in the first year and 30 million in the last year.
At that time, Kobe was a veteran who had been playing in the NBA for more than ten years. He had many honors, was at the top of his game in all aspects, and had a huge influence. Therefore, receiving a 30 million contract a year made people feel that he was well-deserved.
But Mike Conley is just an ordinary star for the Grizzlies. Although he deserves a maximum salary extension with the Grizzlies, if he really gets 150 million for 5 years, his salary in the first year will be 26 million and the last year will be 34 million. 10,000, which is higher than Kobe Bryant.
In the past, fans didn't feel much about the sharp increase in the salary cap. Anyway, how much money the stars received did not prevent them from watching the game.
It wasn't until this stark contrast came out that fans, ordinary players, and retired old stars realized how exaggerated the results of the salary cap increase were.
If even Conley can get 30 million a year, don't the likes of James, Paul, and Curry still have to get 40 million a year?
This is of course a great thing for current stars. Conley can earn 30 million a year at his level.
But for those retired stars, many people are really about to eat sour grapes. For example, stars like Pippen, who signed extremely long contracts before the salary cap increased sharply in 1996.
At that time, Pippen wanted stability because his family was poor, so he signed a seven-year contract worth 20 million. It was a very good contract at the time, but later it turned out that it was not as good as a rookie who had just entered the league.
So in order to make money, Pippen later went to the Rockets and signed a big contract as he wished, but by that time he was already declining and did not receive any bonus from the salary cap during his peak period.
Now that I see these stars who are far inferior to me, and can easily get 20 million or 30 million, can I feel happy?
Old stars like to point fingers at new era stars, and with NBA-Batman taking the lead to spark the topic, these old guys who need to increase their presence will naturally catch up and start criticizing "one generation is inferior to the last".
In the eyes of the media, a good traffic capture opportunity has begun again.
From the perspective of the players union and the league office, a war of public opinion has begun.
In fact, many people can see that behind this public opinion war, there must be Min Congda's shadow.
Since his days with the Clippers, Min Congda has been very good at manipulating public opinion, guiding it, igniting topic discussions, and making things develop in his favor.
Whether it is overthrowing the Referee Association or getting Tencent and Alibaba to withdraw from the competition for China's NBA copyright, Min Congda has shown considerable skill in this regard.
This time Mark Tatum came out to make a strong statement as the league's vice president. With NBA-Batman fanning the flames and ordinary players using channels to speak out, the issue of NBA star salaries became a hot topic for a while.
Because the NBA implements a soft salary cap, and the number of spots in an NBA team is scarce, only 60 newcomers are recruited to sign guaranteed contracts a year. Therefore, the NBA is the only one among the four major sports leagues to have higher star salaries, which are higher than hard salaries. Caps for NFL players are higher.
Moreover, because the competition between NFL players is too fierce and their sports careers are short, it is difficult for NFL players to stay in the league for more than ten or twenty years like NBA stars.
Like those All-Star players, after the rookie contract ends, they receive a maximum salary or sub-maximum salary. When the recession period comes, they can still work on a veteran contract for a few years until they can no longer survive in the league.
Therefore, the income of NBA stars should be said to be quite generous, more than that of NFL and MLB stars.
However, the income of the middle and low-level players in the NBA is very unstable because there are few people. The number 50 on a team in the NFL, the number 20 in MLB, and the NHL are all higher, and the number of middle- and low-level players is very large.
NBA stars are the life of the team. Mid- and low-level players often get a short mid-level contract, or even a split mid-level contract, or a basic salary contract, as well as a rookie contract or a short contract that squeezes the labor force.
Usually these players rarely have a chance to speak out. This time they took advantage of the opportunity. With the encouragement of some people and some media, they came forward one after another, believing that their survival rights need to be protected.
However, the Players Union is still quite insistent. Faced with the combination of public opinion, union chairman Chris Paul stepped forward and threatened the league with strikes and lockouts, demanding that the league agree to a one-time substantial increase in the salary cap.
No one thought that what was originally an inconsequential salary cap negotiation would be raised to the level of a lockout, and it was at the end of September when the new season was about to start.
A sense of crisis hangs over the NBA.
At this time, two important figures have not yet come forward to make an official statement.
One is naturally NBA President Adam Silver. As the leader of the league, he has always remained silent.
It seems that he is waiting for the right moment to make his final speech.
Another one is the vice president of the players union, LeBron James.
He seemed to be waiting for something, but never made a clear statement.
Finally, on September 27, James received a call from New York at his home in Akron.
The number was unfamiliar, like a public phone number, but James had a hunch that this was the person he had in mind.
Line connected:
"Hey LeBron, I'm Smart and I want to talk to you."
(I have been traveling back and forth to several places in the past two days and can only spare a little time to write, so the chapters are relatively short and detailed. Anyway, it has entered the final stage. Please forgive me, sorry.)
(End of chapter)
