Chapter 264: When money stands up

In today's NBA, in terms of trade value, LeBron James is in a league of his own.

After a half-tier gap, it's Fan Xi.

Then come superstars like Kevin Durant, Derek Rose, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, and Dwyane Wade.

When Fan Xi publicly applied for a trade, it was like throwing a torpedo into a calm lake, instantly blowing up the entire pool.

Perhaps except for Jean Bas, who was indifferent, which team in the league wasn't rushing, waving checks, and shouting: "Give me Jack Fan, anyone else on our team can be listed."

The Bulls, Thunder, and Heat might be a bit more subtle. But except for Durant, James, and Rose, their other players are also tradable.

With the personality of Miami president Pat Riley, if he could really trade Wade, a pillar of the team, for Fan Xi, he wouldn't hesitate. He has always been a person without much human touch.

For a time, Old Deng Liwei's phone and mailbox were filled with offers from other teams, and at the same time, Lu Yuan's phone number and mailbox were almost bursting.

Including Fan Xi's own phone, countless calls poured in. Everyone was very surprised by this result. What is this? Did Captain Jack jump ship directly?

Fan Xi turned off his phone, and he didn't land on the court in Indiana. He sat on the bench with a serious expression.

Missing Fan Xi and Griffin.

The Clippers won.

This sounds a bit absurd.

But, they really won.

Rookies Jimmy Butler and Leonard played like superstars. They did whatever they wanted on the court, and the Pacers' star Danny Granger was blown up by them in turns.

This game was shocking to Pacers club president Larry Bird. Since Miller retired, the Pacers have been rotten for many years, and this year they finally entered the top four in the East.

Larry Bird believes the team will grow bigger and stronger under the leadership of Danny Granger.

Danny Granger is a player with good character and learning, sincere and simple. He is a standard classical small forward. Although his physical quality is good, he relies more on physical confrontation and opportunity judgment to score on the court.

Danny Granger became an All-Star in 2008 and achieved superstar stats the following season.

But some of his injuries have been bothering him.

This makes his performance not very stable.

Tonight, Danny Granger met Leonard and Jimmy Butler.

Leonard and Butler are both strong small forwards. Their playing style is between classical forwards and new-style small forwards, but they have the same advantage, that is, good style, dare to fight and fight.

And start from defense.

Granger had no physical advantage when facing them, and his skills were not effectively exerted, so he started "clanking" (missing shots) at the beginning.

On the other hand, Leonard and Butler, under the blessing of Nash and Billups, took turns attacking the paint area.

Hibbert and David West were a bit overwhelmed, after all, Kwame Brown and DeAndre Jordan were still standing in the paint area.

Overall, the Pacers are now playing an iron-blooded style. Their other perimeter rookie Paul George is also a 3D player who started from defense... Currently, Paul George has not taken over Danny Granger's shift; he has to wait until Granger's knee is injured by James in the playoffs to rise strongly.

And the Clippers, without Fan Xi, are also of this style, and the two styles collided.

The Pacers underestimated the enemy a bit.

They thought that Fan Xi and Griffin, the two trump cards, were both gone, so they must not be very good, and their thinking was paralyzed first. Who knew they would run into two "greenhorns" exploding together.

The Pacers lost their home court like this.

However, this victory did not bring any excitement to the Los Angeles Clippers.

As Fan Xi announced his departure, the Clippers' market prospects are rapidly declining.

In the United States, judging a team's market value is divided into 4 dimensions.

"Sport," "Market," "Arena," "Brand."

Among them, "Sport" refers to the value shared by all teams in the league. "Market" is based on the city where the team is located and the market size. "Arena" refers to the value brought by the team's home venue. "Brand" is the team's brand value.

Before Fan Xi came, the Clippers' "Sport" value was very low. Similarly, although the Clippers are in a metropolis like Los Angeles, they didn't eat a big cake; they could only eat the leftovers of the Lakers. It was because of Fan Xi's arrival that they had the strength to sit at the table and cut the cake. This is also why the Clippers' market value soared this year.

Before this, the Clippers' market value was only a little better than that of a medium-sized city team. If the Hornets' market value was 400 million US dollars, the Clippers would be about 600 million.

Ballmer immediately stopped negotiations with Sterling's team and flew to Chicago overnight, hoping to meet with Fan Xi in Chicago.

Historically, Ballmer acquired the Clippers in 2014. Thanks to the signing of a new broadcast agreement, the market value of NBA teams soared crazily this year, so he spent 2 billion US dollars to get the Clippers, and after that, the Rockets even sold for 2.2 billion.

But now it is 2011, and Christmas has not yet arrived.

As Fan Xi seeks a trade, the Clippers' market value will visibly decline. Many Wall Street experts estimate that the Clippers' market value will fall to about 800 million US dollars. This is still the most expensive club sale in NBA history, more than three times that of the Mountain Cats.

This shows Fan Xi's role in enhancing the Clippers brand.

Donald Sterling finally understood.

He realized that an absurd thing was happening. The agreement he used to fool Fan Xi was still hidden in his safe. At that time, he never dreamed that this agreement would take effect.

And in that agreement, the valuation he gave was 750 million US dollars. Fan Xi hoped at the time to be able to buy more than 10% of the Clippers' shares for about 100 million US dollars. Sterling thought it wouldn't be fulfilled anyway, so why not just appear generous.

Anyway, it was a promise without substance.

But now, this contract is choking his neck.

He is now subject to force majeure and has to sell the team.

Fan Xi has priority.

My God.

What is called lifting a rock only to drop it on one's own feet.

This is it.

Sterling had to hurry to find clauses, trying to find favorable conditions to scrap this contract.

He really found two things favorable to him.

First: This may be judged by the NBA as an "under-the-table agreement." When NBA contracts were not standardized in the early days, many such under-the-table agreements occurred. The three teams that were once managed by Pat Riley—New York, Miami, and the Lakers—were all disaster areas. Magic signed a 10-year contract with the Lakers in his rookie season, but as the NBA developed, his contract immediately turned from a sky-high price to a cabbage price. What to do? The Lakers and Magic signed an under-the-table contract, which is similar to Fan Xi's contract, meaning that after Magic retired, the Lakers would sell some shares to him.

And in New York, in addition to that bastard Patrick Ewing forcing a provision in the contract that "annual salary cannot be lower than the league's top three," they also made a big fuss in the contracts of Oakley, Starks, and others. The surface salary was not high, but privately they gave other endorsement contracts. When the Knicks tried to poach Jordan in 1996, they offered an unprecedented contract, part of which was the NBA's maximum salary, and the other part was to let another industry under the Knicks' parent company give Jordan a super endorsement contract.

It's just that Jordan didn't choose New York later and continued to stay with the Bulls to complete the second three-peat... The Bulls kept Jordan with a 30 million US dollar annual salary that broke the rules and was not included in the salary cap. At that time, all other teams in the league turned a blind eye to this matter of breaking NBA rules, because every team knew that if Jordan didn't play basketball, the loss to them would be greater.

In Miami, after Pat Riley gave Mourning a billion-dollar contract, he tried to recruit Howard with a 100 million-dollar contract, although he didn't succeed. But it offended another superstar, Tim Hardaway. So, while the Heat gave Tim Hardaway a multi-million annual salary, they also gave him a bonus of nearly 10 million... a bonus that was very easy to get.

Of course, the most famous under-the-table agreement is the Timberwolves. When the Timberwolves signed a contract with Joe Smith, they adopted a way to circumvent the salary cap.

However, it happened to hit the muzzle of the gun, and the NBA heavily punished the Timberwolves with five first-round draft picks, which led to the Timberwolves being mediocre during Garnett's peak.

So, if Sterling treats this as an under-the-table agreement, it can indeed be sued.

But is the success rate high?

He doesn't know either.

Fan Xi's contract was signed by the Lakers, he was traded over, and he didn't sign a second agreement with the Clippers.

He is still in his rookie contract.

Moreover, the agreement he signed with the Clippers complies with all legal procedures and is endorsed by the best law firm in Los Angeles.

It must be legally binding.

So, to some extent, Sterling can only hope for the second clause.

The NBA does not allow active players to hold shares. After Jordan retired for the second time, he owned shares of the Wizards. In 2001, Jordan returned for the second time. In order to successfully step onto the court, he also had to trade his equity before he could continue to play.

Fan Xi certainly cannot break the precedent that even Jordan couldn't break.

However.

This still cannot bind Fan Xi's priority.

NBA regulations cannot be greater than the law.

Fan Xi can let others hold it on his behalf, or even announce his retirement after buying the team, then sell it at a high price, and then return.

Sterling felt his head was getting big.

He realized that this matter would be extremely tricky.

So, he finally accepted his assistant's suggestion to simply make this agreement public, making things more chaotic. Maybe in the chaos, he could get greater benefits.

Sterling gave up on himself.

Before Sterling gave up on himself, Microsoft boss Ballmer arrived in Chicago by private jet and met Fan Xi at the Clippers' hotel.

Ballmer didn't have the airs of a boss at all. In fact, he also knew that Fan Xi had invested in many Internet high-tech companies in Silicon Valley in the past year or so, and Fan Xi's investment direction seemed to tend towards some Internet companies on the mobile side.

This is not quite the same as Microsoft's direction.

Microsoft still believes that the computer side is the future, and they don't believe that smartphones can change the Internet landscape.

On this matter, Fan Xi voted with money.

Of course, Ballmer didn't come to discuss Internet trends with Fan Xi this time. In fact, Ballmer himself had already been marginalized at Microsoft, and he was ready to retire and leave. Buying an NBA team was a pastime after he achieved success, and he planned to focus his energy on this sports hobby in the future.

"Jack, I have always been your fan. Since you hit the buzzer-beater against the Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals last season, I have been. I came here to be frank with you. I hope you continue to stay in Los Angeles, stay with the Clippers."

"Although I am not the owner of the Clippers yet, I promise you that as long as I buy this team, I will satisfy all your requirements. I will build the team according to your way. Any player you want, I will support you at all costs."

Ballmer said to Fan Xi very sincerely.

He showed his sincerity.

His assistant, however, was a bit condescending. Seeing Fan Xi silent, he took the liberty to say: "Jack, our boss has never valued a person so much. You have to know, he is one of the richest people in the world."

This sentence made Fan Xi feel unhappy.

Although Ballmer glared at this assistant, he didn't criticize him. It seems that although he felt this assistant was a bit rash, he still approved of him in his heart.

The tacit performance of the two fell into Fan Xi's eyes.

Fan Xi didn't want others to treat him with a "patron" mentality. Why should you be a super-rich person, you come to see me, and I have to give you face and lick you?

So, Fan Xi raised his eyebrows and said to Ballmer: "Of course I know your 'money power,' but compared to others, I prefer to create everything myself."

"So?" Ballmer didn't quite understand Fan Xi's words: "Are you determined to leave?"

Fan Xi didn't answer him.

On the side, his assistant said loudly again: "Jack, don't go against money. If we acquire the team, we can actually put you on the bench; we won't trade you. I have studied your contract. If you don't renew your contract with the home team, even if you activate the 'Fan Xi Clause,' you won't get the super maximum salary."

This time, Ballmer didn't even glare at his assistant.

Instead, he continued to say to Fan Xi with a smiling face: "I know you have many side jobs, but please believe me, Jack. Staying with the Clippers is the best interest for you."

At this time, Fan Xi suddenly said: "Sir, are you so sure that you can acquire the Clippers now?"

"Of course, my dear Jack."

Ballmer said confidently. While speaking, he also opened his arms, showing his dominance and control: "To tell you the truth, I don't intend to haggle with Sterling. How much money he needs, I can satisfy him. I have great confidence in the NBA. Even if he asks for 1 billion US dollars, I will transfer the cash to him from the bank in the second year. I have this strength; I am one of the few men in the world who can take out 1 billion in cash."

He interpreted "money power" vividly.

He believed that Fan Xi would definitely be conquered by his courage.

No one in this world can resist the power of money, even an NBA superstar like Fan Xi.

"Well, let's talk about it then."

Fan Xi smiled and ended the conversation.

Ballmer raised his eyebrows and watched Fan Xi's back as he left. He muttered: "Very interesting, very individual. Deserving of being the man who hit the buzzer-beater against James in the Finals."

The assistant next to him said indignantly: "He is too arrogant..."

"No, Brandon. Remember, the more arrogant a person is, the more capable they are. He has the capital to be arrogant. I like people with such personality. I believe he will soon understand that when money stands up, truth will tremble."

... ===== CHAPTER 265 =====