Chapter 639 - 30 Dictator

The Trail Blazers’ winning streak continued, and Sabonis was suspended and fined after the game because of his headbutt.

The League issued a severe punishment, a suspension for two games plus a ten thousand US Dollar fine, which was much heavier than the punishment Guoyang Gan received for fighting.

David Stern personally announced this news, and afterwards, he called Jerry West, scolding him over the excessive violent conduct in the Trail Blazers’ matches.

When Guoyang was involved, Larry Fleisher personally approached David Stern to plead on his behalf, but now Fleisher had passed away and, in the NBA circle, no one could surpass David Stern in prestige and authority.

After the 1988-1989 season ended, David Stern’s contract expired. At that time, there were rumors that the NFL wanted to poach Stern to be their president.

The League’s owners immediately renewed their agreement with David Stern, offering him a five-year contract worth 27.5 million US Dollars, which included a signing bonus of ten million US Dollars.

This contract was higher than the annual salaries of all the NBA’s top stars at the time, a clear indication of David Stern’s status and the significant contributions he had made to the League over the years.

Accordingly, Stern became increasingly authoritarian; once he was dissatisfied with a team, he would call and reprimand them, even making threats.

For instance, Frank Layden, the former coach and current general manager of the Jazz, often complained publicly about refereeing, which infuriated Stern.

So, he directly called the Jazz’s owner, demanding he warn Frank Layden to express dissatisfaction through proper channels instead of complaining publicly.

"If you can’t control your players and coach, make them understand how we do business in this League, I will fine you until you’re bankrupt and take back all the money you’ve earned!"

When Stern first took office, he was keen on tackling the issue of on-court violence, but at that time, other problems were more severe, especially the issue of banned substances, which overwhelmed Stern and the League officials.

After years of rigorous enforcement, lifetime bans for several players, and cooperation with the FBI, the issue of players using banned substances had greatly eased.

The resolution of the banned substances issue was also due to the continuous increase in players’ salaries, making basketball a more attractive profession, involving more stakeholders, causing players to be more careful in what they say and do.

This season, two Rockets players who had been permanently banned were reinstated, indicating that the League was making progress in the war against drugs.

The past scenario where half the team consumed cocaine, even fogging up the locker rooms, had finally ceased to exist.

Now, Stern could focus on resolving the issues of on-court violence.

There were two teams, representatives of violence in the Eastern and Western Conference respectively, the Detroit Pistons and the Portland Trail Blazers.

However, these two teams had been the most successful in recent years, giving Stern quite a headache as he needed to balance television ratings, court rules, and media opinion.

This time, following Sabonis’s headbutt on Patrick Ewing, Stern was definitely going to take a stand against this Soviet giant.

"The Trail Blazers are an excellent team, and you’re a remarkable operator, your ratings hold a significant position across the League. I don’t want to always see these kinds of violent incidents during broadcasts; the NBA is not the NHL or free-fighting, we want to attract more middle-class families, we need to cultivate many children and teenage fans, violence is not permissible! Jerry, please understand this, you’re a sensible person, I believe you can manage this issue! Otherwise, I think you’ll regret having switched from the Lakers to the Trail Blazers."

In his call to Jerry West, David Stern overtly threatened West, who dared not say much and could only agree.

After hanging up, West cursed "Jewish dwarf," "deli owner," expressing his dissatisfaction with David Stern’s tyranny, yet feeling helpless.

This was the situation in the League now, the once-friendly David with a small mustache had transformed into an iron-fisted dictator.

In the afternoon, West took some time to find Sabonis and asked him to come to his office for a talk.

Sabonis, aware of the League’s punishment decision, was very upset and apologized to Jerry West, admitting his impulsiveness.

West waved his hand, saying, "It’s nothing, it’s very normal to get physical on the court, no one can endure it all the time. Those who haven’t fought probably haven’t played basketball seriously."

After comforting Sabonis, West then changed his tone, "In the future, you need to control yourself, if you’re emotional, you have to be smarter, find reasonable ways to vent, not by hurting your opponents, or even yourself."

Sabonis nodded, hesitating to speak.

West, knowing what Sabonis wanted to say, interjected, "You’re thinking of Ah Gan? You should have heard a saying, a center is a center, Ah Gan is Ah Gan. Ah Gan is different from everyone else, don’t compare yourself to him, you have your own path. In some respects, Ah Gan is not a good role model, don’t follow his example."

Sabonis nodded again, understanding West’s point.

Gan Guoyang indeed was different; he held a special position within American basketball, and even in American society at large.

Although his nationality was Chinese, from a basketball lineage perspective, he was a bona fide American player.

He had a brilliant high school and college basketball career, and his basketball success story was closely intertwined with the development of basketball in America.

American basketball stars, when writing their autobiographies, would mention their college basketball experiences or significant basketball events during their growth.

In terms of status, college basketball surpassed professional basketball, and each era featured iconic matchups.

In the 50s it was West vs. Oscar Robertson, in the 60s Jabbar vs. Hayes, in the 70s Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird, in the 80s Ah Gan vs. Olajuwon, and so on.

Gan Guoyang was a prominent figure in the history of American college basketball; future sports columnists sorting through American basketball history would certainly highlight his Chapters.

And Sabonis? He was a talented player from an adversarial nation to America; he was impressive and would become a basketball idol in Portland, a significant figure.

But he could never become an iconic figure of American basketball like Ah Gan, nor could he enjoy many privileges.

Ah Gan’s fights were a guarantee for ratings, a catalyst for viewership; fights involving others were merely poison for ratings.

That was the most direct difference, not to mention the countless advertising sponsors and substantial political and economic groups backing Ah Gan.

Even after Sabonis was penalized, Gan Guoyang still felt it was unfair for him.

He believed he had instigated Sabonis to act during the game, and felt guilty about it.

Thus, he proactively paid Sabonis’s fine, then called David Stern to ask why the punishment was so severe.

David Stern explained patiently for a long time, finally giving Gan Guoyang a relatively satisfactory explanation.

During the call, Stern promised to treat everyone equally and suppress the violent acts on the Detroit Pistons’ court.

Stern was indeed not just talking; from that time on, discussions about "malicious fouls" were officially put on the agenda by the League office.

Stern’s attitude towards Gan Guoyang was, of course, different; Ah Gan was now an iconic figure of the NBA, a super billboard for global expansion, a guarantee for ratings.

Even George H.W. Bush, during his presidential campaign in Oregon, mentioned he was a fan of Ah Gan to gain favorability.

Gan Guoyang had inherited some of Larry Fleisher’s political legacy and was the vice president of the Players Union, holding significant power.

The minor headbutt incident involving Sabonis eventually did not cause much of a stir and instead gave Sabonis some downtime to care for his fragile ankles and knees.

Meanwhile, the Trail Blazers continued to win in their subsequent games, achieving double victories both at home and away against the Phoenix Suns, thrashing the Seattle SuperSonics, easily defeating the New Jersey Nets, cutting down the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers, and securing a record start of 12 consecutive victories, creating the best start in Portland Trail Blazers history and the longest winning streak at the start.

This was partly because the Trail Blazers had good team coordination; on top of their original starting lineup, the bench had significantly strengthened.

It was also related to the schedule; in the first 15 games, 11 were home games, making it comfortable for the players.

For the entire month of November, they only traveled once for a Texas three-game road trip and a familiar trip to Phoenix; otherwise, they stayed in Portland waiting for challengers.

Being well-prepared and facing weaker opponents allowed the Trail Blazers to comfortably lead in the scores.

Until November 26, the winning streak of the Trail Blazers was ended, 104:100, losing by four points to the visiting Detroit Pistons.

David Stern personally attended the game to prevent any violent incidents.

The Pistons were in better form, and after continuous victories, the Trail Blazers finally felt mentally tired, performing poorly overall.

With the Pistons being indeed strong, they ended the winning streak, and there were no violent clashes, to Stern’s satisfaction.

But this was only the regular season; both teams were obviously holding back, especially the Trail Blazers, and if it came to the finals, it could be a different story.

These two teams were undoubtedly the most likely to make it to the finals this season.

However, Stern’s mind could not rest completely yet.