When pride still matters

Chapter 109 Everything Is a Business

The Wizards' next three games were all played at home. They first defeated the Pacers, then beat the unsettled Raptors, and finally lost to the Sacramento Kings, who ranked at the top of the Western Conference.

The day after the loss to the Kings, the Wizards announced that Richard Hamilton would return to the team after the All-Star break.

At this time, the Wizards had achieved 27 wins and 20 losses, ranking fourth in the Eastern Conference, but they were surrounded by wolves. If Hamilton could not make a smooth comeback, or if he was in poor condition after his comeback, there was also a risk of falling out of the playoffs.

Although the NBA has ushered in the All-Star break, teams like the Wizards, which like to engage in off-court activities to gain fan support, will not give up allowing players to continue working during the holiday.

Yu Fei's task today was to go to a school near the Verizon Center with Kwame Brown to do activities.

Their mission was simple, play ball with their kids and spend a few hours signing autographs, then pretend they were grateful for what was happening and make a sincere appeal to them to continue supporting the Wizards.

Yu Fei, who was surrounded by a bunch of brats like heroes, had some doubts about life.

They have all kinds of questions to ask before the dreaded signing begins.

"Fry, is your relationship with Michael bad?"

"Fry, can I get Michael's autograph?"

"Fry, will you always stay in DC?"

Of these questions, the only one Yu Fei could answer was the first one.

"Michael is my mentor, how could my relationship with him be so bad?"

Then, a little girl ran over: "Fry, Kwame said he was going to die."

Yu Fei, who had been disturbed by the child at that time, looked at the girl with a look that was completely detached from the world: "You can tell me again after he is completely dead."

Yu Fei hates the various activities arranged for him by the team.

But if he knew what was going on at the Verizon Center, he would definitely be grateful to just have to deal with his kids now.

Verizon Center

The Wizards want to finalize a deal before the trade deadline.

The team's deputy general manager Rod Higgins has been talking to each other for several days about this, and now the two sides are very close to reaching an agreement.

"The second-round pick is not a problem, we can give it, but I hope this is the final offer."

Higgins said to the person on the other end of the phone.

After getting a definite answer, Higgins hung up the phone, stood up and reported to Jordan, who was waiting for the result: "Seattle has agreed to the Bobby Simmons trade."

Jordan asked, "What's the price?"

"Hubert Davis," Higgins said, "and Chris Whitney and two future second-round picks."

Jordan nodded slightly: "Very good, we can definitely afford the price."

Higgins was obviously hesitant.

"Do you have something to say?" Jordan asked.

"Do you want to notify Fry about this? Chris Whitney is a good friend of his," Higgins said.

Jordan smiled cruelly: "No need, he is having fun with the children now."

Higgins serves Jordan wholeheartedly, but he also knows Yu Fei's importance in the team now.

One fact is that it is difficult for Jordan to restrain Yu Fei.

This was unprecedented in Jordan's career.

But it's the truth.

Yu Fei has shown his desire to challenge Jordan countless times on the training ground, on the competition field and in various public occasions.

Higgins wasn't sure if the trade was necessary because it looked more like Jordan's demonstration of his desire to fly.

One of Yu Fei's two best friends in the team was traded, but Yu Fei didn't know anything about it?

Higgins didn't know how Yu Fei would react. What was certain was that his relationship with Jordan had gone far.

This crack is irreparable.

Outside the general manager's office, Jordan's agent, David Falk, was preparing for another negotiation with Wizards owner Abe Poulin and vice president Susan O'Mary.

Post team reporter Steve Wyche called Falk a "raptor" in the article.

Falk likes this nickname, which can reflect his aggressiveness. The more ferocious the nickname, it proves that they are ruthless to the employer at the negotiation table. For the employer, isn't this the best agent? person?

It's just that Falk has felt more and more recently that he is drifting away from Jordan's team.

Compared to Falk, Jordan seems to rely more on Falk's old subordinate, Curtis Polk, who is also an agent.

Some of the personal matters that Jordan used to let Falk handle are now handled by Polk.Falk is nominally Jordan's agent, but in fact all he is responsible for is Jordan's player contract.

It can be said that Falk's current situation is similar to Jordan after his second comeback.

Jordan lost his dominance in the 90s, and Falk's days as the most powerful agent in the NBA also followed the retirement and decline of Jordan, Ewing, Mourning and others, as well as Juwan Howard and Rhodes. ·The development of Strickland and others did not go smoothly and came to a standstill.

Jordan, who has come back for the second time, is no longer the No. 1 player in the world who could influence the league, so Falk's agent's name rarely appears in the news.

Falk's passing is inevitable, but he does not want to leave the Jordan team. Therefore, this negotiation is his best opportunity to draw closer to Jordan.

boss office

Jordan and Falk walked in, and Pauline sat there, ready to negotiate with O'Mary, whom Jordan hated, and Wes Unseld, who (here) had no weight at all.

Both sides looked at each other speechlessly for a while.

Because now Jordan is negotiating as a cooperative partner, so the politeness is dispensed with, and the tenderness he usually pretends to show to others has also disappeared.

"Let's get started." Jordan said coldly.

"Michael, if I'm not mistaken, what we're going to talk about today is about your return next season." O'Mary believes she's not the only mentally disturbed person in the room.

There is no old man in the Wizards who doesn't hate Jordan, and no one doesn't want him to get out, but now, they hope that Jordan will give them a promise that he will return next season. It would be better if they can sign a contract directly.

Why?Because that's what Pauline wanted.

Even the 38-year-old Jordan, even if he scores 40 points per game with less than 20% shooting, still has immeasurable commercial value.

If Jordan plays one more year, Pauline will be able to achieve more profit through the team.

"Wait, wait, there's no rush." ​​Falk began his performance, "I would like to ask Mr. Paulin, have you publicly promised to sell more shares of the team to Michael when he retires? ?And still leave the team to Michael to manage?"

The air freezes.

Omari lost her right to speak. This was a question that only Pauline was qualified to answer.

Pauline looked deeply at Jordan.

The best player in history sat there quietly, his cocky expression unchanged from beginning to end.

Pauline smiled, it was a flattering smile, but it looked scary when paired with his yellow teeth: "Of course, this is my promise to Michael."

"Is this promise public?" Falk asked. "Who can vouch for this promise? How can we be sure that you will fulfill your promise?"

Pauline was already a little angry. He and Falk didn't just dislike each other. Since Jordan joined the Wizards in early 2000, Falk had acted as Jordan's mouthpiece and said bad things about him everywhere.

Although Paulin never responded to Falk, that didn't mean he didn't care.

In fact, he just didn't want to piss off Jordan.

However, Falke obviously came with bad intentions today.

"David, you don't have to believe me, but you have to believe Ted Leonsis. I made the promise to Michael in front of him."

As soon as Paulin finished speaking, Falk looked at Jordan, wanting to confirm whether this was indeed the case.

Jordan nodded slightly as acquiescence.

"Let me assume that this guarantee exists and is valid." Falk's words angered Paulin.

Paulin lost his smile: "What do you mean?"

"It's not interesting, I just want to talk about something more specific." Falk can feel the change in Jordan's ambition.In the future, Jordan will definitely be a Pauline-style businessman. He does not need an agent who only considers issues in a player-like manner. Therefore, he will prove today that he can not only act as a strategist for the player Jordan, but also Advise boss Jordan. "Since you have an appointment with Michael, I assume that when Michael leaves the stadium, you will really sell part of the equity to him. What I want to ask is, is this equity sold at the original price that Michael sold it to you? Or should we sell it at the new price that Michael has increased its market value?”

Without waiting for Paulin to react, Falk continued: "Michael's comeback has increased the market value of the team, allowing your bad team to regain profitability after 10 years, and you have made a lot of money. It’s full of money, but what did Michael get? He got a basic salary without any financial compensation, and in the end he had to spend more money to buy back his own shares? Is this reasonable in the world?”

Falk demanded that the shares sold back to Jordan in the future should be sold at the original price, and that a portion of the profits from this season and next season should be used to compensate Jordan. These two items were enough to make Paulin and him quarrel.

Negotiations were fruitless.

It was a secret negotiation and no one knows exactly what happened, but its impact was far-reaching.

Since it is a secret, no one can know the inside story at the moment. The only thing the Wizards made in the news today was that they will send seven-year veteran Chris Whitney to Seattle.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"The Washington Wizards sent Hubert Davis, Chris Whitney, and 2003 and 2005 second-round picks to Seattle for Bobby Simmons and Earl Watson." — —NBA official
"Whitney said he already knew it was all business, but he would never forgive the people who made the decision." - The Washington Times

“We don’t need an old point guard, we don’t need a relationship (Hubert Davis⑵), and we don’t need the Wizards’ second-round pick. This is an invalid transaction and has no value except destroying the chemical reaction between the two parties. ”——The Seattle Times

"(Yu Fei said) He joined this team when it was most difficult, and now they are sending him away when they are closest to success. You tell me that this is all business? If this is business, it is also a bad thing. business, I need an explanation!”——NBC interview
⑴Ted Leonsis is a minority shareholder of the Wizards and a close friend and business partner of Jordan. There is even a saying that "Michael decided to take over the Wizards entirely because of Ted Leonsis."

⑵Hubert Davis is the nephew of North Carolina legend Walter Davis.

(End of this chapter)