Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 903 903 548

?Chapter 903: 548 Chapter 903: 548 He didn’t believe that Hunter was innocent either; installing relatives in the union and embezzling funds were facts.

Similarly, Kevin didn’t believe that Chris Paul, who had been personally promoted to chairman by Billy Hunter, came with pure intentions when he invited him to be the president of the union.

Paul’s actions reminded Fei of “Game of Thrones,” where Robert Baratheon invited Ned Stark to be his prime minister. Fei believed he probably wouldn’t end up beheaded like Ned, but who knew what might happen?

In the end, there was his identity.

His status had become quite delicate.

Clay Bennett had become the most envied, despised, and hated owner in the League because of him. When a player could bring the owner hundreds of millions of dollars in profit each year, he naturally attained a status that transcended players and management.

Fei couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t become like Jordan and own a team in the future.

He couldn’t act as the union president snarling at the owners and then one day turn into a representative of the owners, shouting at the players, “47% is the most you’ll get!”

So, he had to refuse this seemingly special invitation no matter what.

Fei, the basketball player, could be a leader in the player’s camp, but Fei, the non-player, may not.

While a storm brewed within the player’s union, something also happened within the owners’ ranks.

Having resolved the issue of excessive player bonuses, the owners themselves had problems that needed addressing.

The imbalance of income between big-market and small-market teams that led to unfair competition was supposed to be limited by the luxury tax, but was that really enough for small-market teams?

After several months of discussions, David Stern completed the last landmark achievement of his career.

A new internal revenue-sharing system for the owners.

Beyond the known major sources of revenue like the cable television contracts, others like ticket sales and local TV deals weren’t counted in the total revenue. Starting this season, every team had to contribute 40% of that money for revenue sharing, ensuring every team made a profit.

The big-market teams that had benefitted from the old system fiercely opposed, but the vote was overwhelming.

Since this matter concerned only the owners and didn’t require the participation of the player’s union, it just happened.

Clay Bennett walked out of the meeting red-eyed, knowing how much money he would lose.

It was a small matter that received little attention.

It just happened.

No one cared, but this small event directly led to teams, because they weren’t willing to offer certain players more money, either trading them or letting them go, seriously undermining their own competitiveness.

Fans called it foolish, unable to comprehend.

But the owners knew that they were just defending their wallets.

Winning a championship was great, but if the revenue from a championship wasn’t enough to cover the luxury tax paid out, and not enough for what was shared during the championship season, then it wasn’t so great.

The seeds were sown, but only the owners understood the significance of this event.

Christmas
This is the most important day of the year in many Western countries.

For Fei, he had become accustomed to treating Christmas like New Year’s Eve.

Today was a good day, and what made it good, aside from the date itself, was that good things were happening.

Elizabeth Olsen had decided to have the baby.

Before the game, she said to Fei, “We took precautions, and I heard the chance of this accident happening is less than 5%. Frye, would you take a shot with only a 5% chance of making it?”

Fei laughed and said, “I don’t know, maybe, at least it’s not zero.”

“So, this might be God’s choice.” Elizabeth gently stroked her belly, “This child is chosen.”

It was time to contact Gary Smith and have him write an article about his child titled “The Chosen One 3.0.”

Based on Elizabeth’s description, this child might even be more of a “Chosen One” than he and Tiger Woods.

This excited Fei for the entire day.

First, he brought good news to his mother, who was determined to expand her chain stores nationwide: “Are you ready to be a grandmother?”

His mother’s response made Fei a bit embarrassed: “Is it Scarlett or Christina?”

Then, Fei asked Lin Kaiwen to pick a good day to choose a ring, as he was preparing to propose to Elizabeth. The decision was sudden, but he needed to show this attitude.

Given Elizabeth’s age and prospects, her decision to keep the baby rather than make the choice Fei least wanted to see compelled him to assume the responsibility of a mature man. Going on as before just wouldn’t do.

After sorting out these things, Fei boarded the team bus, heading to Key Arena.

They were set to host the Brooklyn Nets at home.

The opponent was the hot New Jersey Nets.

They had the league’s top center, top point guard (Fei was now playing power forward), and top three small forward.

Chris Paul, Anthony, Howard—when these three names were mentioned together, it was easy to envision a blueprint for a team capable of 60 wins.

So far, the Nets had lost four games, and the Supersonics three.

Tonight’s victory would determine who would be ranked first in the league before the new year arrived.

“Frye, are you really not going to reconsider that matter?”

The Cannon Chairman was still hopeful, making one last effort.

Fei answered noncommittally with a smile, “Chris, how many kids do you have?”

“One,” Paul laughed, “But my second child is due next fall.”

Fei asked, “How’s it feel to be a dad?”

“I can’t explain it to you, you’ll never understand,” replied Paul.

There were people in the NBA who believed that Fei would never marry, that he would remain forever immersed in the embrace of women, like the founder of Playboy.

Fei nodded with a smile, “Right, you’re correct.”

However, “forever” in the Cannon Chairman’s dictionary might have been a time unit of 30 years, longer than a generation.

Fei understood that his “forever” was a different measure. But even such a long-lasting “forever” would eventually be broken by the tide of change. That era was about to end, pretty soon.