Pick Westbrook

Chapter 282 Labor Agreement Drafting
News of Lee's purchase of the Hornets spread across America, and then around the world.

CCTV was originally broadcasting a summer basketball review program, but because of this news, Zhang Weiping, Su Qun, Yu Jia, Ma Jian, Yang Jian, and Yang Yi were interviewed by CCTV one after another.

Zhang Weiping said: "I had a lot of contact with Li Lai when I reported the Bucks game on the spot."

"He is a very young and wise head coach, especially in terms of team building and talent selection."

"What's even more commendable is that he, like Mark Cuban of the Mavericks, is a very avid basketball fan."

Su Qun nodded at the side and said: "So it is foreseeable that the next Hornets will rise as soon as possible and become the strongest team in the league's first column."

"Li Lai must be willing to spend money for the Hornets."

Yu Jia asked curiously: "Will Li Lai choose to be the head coach of the Hornets?"

"I heard that he has already managed a lot of companies. It seems that it is difficult to have more energy to coach the Hornets."

"But what we can believe is that as long as Li Lai is willing to become the head coach of the Hornets, we will be able to see the changes that the two-time champion coach brought to the Hornets team."

Yang Yi said with great certainty: "Probably not. If Li Lai can devote all his energy to making money, he will definitely become a member of the Forbes list of the world's richest people."

"It's not cost-effective to continue to focus on coaching the field."

Hearing this sentence, Ma Jian straight up said: "It's not worth it? Who said it! Who recognized it?"

"The Hornets were originally called the Charlotte Hornets. In 1987, the NBA decided to expand its army. The Hornets became new members of the NBA along with the Heat, Magic and Timberwolves."

"Until 02, the Hornets moved from Charlotte to New Orleans, and their team name has not changed."

"It has been 34 years since the establishment of the team. This team has never been involved in the conference finals, and even the number of times it has reached the playoffs can be counted on the fingers."

"New Orleans is also a well-known water city in the United States. Apart from tourism and transportation, the economy and industry here are underdeveloped, so it is also a famous small-market team in the NBA."

"Aren't the fans here still holding demonstrations some time ago, in order to oppose the Hornets without a boss for three years?"

"It can be seen from this that although the Hornets have encountered a crisis of confidence from the fans, in terms of fans' expectations and wishes, New Orleans fans have been waiting for this team to achieve very good results."

Yang Jian nodded in agreement and said.

"Of course, as a well-known entrepreneur in the United States, we don't know what decision Li Lai will make."

"But relative to the money, if he can lead this team to break the record and reach the conference finals, then it must be full of honor."

"People in this city are bound to be the most ardent Hornets fans."

new orleans.

"This city was built at the mouth of the Mississippi River, and the "upper city" and "lower city" are all relative to the flow of the Mississippi River."

"One upstream, one downstream, the roads of the upper and lower cities are mostly parallel to the direction of the river, and then make a big bend at the Mississippi River. This big bend is also like a moon, so it is also called Crescent City."

Li Lai introduced to the man beside him.

Although this was the first time the two met, Li Lai was very satisfied with the straightforward attitude and sincere words of the man beside him.

So even with him, he became friendly to each other.

Jim Buss couldn't help smiling wryly. Li Lai was announced by the NBA headquarters to take over the Hornets yesterday, and now he introduced the city like a treasure, which already shows the opponent's attitude.

Jim Buss let out a long breath and said: "Magic Johnson and I both support you to become the new coach of the Lakers. We made a very serious bet for this. Unfortunately, things backfired. You still can't come to the Lakers after all."

Li Lai shook his head and said: "Coaching Kobe is a reason that I can hardly refuse. Among all the players in the NBA, I also have two players that I particularly want to coach, and one of them is Kobe."

"However, even if my intention to acquire the Hornets is not approved by the NBA Board of Governors this time, it will be difficult for me to coach the Lakers and Kobe."

Jim Buss turned his head to look at Li Lai and asked.

Li Lai smiled slightly, and said unabashedly: "You should be aware that the internal situation of the Lakers is very complicated."

"Of course, with Old Buss, all problems are not a problem, and they will hold back, but you should know that things will come to that point one day."

"Jim, will you be in full control of the Lakers by then?"

Jim Buss was slightly taken aback, a little surprised that Li Lai knew so much about the internal affairs of the Lakers.

He wouldn't suspect that Li Lai had arranged some kind of spies for the Lakers. After all, there had already been signs of internal conflicts with the Lakers, and some reporters and media had reported on them.

Jim Buss was silent and said: "Dad still prefers me to take over the Lakers, because I really love basketball and the NBA, not just as a business."

"That's something my sister Jenny Bass doesn't have at all."

Li Lai didn't want to say more about this matter. He had already rejected Jim Buss' offer to become the head coach of the Lakers. At this time, the two of them could only have a friendly exchange.

Li Lai still reminded Jim Buss: "You should be very clear about your sister's character, and she must also know that it is difficult for her to gain the upper hand in the competition with you."

"But why is she still competing with you?"

"For the old Buss, the palms of the hands and the backs of the hands are all meat. If your sister hopes that she can leave something behind for you to take over the Lakers in the future, will the old Buss give it?"

Jim Bass broke into a cold sweat from Li Lai's words. He thought of his sister's extraordinary scheming and ability to win people's hearts, as well as being good at using his own weaknesses to win the sympathy of old Bass.

He said affirmatively: "I will definitely give it."

Jim Buss and Li Lai embraced each other warmly when they parted, because this time the two met and talked freely, and the two admired each other more and more.

Jim Buss also made an agreement with Li Lai that the window of cooperation between the two will never be closed, and they must join forces whenever they have the opportunity in the future.

6 month 19 day.

Chris Paul's home.

After learning from the news that the Hornets had been bought by Li Lai, Paul stayed for a full second before laughing excitedly.

cp4 walked over with a football in his arms, wondering why his always serious father showed such joy here.

Paul did not explain to cp4, but just held his son high above his head.

Then he saw his girlfriend Jada Clare coming over with a plate of fruit, and Paul slapped the other's ass excitedly.

Jada Clare stayed where he was for a long while, and looked at Paul inexplicably.

Seeing this scene, cp4 dropped the ball and rushed towards Paul angrily, punched and kicked the opponent's feet, and at the same time, he did not forget the childish voice of warning.

"You are not allowed to bully my mother!"

6 month 20 day.

A new round of labor negotiations continues.

Only Li Lai and Adam Xiao Hua went to the negotiation this time.

Adam Silver emphasized at the meeting: "Mr. Li Lai will be the representative of the management this time, and he will have full authority to decide all negotiations on the labor agreement."

Derek Fisher was naturally very familiar with Li Lai, and the two had also met and fought against each other in the finals. They didn't have much friendship, but they weren't too jealous when they met.

In addition, this time is an extremely serious labor negotiation, so Fisher still looked at Li Lai with a serious face.

"If the management still decides to give us a contract and declares that this is the biggest concession you can make, then there is really no need for us to continue the negotiation."

With a smile on his face, Li Lai handed over a contract in his hand.

Seeing the same scene again, Fisher was extremely angry. He didn't pick it up but looked at Li Lai angrily.

Chris Paul, who was sitting on the side, took the initiative to pick it up. After all, this labor negotiation was specially hosted by Li Lai after he called him.

So Paul naturally didn't believe that Li Lai would do such a humiliating move at this time.

Paul subconsciously opened the contract.

"what!"

Hearing Paul's exclamation, all the labor representatives rushed over in shock. They looked at the contract, but there was not a single word in it!
"Mr. Li Lai, what do you mean?"

Fisher said with some surprise.

Li Lai pointed at the contract and said, "That's what it means."

"The contract has been handed over to you, you can write it however you want."

"Of course Derek, you can write in the contract that you want a wife, and I will definitely grant your wish."

All the players on the side immediately laughed out loud after hearing this sentence and were rocked back and forth with laughter.

Because Fisher often likes to molest his teammates' wives and girlfriends, this incident has already aroused public outrage, so they all made fun of Fisher behind their backs. For the safety of everyone's wives, they must quickly find someone for Fisher. Keep an eye on him.

The atmosphere of the entire labor negotiation meeting immediately cheered up.

Because of Li Lai's friendly gesture and his obvious lack of disdain for the players, the two sides talked very harmoniously throughout the meeting.

Adam Silver looked at the current scene of labor negotiations, and thinking about it before, there was a world of difference.

The whole meeting went from morning to night, during which Adam Silver went out and ordered two meals for everyone.

The meeting room turned into a dining table, and Li Lai, Fisher and Paul also determined the general structure of the next labor agreement.

Each season, players and teams will distribute BRI according to the principle of 50%.

This is 47 points higher than the previously agreed 3%. Of course, compared with the 05 labor agreement, this ratio is 7% lower.

However, because of the extremely exaggerated TV broadcast agreement that anyone can predict four years later, this distribution ratio will become extremely terrifying in 4.

It is conservatively estimated that the player's maximum salary will reach 4000 million!
You must know that Kobe now holds the highest salary in the league, but only 2400 million. This increase is really exaggerated.

Li Lai also reminded Paul and Fisher that the 50% distribution of BRI was already the fairest and most extreme ratio he could strive for.

The players union should never try to take advantage of such a big piece of cake.

Of course, in this way, the salaries received by the players in these three seasons will be relatively reduced, which is extremely unfair to Labor.

So Paul proposed to add an additional clause as compensation to the labor side.

That is, on the basis of the original Bird clause, when a player won the MVP, scoring champion, FMVP in his rookie season, or was selected to the All-Star Game twice as a starter in the All-Star vote, or was twice If you are selected to the best team of the year, you have the right to increase the maximum salary from the original 25% to 30%.

This clause will also be named the Westbrook Clause.

Li Lai nodded and directly agreed to this clause. If he remembered correctly, this clause should also be called the Ross Clause.

At the same time, the league's basic salary terms were revised, changing the basic salary base and the increase in the number of years for salary.

比如2010-11赛季球龄为0的球员底薪为50万美元，有1年球龄球员的底薪合同为70万美元，2年球龄球员的底薪为90万美元。

But now the basic salary base has been directly adjusted from 50 to 70, and the number of years has also increased from 20 to 30 per year. Of course, there will be a year limit and it will not continue to increase.

At the same time, the NBA can only count the minimum salary contract as two years of NBA playing experience into the salary cap.

In other words, if Shark O'Neal continues to choose a basic salary to join a team, his basic salary contract is 220 million, but the salary included in the team's salary cap is only 130 million.

This will greatly reduce the salary pressure on the teams, and they will also be able to spend more money to sign players, and labor will benefit indirectly.

Because there are still many teams in the small ball market in the league, it is difficult to retain players all the year round and they are not very competitive. In order to balance the teams in the small ball market, Li Lai also proposed a clause.

If the BRI exceeds the specified value, the player's share ratio will be more, and if the BRI is lower than the specified value, the player's share ratio will be less.

In other words, if the BRI increases and the league's income increases every year, the players' union will share 60.5% of the added value of the BRI. If the BRI decreases, the players' union will also reduce the reduced income by 60.5% accordingly.

At the same time, if a player voluntarily leaves his home team after the contract expires, he will lose his Bird clause.

With the Byrd clause, in addition to giving the player the maximum contract, the home team can also increase the player's salary by 10.5% on the original basis, and it will increase every year.

Those who do not meet this condition can only rise by 6%.

In the last collective bargaining agreement, the contract increase of players who did not have the Bird clause could still reach 8%, but now it is only 6%.

Naturally, Li Lai's proposal has nothing to do with the players, it's just to make this newly negotiated labor contract get more people's approval at the management meeting.

Of course, compared to the new labor agreement that was negotiated after a long time in the previous life, the agreement renegotiated by Li Lai and the players has not changed significantly.

Except for the teams that take care of the small ball market more in the re-regulation of Bird's terms.

Li Lai didn't have any other careful thoughts in making such a decision, he just hoped that this new labor-management agreement could be passed as soon as possible.

The validity period of the agreement is also agreed to be 10 years. After 6 years, both the players union and the NBA have the right to jump out of the agreement.

Throughout the meeting, Li Lai specially invited many media reporters to come and report.

In addition to requesting that important content be banned, the cheerful atmosphere of the entire meeting was completely relayed by these media reporters.

"This time, the negotiation process between the labor and management sides was exciting, and the players in the entire conference field were full of laughter."

"According to Chris Paul, the vice chairman of the players union, this labor negotiation has almost determined most of the terms and regulations. The progress on this point is exciting enough."

"At the same time, the chairman of the union, Derek Fisher, announced that the players union will withdraw the complaint against the league headquarters. They hope to work together to develop the NBA into the world's number one sports event."

After the meeting, Paul happily found Li Lai and hugged him vigorously.

In addition to the smooth resolution of the labor incident, Li Lai gave the players great respect, and also because Li Lai has become the sole owner of the Hornets.

Li Lai signaled Paul not to be impatient. He also had a lot of things to deal with at this time, and reminded Paul to keep training and not let his body get out of shape during the off-season.

At this time, Paul restrained the countless questions in his heart, because only one sentence from Li Lai was enough.

"Keep training and don't let your body lose shape in the off-season!"

6 month 21 day.

The league headquarters announced that this year's NBA Draft will be held at the Prudential Center Arena in Newark, New Jersey on June 6, and will be broadcast live across the United States by ESPN.

At the same time, Adam Silver handed over the results of the new round of the labor agreement meeting to the league headquarters on this day.

David Stern was full of praise for Li Lai's ability, and just getting the players union to drop the complaint against the league headquarters is of great significance.

After reading the entire labor agreement, David Stern was even more amazed at Li Lai's ability.

On the basis of the original labor-management agreement, Li Lai still implemented the customary style of the previous two labor-management agreement negotiations, amnesty the world, distributed a lot of benefits to the players, and let them see that the management is about to get a super-large broadcast contract. attitude towards labor.

Mutual benefit, hand in hand to make the NBA better.

David Stern quickly uploaded the first drafted collective bargaining agreement to the owners of the league. Except for James Dolan, the owner of the New York Knicks, who was extremely opposed, the owners of the rest of the teams voted for it on the council. ticket.

The labor agreement drafted in the first round passed smoothly.

Of course, just one round of negotiations will not settle the matter of this labor negotiation.

Rockets owner Leslie Alexander and Spurs owner Holt both raised the issue of the salary cap and the luxury tax system.

Celtics owner Grosbeck talks about margin and salary protection.

Blazers owner Paul Allen still has questions about the rookie contracts of the first and second round picks, as well as trading rules and amnesty clauses.

Of course, after the general direction is determined, these small details of the agreement still need to be negotiated in the second and third rounds, but they are irrelevant.

For this labor negotiation, both the owners and the players of the league's teams are extremely satisfied, except for James Dolan, the owner of the New York Knicks.

(End of this chapter)