the rest, only noise

Chapter 802 Patrick is so affectionate and righteous, he needs to pay more
When Wilson signed the league's largest contract last year, Ewing's agent proposed to re-sign, wanting to take advantage of the sharp rise in the salary cap to negotiate another big contract for his client that would shock the league.

As a result, Louis sternly rejected him.

They knew that if Louis couldn't pass this, it would be useless to talk about it.

Then Louis never received a call from David Falk again, and Ewing started various competitions with Wilson in order to prove his leadership.

The Knicks were a powder keg last season.

Whoever throws a burning match in there will start a raging fire.

This season, the Knicks have a good atmosphere.

Ewing's camp suddenly offered to re-sign the contract, and Louie became uncertain.

The internal tension of last season and the harmony on the surface of this season, could it be that David Falk remotely controlled Ewing to show him?

"What did he tell you?" Louis asked.

Baylor explained clearly: "Falke said that Patrick plans to stay in New York, so he doesn't think it is necessary to wait until the end of the season. We can complete the contract extension during the season, which can also reduce a lot of uncertainties."

This time, Falk's approach was more decent and reasonable than last time.

What was inappropriate last time was that Wilson had just signed a big contract. As if he was jealous, he passed Baylor and called Louis directly, asking for a re-sign.

This kind of bastard who doesn't count and doesn't respect the Knicks management, of course Louis wants him to get out.

This time, Falk at least respected the negotiating process.

Conveyed Ewing's wishes through Baylor, and then asked Baylor to convey Ewing's appeal.

This is propriety.

Whether it is successful or not can continue to be discussed, but the basis of the discussion is mutual respect.

What is reasonable is that they choose the timing to start re-signing negotiations.

This season is the seventh season of Ewing's famous rookie contract. Back then, Louie originally wanted to give him a contract without any options.But Falk insisted on a player option.They want the player option in the fifth year, but Louie is only willing to give the player option in the seventh year.

After a fierce resistance, Falk threatened to cancel the negotiation and asked for a trade, but Louis firmly refused to give options to players who were younger than the seventh year.

Ewing and Falk finally had to agree.

It turned out to be a fitting vintage.

Ewing ranked first in the league in salary for five consecutive seasons, and it took the past two seasons to become the average maximum salary.

If there is no player option, Ewing's contract will gradually become a child labor contract in the next five years.

If you play 2K, this is naturally a very cool thing.

But in reality, Louis has to face Ewing every day. As the leader of the Knicks and the core players of the team, Ewing has to face players who are paid more than him but are not as strong as him. What will he think?

The team behind him will not allow him to become cheap labor.

Louie also has no intention of using a cheap contract to engage the mentality of the core players like the Bulls did in the last three consecutive games, and then they fell apart.

Therefore, whether there is a player option or not, Ewing's 10-year contract cannot be implemented to the final year.

The disputes and confrontations in the middle are all competitions for the right to speak.

Louis wanted to be in charge, and Falk wanted to, too.

Now they are proposing to re-sign at this time, which is not only in the interests of Ewing, but also in the interests of the Knicks.

If it really drags on to the offseason and Ewing announces the implementation of the player option to jump out of the contract, he will become a complete free agent. Although he wholeheartedly wants to stay in the Knicks, theoretically, if there is a team with enough salary space, it is possible to offer a super contract.

At that time, the Knicks will have a headache if they match or not match. It is better to get it done now. The long-term pain is not as good as the short-term pain.

"You can talk about it, and let me know anytime."

At present, the league has not clearly marked the price of the maximum salary. Therefore, there is no saying how many percent of the salary cap the maximum salary player has. Everyone quotes according to their own feelings.

Therefore, it basically depends on the player's performance on the field and the team he is in to quote.

Wilson, who was still the league's first salary last season, has been surpassed by Jordan, Barkley (who just re-signed his contract with the Trail Blazers) and Drexler this season.

Jordan's annual salary is 540 million, Barkley's is 480 million, and Drexler's is 460 million.

Therefore, according to Falk's style, Ewing's next contract's annual salary will not be less than 540 million.

Now Ewing has no burden.

He can be said to be the second center in the league, even if his level is actually similar to that of Olajuwon and David Robinson.

Because he has four championships, MVP, and FMVP.

If it is said that for a player without a championship, an MVP can crush him to death, then MVP+FMVP+championship is a dimensionality reduction blow.

The Knicks' re-sign talks with Ewing began on Thanksgiving night.

In order to amplify Ewing's momentum, Falk deliberately leaked the news of the negotiation.

Suddenly, the entire league turned its attention to Apple City.

Seven years ago, Ewing was able to negotiate 7 million in 10 years. How much is it worth now?
The starting price for this re-signing negotiation is 550 million.

550 million a year, which is already higher than Jordan.

Falk nodded with a smile: "This is a good start, but not enough."

Baylor scolded the public a lot, but Falk thought from the bottom of his heart that Ewing deserved more money.

Although the Knicks' salary cap has already been filled, Ewing can activate the Bird clause, as much as he wants.

When Baylor raised the offer to 580 million a year, Falk still shook his head.

"Tell me, how much do you want?"

Falk said endlessly in an unastonishing language: "800 million a year."

Baylor almost thought he had heard wrong.

800 million a year?This is not only the lion's big mouth, it is simply treating Ewing as a superman.

If the Knicks agreed to the price, it would be an indirect admission that Ewing was twice as valuable as Wilson.

Regardless of whether the Ewing camp has this intention or not, Wilson's camp will not let it go.

"Don't even think about it!"⑴
Negotiations were interrupted for a while.

As the season continued, Louis knew what an outrageous price Ewing's agent had quoted, and pretended to be fine on the surface.

After Thanksgiving, the Knicks have just one game left in November.

Game against the Pistons at the end of the month.

The Pistons are one of the many confused teams. At the beginning, they did not have the strength to challenge the Knicks and Celtics, but they had the strength to overthrow all Eastern teams other than these two teams.

So they didn't tear down the team and rebuild, and they still had some illusions in their hearts.

What if Dumas suddenly mutated?
What if Parrish was suddenly taken over by a time-travelling protagonist?

If these may be too ridiculous, let's be more practical. What if the Knicks are in conflict?What if the Knicks suffered injuries like the Celtics did and lost without a fight?

It is this kind of thinking that makes the Pistons persist, but this persistence loses meaning as the main lineup ages.

They are waiting for the Knicks to decline, but their age structure is far older than the Knicks.

If they are going to decline, they are the first to decline. The Knicks' competitiveness seems to last into the new century...

At the end of the month, Ewing broke out again.

With 44 points, 15 rebounds and 7 blocks, he deliberately showed off his muscles when he left the court.

Team reporter William Roden asked Ewing the meaning of his departure.

Ewing said truthfully: "I hope the renewal negotiations will be over soon. My thinking at the time was that no matter how much money I want, I deserve it."

Louis noticed Ewing's speech, but 800 million a year?
If the Knicks were Ewing's one-man team, if Ewing was as important to the Knicks as first- and second-year Takenori Akagi was to Shonhoku, they would have to offer 800 million a year, let alone 1000 million a year.

This is where the biggest problem lies.

It's not that the Knicks can't live without Ewing. They also have Wilson who is on par with Ewing, and there are many good players.

Their annual salaries are all below 500 million. No, strictly speaking, Wilson is the only one with a price of 400 million. If they really sign an 800 million-year contract with Ewing, will the atmosphere in the team be saved?
So this is absolutely not okay.

Thinking of this, Louis began to doubt Falk's motives.

Such a simple matter, didn't Falk think of it?
He doesn't really think that the Knicks will satisfy Ewing's selfish desires regardless of the feelings of other players?

Lu Xun said that the Chinese like the mean, and if you want to open a window, you have to first suggest that everyone remove the roof.Then the Americans surnamed capitalists are profit-driven, and they often put their personal interests first.

The paradox of this is that the Knicks already have an entire salary structure in place.

400 million, 300 million, 250 million and many old contracts.

If Ewing signs 800 million by himself, this structure will be ruined. If they want to renew players in the future, they will follow Ewing's standards.

Therefore, this example cannot be opened.

On the evening of November 11th, Louis personally called Falk: "David, not only will we not satisfy you with an annual salary of 30 million, but we will also not give you a contract with an annual salary of 800 million."

"Coach Lu, do you want Patrick to go to the free market to test his value?" Falke said leisurely, "Honestly, if I let out the news now and tell the teams that Patrick will become a free agent next summer, how many teams will make room for him, and what kind of offer do you think he will get by then?"

"Even if Patrick appears in the free market, he will not get an offer higher than 600 million. Although there is no upper limit on the salary of players, each team has an upper limit. David, if you still have the sincerity to negotiate, why don't you put aside your nonsense that can only scare children, and tell me what you have to do before you are willing to regress."

Louis said coldly: "We are old acquaintances, let me know what your bottom line is."

"Coach Lu, when you agreed to give Patrick a 10-year 3000 million contract in the office, did you already know that today is here?"

Louie listened in silence.

"I have to admit that you are the best president in this league. You are the last person I want to deal with. Seriously, if Patrick hadn't insisted on staying, I would have tried my best to get him out of New York." Falk laughed, "You have to give Patrick a big contract, right?"

Louis said in a deep voice: "640 million a year, which is 100 million more than the current highest salary in the league."

"No, Michael's salary next season is 560 million. Show Patrick more respect, Coach Lu."

"650."

"680 million," Falk said, "this is the only reserve price we can accept."

"660 million." Louis snorted, "I won't give you another penny."

"Okay, since Patrick wants to stay in New York so much, we can take another step back, but we still have a small request."

Unsurprisingly, Louis sneered and said, "Please fart all at once."

"Coach Lu, we want a three-year contract, and Patrick should have the option to opt out of the contract in the second year of the contract."

⑴Ahem, it’s not the price in reality. At that time, Riley just arrived in New York (the summer of 91), and Falk threatened New York with Ewing’s departure from the team. Riley knew very well that the Knicks could not challenge the Bulls without Ewing.So he coordinated from it, and then let the Ewing camp retreat appropriately.The Ewing camp "relented" and then reached a new contract with the Knicks with an annual salary of $880 million.You must know that the salary cap at the time was smaller in reality than in the book, so, hey... This is the same as Jordan's 96 million in 3000, and his salary is twice that of the second in the league.

(End of this chapter)