Champions Creed

Chapter 108 107: I will prove that he is not worth it (ask for monthly ticket!)

The farce at Lower Merion High School made Jerry Stackhouse very angry.

He was very confused as to why no one had confiscated all those damn one-on-one videos!

On this point, the Adidas team is indeed not as smart as Nike.

Stackhouse has now completely become the Philadelphians' own clown, and his hatred for Roger has increased again.

At this time, Stackhouse was not the only one who was worried about Roger.

"Damn it, who can get that damn newspaper out of Orlando completely?!"

Rich DeVos was furious in his office, and on his desk was a torn-up copy of the Orlando Sentinel.

The above vote on whether Roger "deserves the highest salary in history" made him very annoyed.

This greatly hindered his plan to lower prices.

DeVos promised to give Roger a contract slightly higher than Ewing's, but that was because he felt that the Knicks would at most offer Ewing an annual salary of around $1200 million.

In this way, he only needs to offer Roger 1250 million to keep both the money and the face.

As a result, Ewing actually signed a one-year contract worth 1870 million!

This is more than twice as much as David Robinson, who had the highest salary last season!
DeVos doesn’t know how David Falk did it, and he doesn’t know what that idiot James Dolan is thinking. Is he an idiot?
Yes, he can spend his money however he wants. But if he does this, it will not only affect the Knicks, but the entire league!

You give so much, how can the rest of us follow?
There were already serious conflicts between management and players, and many people expected that the league might be shut down in 1998.

As a result, Dolan offered an 1800 million contract, which undoubtedly disrupted the market.

The Magic were affected because according to the promise, DeVos had to offer Roger a contract of more than 1870 million!

This was completely beyond DeVos' expectations.

DeVos was right. James Dolan was really an idiot when it came to signing contracts. Because from 1998 to 2010, the Knicks would be in the top three in the league's salary list for 13 consecutive years. But in half of that time, the Knicks couldn't even make the playoffs.

It's like there's a bumper harvest on the payroll, but not a single blade of grass on the performance sheet.

It's hard to say how much money James Dolan would have spent if the league had not implemented contract standardization in 98.

Perhaps the era of annual salary of 50 million will come ten years earlier.

In short, Dolan's contract extension with Ewing has messed up the entire league.

The Chicago Bulls are very worried. Ewing is already 1800 million, so how much should we give Jordan next year?
The price is clearly 3000, but you suddenly drop it to 5000. Doesn't this make things difficult for everyone?

DeVos is in a worse situation than the Bulls, and he must figure out a solution to this problem now.

What's even worse is that several teams have enough salary space this year to offer Roger an annual salary of tens of millions.

The Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, Denver Nuggets, and Atlanta Hawks all have a lot of salary cap space. The salary cap has increased by a full $800 million this year, and these teams currently have few players under contract.

Both Boston and Philadelphia have historical heritage and are large basketball markets.

Denver has Defensive Player of the Year Dikembe Mutombo watching over them.

It's hard to say these teams have no appeal to Roger at all.

Eric Fleisher deliberately mentioned this when he was on the phone with DeVos: "Out of trust in you, I have not received any calls from any team at this time."

What I mean is, you’d better keep your promise, otherwise we will have a lot of customers.

Although those teams cannot offer a higher price than 1800 million because they do not have bird rights, they can still afford 1250 million.

So, if both are 1250 million, Roger is likely to choose another one.

Originally, Rich DeVos wanted to lower the price by playing the emotional card: "Roger, do you believe in love? Orlando fans love you, just like I love you. We all don't want you to leave. Although we can only offer a maximum price of 1250 million, our love for you is sincere!"

Then the damning Orlando Sentinel vote came out, and it made all the arguments DeVos had prepared meaningless.

The fans have no love affair with Roger at all. They fully support Roger getting the highest annual salary in history.

"Have these bastards ever seen what 1800 million looks like? What are they making a fuss about? I'm the one paying the money! Damn Sentinel, why does Orlando have such a toxic media!" DeVos cursed to vent her anger.

At this time, the person accompanying DeVos was no longer Pat Williams, but the new general manager John Gabriel.

After Pat Williams built an excellent lineup and led the team to win the championship last season, he was promoted to executive president of basketball operations of the Magic and senior vice president of RVD Sports, a subsidiary of Amway Group.

The former title is just a title, while the latter is Pat Williams' main battlefield now.

After tasting success with the Magic, Amway Group wants to fully enter the professional sports industry. Now they want to establish a WNBA team in Orlando and participate in the construction of the WNBA. This is what Pat Williams is busy with now.

Therefore, the signing work was entirely handed over to the newly appointed John Gabriel.

The situation is difficult for Gabriel because the Magic have more to worry about than just this year.

If it was just Roger, it would be fine, but if we give Roger 1800 million this year, how much should we give Shaquille next year?
Will the profits that the team has finally seen be squeezed out by Roger and the Sharks?
However, Gabriel, as a new official, naturally wanted to show his ability. In fact, he already had a plan to save money.

So he put away the torn newspaper and told DeVos calmly: "Don't worry, Richie, I can solve all the problems."

The next day, Roger and Eric Fleischer arrived on time at the golf course where they first met the Magic.

Rich DeVos still tried to create a relaxed negotiating atmosphere, so he did not choose to hold the meeting in his office.

Now, the whole world is watching this signing, and everyone wants to know whether Roger will be the highest-paid player in the league.

Even DeVos himself feels a lot of pressure and needs to relax.

Instead of discussing the contract with Roger, Rich DeVos played a round of golf.

During the meeting, he asked Roger if he was used to life in Orlando, and generously said: "I have villas in New York and Los Angeles. If you want to go to these two places during the offseason, you can stay wherever you want."

"That's very generous of you, Mr. DeVos." Roger didn't respond. He was only concerned about the contract now.

But soon, the new general manager Gabriel offered a contract.

As promised, slightly higher than Ewing, 1900 million.

"We really, really want you to get the title of the highest-paid player in history, which will have quite good publicity value for you," Gabriel said.

Roger didn't speak to Gabriel directly, so Eric Fleischer spoke for him: "Our expectation is a base salary of 2000 million."

Hearing this, Rich DeVos frowned.

A base salary of 2000 million, does that mean there will be an increase?
Damn you vampire agents! Who doesn't know that the higher the player's contract, the higher your share of the profits will be?

These people should all go to hell!
Although DeVos's expression was not obvious, Fleischer still caught it. But this did not affect his continued asking price, because he knew Roger's value.

"The first player in history to earn $2000 million a year, this is the title we want. Patrick Ewing never brought a championship to the team, no, not even an Eastern Conference championship. Roger, he just led the team to glory, he is the FMVP, the core of the team. And he is still very young. His annual salary should be significantly different from Patrick's. 1870 million and 1900 million are not a difference.

"1900 million, Mr. Fleischer," Gabriel said, "Roger must have feelings for Orlando. There's no need for us to hurt our feelings for 100 million."

Gabriel wanted to play the emotional card, but Eric Fleischer easily dealt with it:

"It is precisely because Roger has feelings for the team that we have not met with other teams, and we have not even answered calls from other teams. Have we put pressure on the team with offers from other teams? No. Have we deliberately spread rumors of leaving the team to raise the price? No. We even promised to stay with the team in advance at the championship parade. Just because of this sentence, I believe that the Magic has sold a lot of season tickets for next season. Just because of this sentence, TV stations and the league are already giving us the most national live games. I heard that next year, the league is also planning to arrange for the Magic to play in China during the offseason. Such international influence is not something that every team can have.

That's Roger's role, your undeniable role.

2000 million base salary, 15% annual increase, contract no more than five years, these are our conditions

John, remember Roger's Law? Hahaha, just kidding."

John Gabriel certainly remembered not to make Roger unhappy. This was an iron rule that no one could escape.

"Eric, Roger, I swear in the name of God, we really want to continue to cooperate with you. Looking at the entire league, no team can offer you 2000 million. But in order to show our sincerity, I accept this offer, but the increase can only be 10%. 5 million for years, you can promote this unprecedented offer."

Eric Fleischer smiled and nodded. This was the price he and Roger had expected.

It’s not that Roger has never thought about an annual salary of 3000 million. After all, Jordan in the original history did it.

But that contract was really special. Jordan was able to get 3000 million thanks to the Knicks and Ewing.

In the summer of 96, in order to recruit Jordan, Ewing reduced his salary to 300 million and offered Jordan a contract of 1200 million.

However, 1200 million alone would definitely not be enough to impress Jordan. The most important thing was that ITT Group, the owner of the Sheraton Hotel, was willing to offer Jordan a 1500 million endorsement contract, provided that Jordan went to New York to play.

This practice appears to violate the labor clause prohibiting any agreement to pay for "basketball services" through "sponsors, business partners or third parties", but it is possible to get league approval as long as it is done.

After all, big basketball cities like New York and Los Angeles have always had a precedent of attracting star players to join through commercial endorsements.

Finally, adding up these two fees, Jordan was able to get a 2700 million contract from the Knicks.

So Jordan gave the Bulls an ultimatum: Give me a one-year contract worth more than $3000 million, and you only have one hour to decide whether to renew the contract.

So don’t talk about one man, one city. Jordan also had times when he forced the team.

In this way, the unprecedented annual salary of 3000 million was born.

After signing the contract, Bulls owner Reinsdorf said frankly: One day in the future, I know I will regret this.

This sentence was also the beginning of Jordan's breakup with the Bulls.

Some people say that Jordan never wanted to go to New York, he just used New York to raise his price.

Some people also said that Jordan was determined to go, but he didn't expect Chicago to actually offer 3000 million.

No matter which version it is, it illustrates one fact: if the Knicks had not disrupted the market, if Jordan had not won his fourth championship, there would definitely not be this astonishing annual salary of 3000 million.

In this history, if Jordan fails to win the championship next season, his commercial value will definitely decline. So by then, even Jordan himself is very likely not to get an annual salary of 3000 million.

It would be very difficult for Roger to replicate the success because he has not accumulated enough honors.

Therefore, the annual salary of 90 million in the 3000s is likely to no longer exist.

Roger's contract with a starting salary of 2000 million and a 10% increase would have been capped in the 90s. Even if he signed for 5 years, he would not look cheap after a few years like Pippen did.

So, the two sides finally reached an agreement.

5 million for 98 years, with a player option after the third year. The reason for adding this player option is that the league and the players' union will sign a new labor agreement in . Fleisher kept a hand at this point to avoid any possibility of Roger suffering losses.

If the salary cap continues to rise after the new labor negotiations or the new rules cause the players' salaries to skyrocket, Roger can opt out. If it does not rise or even gets worse, Roger can choose to continue.

In short, the initiative is in Roger's hands.

After the contract was finalized, the two parties had dinner together.

After Roger and Fleischer left, Rich DeVos sighed, "I hope we are right. I will have to pay at least $6620 million for this! If it lasts for five years, it will be a solid $ million!"

"That's not the key," Gabriel said. "A big center is important, but a core guard can make the best center play better. So, rest assured, we only need to pay so much for Roger."

That was John Gabriel's point. He wanted to save money, but he had no intention of saving money on Roger.

He would save it from other places.

At this point, the Orlando Magic's most important task this summer has been completed.

The next day, the whole world was reporting on this astonishing 120 million contract.

This is an unprecedented price in NBA history.

Patrick Ewing had only been the highest-paid player in history for two days before the title was snatched away by Roger.

And in just two seasons, Roger went from a high school student to the highest-paid player in NBA history!

Reebok is very pleased with this, and their spokesperson is now the most valuable basketball star in history.

The whole of Orlando was cheering, and their future became clearer.
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Will Kobe Bryant, the true son of Philadelphia, enter the 1996 NBA draft? Are high school rookies becoming a trend because of Roger? - Sports Illustrated

The highest salary in history, Roger became the first player in NBA history to earn $2000 million per year, which will go down in history! ——USA Today.

In the new season, we will see which signing is more worthwhile. ——The New York Times

There is nothing to say, this is what a young king should be worth! ——Orlando Sentinel

Congratulations to my good brother Roger, it will be my turn next summer, Mr. DeVos better drive a money truck to see me, hahahahahaha. -- Shaquille O'Neal commented on Roger's sky-high contract in an interview with reporters.

"Michael, what do you think of the NBA officially entering the era of tens of millions of annual salaries?"

"This is the result of everyone's joint efforts. I am glad that the players have received the compensation they deserve."

"So do you have an ideal number in mind for your contract extension next season?"

"Not really, we'll see when the time comes. Right now, I just want to focus on training and the championship."

"How is the team preparing? We've heard some trade rumors about the Bulls."

"We are well prepared and we will make a splash in the new season. As for the rumors, you'd better not believe any of them."

"So, you want to talk about Roger's historic $2000 million salary?"

"There's nothing to talk about, a beautiful bubble, that's all I can say. Roger is qualified to get 2000 million, of course he is qualified. But it doesn't mean that the player who gets 2000 million is the strongest. Next season, I will prove it."

——Michael Jordan accepted an exclusive interview with the Chicago Tribune.

Jordan was actually very happy that Roger signed for 2000 million, because Falk and Jordan agreed that as long as they defeated Roger next season, Roger's 2000 million contract would become a springboard!
If Michael Jordan can beat a player worth $2000 million, how much is Michael Jordan himself worth?

That was left for Reinsdorf to consider.

The young king is in progress?

No, when the Bulls' trading process officially begins to move forward, the Old One will lead his Bulls army to regain the throne!

Whether on the payroll or the honors list, we will be back to number one!

(End of this chapter)