Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

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"This is unreasonable!" Omari said excitedly, "If Michael renews his contract with the team, then he is a member of the Wizards, and the team has the right to use his name and image to promote to the market!"

Falk retorted sharply, "Of course, that is one of Michael's obligations, but don't you think you are going a bit too far? You've promised the fans many things Michael has never said, and you are already selling next season's season tickets at a high price in his name before he has decided to renew. Is that reasonable? If Michael doesn't come back, wouldn't those fans who bought season tickets because of him feel deceived? How do you intend to compensate for the damage to Michael's reputation caused by this?"

This remark silenced Omari.

The most powerful woman in the history of professional basketball only felt frustrated and outraged.

Publicity naturally involves a certain degree of falseness, and every outstanding marketer tends to exaggerate. But when it came to Jordan, he cared about the negative impact it brought him? He was a player, an asset to the team; it was only natural for the team to use his name to make money.

But Omari didn't refute Falk, because what she had done was based on the unwritten rules of marketing, which had never been openly acknowledged. Everyone had tacitly agreed to its existence. Now Jordan's team was calling her out for being wrong and wanting to correct this, leaving her truly speechless.

Because they were dealing with a player-owner, not just a player.

Since Jordan was both a player and an owner, wasn't it normal for him to have unreasonable demands?

And this was only the most acceptable one of the three major premises that Falk had proposed.

What really caused Bolin, who had still been able to face Jordan with a smile, to stiffen and darken, was the other two demands.

Jordan wanted autonomy over the team's transactions.

That meant that things like before, when a trade initiated by Jordan was rejected by Bolin for not being "standard," would no longer happen.

If Bolin agreed to this, then he would truly be just a figurehead owner in the future, with Jordan having complete control over the team's management, and he would have no grounds to interfere at all.

As for the demand Jordan made for after his retirement, it was utterly preposterous. Jordan didn't even own that many shares, yet he wanted others to sell them to him at last year's price; as if the development of the Wizards over the past year was solely the achievement of Mr. Pollin and everyone else was just dragging their feet, so much so that when he retired, the big boss would have to sell shares to him at the price from years ago.

Wes Ansel, Bolin's loyal servant, was outraged by Jordan's unreasonable demands, "I won't mention the others, but I would like to ask you, Michael, what do you mean by wanting to have autonomous control over the team's management?"

"It means exactly what it sounds like."

Jordan didn't speak; Falk did.

Ansel said discontentedly, "Explain."

"Let me put it simply..." Falk stated, "Michael, as the head of the team, should have absolute power. Giving him autonomy in management means that, as of today, all affairs within the Wizards are up to him."

Ansel was utterly furious, "What about Mr. Bolin?! Where do you place Mr. Bolin? The Wizards are not just Michael's team, they're also Mr. Bolin's team!"

Seeing that the Wizards' top brass were all at their wit's end yet had to woo him (Jordan), Falk spoke triumphantly, "After all, Mr. Bolin is not a professional in basketball; he is the big boss, and that will never change. Michael is his partner, and will be the best partner he has ever encountered. He is the greatest player of all time and the wisest basketball expert that ever lived. Under his management, the Wizards will become great, it's destined. And Mr. Bolin doesn't have to do anything; he will own the greatest team in history, isn't that wonderful?"

"The wisest basketball expert that ever lived..." Omari glanced at Jordan sarcastically, "Would select Kwame Brown with the first pick?"

Just like Ansel, Falk instantly turned into a fiercely loyal defender, "What do you mean?"

"My point is, everyone makes mistakes," Omari said provocatively, looking at Jordan, "Even the wisest basketball expert in history could choose with the first pick a player who could not bring any help."

Falk roared, "It was only the second year that Michael took over management work, he was still unaccustomed, but he is the most knowledgeable person about basketball in the world, just give him time..."

"Just give him time, and he will find a way to trade away the best rookie the Wizards have had in thirty years."

"What did you say?"
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"Isn't it true? Michael wants to trade Frye, doesn't he?"

"!#￥@#￥%!#@"

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"Cough cough..." Mr. Bolin made a sound, completely ignoring Falk and staring straight at Jordan.

The real decision-makers present today were the two of them.

As long as they reached an agreement, that was enough.

Everyone else, no matter how much they argued, wouldn't make any difference.

"Michael, you're the owner of the team, with or without shares, and I'm also the owner of the team," Mr. Bolin said in a calm tone, but with a powerful determination, "I've owned this team for many years, and I'm used to being with the team, so no one can take the power to manage this team away from me."

In Jordan's eyes, this signaled Mr. Bolin's decision to "move forward."

"If that's the case, we have nothing left to talk about," Jordan spoke up as well.

"No, Michael, we're not there yet, haven't we worked together happily these last two years?" Mr. Bolin finally smiled, but the yellow teeth he revealed made it impossible to look him in the eye, "Am I really an obstacle to you managing the team?"

Mr. Bolin might have been better off not mentioning it, as Jordan's anger flared up.

If it hadn't been for Bolin's obstruction, Jordan would have sent Yu Fei to Phoenix in the middle of the season, and things wouldn't have escalated to this point.

"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be sitting here today talking this damn nonsense with you!" Jordan accused Mr. Bolin irrationally, "Because of your damn standards, we couldn't complete that trade! It's all because of your damn standards!"

Mr. Bolin just laughed and said, "Indeed, it did not meet my standards."

"So, I need more power, I need a power that won't be constrained by your damn standards, and if you can't delegate, then we're done!"

"Michael, if I'm not mistaken, that was the only time I stopped you. I ask you to think carefully, have I ever stopped you from doing anything else? Even without full autonomy, you can still do what you want to do. The reason I refused that trade was indeed because it didn't meet the standards, but there was another reason—it wasn't the right time to trade Frye."

Jordan wasn't in the mood to listen to Bolin's nonsense and was already planning to leave after throwing out some harsh swear words.

But Mr. Bolin's next words were, "If you now want to trade Frye, I won't stop you."

"Why?"

"Because Frye, who has proven himself on the court, can bring back the biggest return."

"What if my trade doesn't meet your standards again?"

Mr. Bolin smiled unpleasantly, "I can make an exception once."

In possibly just ten seconds, Jordan went from being utterly disappointed with Bolin to reconsidering his stance.

After such a big commotion, the senior management of both sides had been arguing here for a long time, all for this matter.

Trading Yu Fei!

As long as Bolin relented on this issue, everything else could be discussed.

Letting Susan O'Malley continue to leech off him? He could endure that.

Bolin not making promises about his post-retirement affairs? It didn't matter. Jordan believed no one could refuse his leadership, no one could reject his basketball IQ; his career proved that he was destined to succeed. He was too confident, too proud, too aloof.

He believed the world revolved around him, and if that wasn't the case, then clearly there was something wrong with the world.

Jordan's negotiations with the Wizards concluded successfully, and he signed a two-year 1+1 renewal contract, with a player option for the second year.

It was also on the day that Jordan completed his renewal that rumors suddenly surfaced in the NBA's trade market that "The Wizards were actively shopping Frye."