When the news of Jordan's desire to trade Yu Fei reached the Wizards' management, the Verizon Center immediately had a seismic effect.

Confused, incomprehensible, unbelievable.

If Kwame Brown's lottery ticket has been scratched halfway, and everyone has seen the words "thank you", then Yu Fei is the "grand prize" that has been scratched.

Show No. 8 is a sensitive position.

The last All-Star at the position was Vin Baker, who had turned himself out of recognition because of an alcoholism problem.

It's hard to find an All-Star with an eighth pick any further back.

But Yu Fei in his rookie season almost stepped into the All-Star Game with one foot.

Whether it's his single-handedly leading the team to the playoffs after Jordan and Hamilton were reimbursed, or his rookie season performance of 19+8+7 per game, there is a bright future.

He's sure to grow into a consistent perennial All-Star.

It can be said that Yu Fei's amazing talent covered up Kwame Brown's draft disaster.

Now, Jordan is actually going to trade his biggest achievement in the draft?

Are the Wizards' executives surprised by this? Over the past year, countless things have happened in the team, they are witnesses, they know how tense the relationship between Yu Fei and Jordan is, they know that Yu Fei has shaken Jordan's dominance, especially at the player level, when Yu Fei publicly stated at the Verizon Center that he didn't want Jordan to come back, the rest of the players chose to remain silent.

They expressed their support for flying in a tacit way.

For Jordan, Yu Fei is no longer a fierce horse to be tamed, but an enemy to be defeated.

Yu Fei's actions cannot be described as "the rebellion of young people", he unmistakably rebelled against Jordan's rule and showed a will to replace him.

Once he did, it would be impossible for him and Jordan to coexist.

It's just that Susan Omarie and others are helpless that they thought that this scene would come in two years or more, who knows, Yu Fei, who has just finished his rookie season, can't hold back his ambitions.

He led the team to the playoffs, which was a source of confidence for him.

If he proves he can lead the team to the playoffs with Jordan and Hamilton out, he won't need the help of either of them anymore.

It's just that he's still too anxious.

"Susan, what do you think should be done about this?" Wes Unselde looked at Omarie with a look of embarrassment.

"It's not what we're going to do." "The important thing is what Mr. Pauline is going to do?" ”

Unselde asked, "What will Mr. Pauline do?" ”

Which side should the power struggle between the 39-year-old superstar and the rising young star be on?

The answer is clear, the owner of the franchise will always choose the future.

But Michael Jordan is no ordinary 39-year-old superstar.

Behind him is a symbol of a broad market, which is the confidence that allows the Wizards to sell out season tickets in the coming years, that is the face of their sponsors, and that is the only reason why the Wizards' merch is selling so well this season.

Yu Fei is also a star, but the rise of one year is impossible to compare with the terrible influence that Jordan has accumulated in the past 20 years.

Jordan could have allowed Pollin to recoup the losses of the past five years in one year.

What if he plays for two years?

Or what about playing for three years?

When will Yu Fei be able to bring this benefit to his master?

What's more, he, like Jordan, didn't treat Pauline as a "master" from the beginning.

From the very beginning, he refused to pledge allegiance to the "master".

Faced with a massive short-term gain at his fingertips and a future check full of X-factors, Pauline would choose the former.

Giving up on Yu Fei might make Pauline sad, but as long as he thought about what Jordan could bring him, and the disrespect, unconsciousness, and disloyalty that Yu Fei had clearly demonstrated, this future check didn't mean anything to Pauline.

This is the Pauline that Susan O'Marie was familiar with.

"I don't know." O'Marie didn't share her judgment with Unselde because it was entirely her personal reasoning, "I trust Mr. Pauline to make the best decision for the franchise." ”

Unselde smiled frankly: "So, Mr. Pauline would choose Frye?" That's great! ”

O'Marie also smiled, dismissive of Unselde's judgment based on the normal logic of the sports world.

Between the past and the future, choosing the latter is the iron law of professional sports.

But if you understand those who choose the former, you understand the dark laws of professional sports.

When Jordan's appeal was passed to owner Abi Pauline through Wizards management, Jordan's contract extension negotiations officially began.

High-level officials from both sides arrived at the scene.

David Falck, as the representative of Jordan's team, made three non-negotiable premises: "From now on, Michael has autonomy over the Wizards' trade. The marketing department may not use Michael's image and name to promote the outside world without his consent. When Michael retires from the court, Mr. Pauline should sell a 15 percent stake in the Wizards to Michael at last year's stock price and reinstate Michael to continue managing the team. ”

None of these three premises sound incomprehensible and unacceptable.

After saying this, Falck smiled like a tiger wolf: "Only if Mr. Pauline agrees to these three premises, Michael will talk to you about renewing the contract." ”

"It doesn't make sense!" O'Marie 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 it to the market!" ”

Falck replied, "Of course this is one of Michael's obligations, but don't you think you are a little excessive?" Is it reasonable that you're promising fans a lot of things that Michael never said, and that you're selling tickets for next season in Michael's name before he even decides to renew his contract? If Michael doesn't come back, will the fans who bought the season tickets for him think of Michael as a liar, and how can the reputational damage caused by this incident make up for Michael? ”

The words gagged Omarie's mouth.

The most powerful woman in the history of professional basketball felt nothing but grievances and indignation.

Propaganda is inherently false, and every good propagandist will exaggerate it, but when it comes to Jordan, he cares about the negative impact of this incident on him? He's a player, he's an asset to the team, and it's only natural for the team to make money with his name.

But Omarie didn't argue with Falck, because what she was doing was based on the unspoken rules of marketing, which had never been put on the table, and everyone tacitly accepted that it existed, and now that the Jordan team took out this unspoken rule and said that she was wrong, and wanted to correct it, she really had nothing to say.

Because they're playing against a player owner, not a player.

Since Jordan is both a player and an owner, isn't it normal to have unreasonable demands?

And this is just one of the three premises that Falck seems to be the most acceptable.

What really made Pauline, who could have laughed at Jordan, stiffen and his eyes darkened, and the other two requests were made.

Jordan demanded autonomy over the team trade.

That said, as before, Pauline's rejection because Jordan's trade didn't meet the "criteria" won't happen again.

If Pauline agrees to this, then he will really just be the nominal owner in the future, and the management of the team completely belongs to Jordan, and he will not even have a reason to intervene.

As for Jordan's request after retiring, it is completely vexatious. Jordan didn't have so many shares, and he had to sell them at last year's price, and the development of the co-authored wizards for more than a year was the credit of Goute alone, and everyone else was holding you back, so as soon as you retired, the big boss had to sell shares to you at the price a few years ago.

Wes Unseld, who is worthy of being a loyal servant of Pauline, was outraged by Jordan's unreasonable demands, "I won't talk about the rest, but I want to ask you, Michael, what does it mean to give you autonomy over the management of the team?" ”

"It's literal."

Jordan didn't speak, and it was Falke who responded.

Unselde said dissatisfiedly: "Explain explain. ”

"I said let's be more direct," Falke said, "Michael should have absolute power as the leader of the team, and giving him management autonomy means that from today onwards, everything within the Wizards team will be in charge." ”

Unselde was completely anxious: "What about Mr. Paulin?!" Where do you put Mr. Pauline? The Wizards are not just Michael's team, but Mr. Pauline's team as well! ”

Seeing that the Wizards' senior management was angry and had to stammer himself (Jordan), Falke said proudly: "Mr. Pauline is not a basketball professional after all, he is a big boss, this will never change, Michael is his partner, and will be the best partner he has ever met, he is the greatest player of all time, and the wisest basketball expert of all time, under his management, the Wizards are destined to become great, and Mr. Pauline does not have to do anything, Wouldn't it be nice to have the greatest team of all time? ”

"The wisest basketball expert of all time." O'Marie gave Jordan a sarcastic look, "Will you use the first pick to pick Kwame Brown?" ”

Falke and Unselde instantly turned into the Guardian Dog, "What do you mean?" ”

"I mean, everybody makes mistakes." O'Marie looked at Jordan defiantly, "Even if he's the smartest basketball expert of all time, he'll use the first pick to pick a player who can't help." ”

"It was only Michael's second year in management, and he was a little rusty, but he was the best man in the world about basketball, just give him time," Falke roared.

"Just give him time, and he'll find a way to trade the Wizards' best rookie in three decades."

"What did you say?"

"Isn't it? Didn't Michael want to trade Fry? ”

“！ #￥@#￥%！ #@”

"Ahem." Pauline made a sound, completely ignoring Falk and staring straight at Jordan.

The real decision-makers here today are the two of them.

As long as the two of them agree, that's it.

Others, no matter how noisy they are, it won't come to fruition.

"Michael, you're the owner of the team, whether you have a stake or not, and I'm the owner of the team." Pauline's tone was calm, but with a strong determination, "I've owned this team for many years, I'm used to being with the team, so no one can take the power of running this team away from me. ”

In Jordan's opinion, this is what Pauline decided to "move forward" means.

"In that case, we won't have much to talk about." Jordan also spoke.

"No, Michael, we're not there yet, haven't we worked together very well for the past two years?" Pauline finally smiled, but the yellow teeth were impossible to look at in any case, "Am I an obstacle to your team?" ”

Pauline didn't say it was okay, but as soon as he said it, Jordan's anger rose.

If it weren't for Pauline's obstruction, he would have sent Yu Fei to Phoenix in the middle of the season, and things wouldn't have gotten to where they are today.

"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be sitting here today talking this damn nonsense to you!" Jordan blamed Pauline unreasonably, "We couldn't close that deal because of your damn standards!" It's all because of your damn standards! ”

Pauline smiled and said, "That really doesn't meet my standards." ”

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

"Michael, if I'm not mistaken, that's the only time I stopped you. I ask you to think about it, have I stopped you from doing anything else? Even if you don't have full autonomy, you can still do what you want, and I turned down that trade because it wasn't up to par, but for another reason – it wasn't the best time to trade Fry. ”

Jordan wasn't in the mood to listen to Pauline's nonsense here, he was already planning to throw down a few nasty expletives and leave.

Pauline's next words were: "If you want to trade Frye now, I won't stop you." ”

"Why?"

"Because Frye, who has already proven himself on the pitch, can get the most bang for his buck."

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

Pauline smiled ugly, "I can make an exception once." ”

Jordan may have only been ten seconds between his complete disappointment with Pauline and his change of heart.

There was such a big commotion, and the high-level officials of the two sides sat here and quarreled for a long time, just for this matter.

Trade Yu Fei!

As long as Pauline relents on this matter, the rest is easy to say.

Let Susan O'Marie continue to suck blood on herself? Bearable.

Pauline doesn't make a commitment to what happens after he retires? Doesn't matter. Jordan believes that no one can refuse his leadership, no one can refuse his basketball IQ, and his career resume is proof that he is a man destined for success. He was too confident, too proud, too aloof.

He believes that the world revolves around him, and if this is not the case, then there must be something wrong with the world.

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

It was also on the day Jordan completed his contract extension that rumors suddenly appeared on the NBA's trade market that "the Wizards are actively selling Frye Yu".

(End of chapter)