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Yang Rui lived in Toronto, went out to play with Thomas during the day, and chatted with Scarlett using the minion software at night, time passed quickly.

Entering December, the All-Star Game was also canceled, and players began to feel the pressure. As early as October 20, the arbitration judge John Flick ruled that during the lockout period, the employer does not need to pay the players' salaries.

The stock market has been rising, and Yang Rui's worth continues to rise, not affected by the shutdown. He signed with the Raptors with an annual salary of only 1 million, and he earned it in the summer, and he didn't care about the loss.

On December 23, just before Christmas, Stern issued an ultimatum, saying that if no agreement was reached on January 7, he would announce the cancellation of the new season.

At this moment, a split broke out within the players union. Under the manipulation of the famous agent David Falk, the high-paid players headed by the chairman of the players union, Patrick Ewing, broke with other players.

These high-paid stars do not want to cut their salaries, which is the main reason why the agreement cannot be reached.

This is already a situation that no one can afford to hurt. The players lost more than 500 million U.S. dollars, the league lost more than a billion U.S. dollars, and the ABC also lost 200 million U.S. dollars.

Although the NBA owners are rich and powerful, and the NBA team is not the only industry, but after all, the NBA has an annual income of about 4 billion U.S. dollars. Which owner is willing to give up the share? The players can't afford to be hurt even more. Everyone eats youth food, and a short-term struggle can still afford it. Once the tug-of-war enters, how many people can really "stop playing at a big deal"?

The concessions made by the players allowed the new labor agreement to be reached quickly, and the change in players' attitudes began with the timely appeal of Suns captain Kevin Johnson. He called on both sides to take a step back. If this continues, everyone will have nothing to do.

If it is really suspended for a season, the fans will spend a lot of time and energy trying to get back after running away.

The final result is that the management made some concessions, saying that as long as the stars accept the maximum salary limit, they will increase the wages of the middle and lower players. Under pressure, the players union decided to accept the management's proposal and signed a new labor agreement.

This is the most reasonable plan, which is equivalent to distributing some of the superstar money to the role players, so that the bosses can capture the hearts of most players, and those superstars who want to use the NBA as a cash machine can only give up.

The worst thing is the Timberwolves. In 1997, they gave Garnett a huge contract of 126 million for 6 years. If it was signed this year, the contract must be much smaller.

Garnett's contract accounted for half of the team's salary, resulting in the Timberwolves' salary has been amazing, and there is no money to find a star to team up with the Wolves.

In Yang Rui's previous life in 2004, the "F4" Lakers with a salary of 61.93 million beat the "three-headed monster" Timberwolves with a salary of 67.77 million 4-2. The Timberwolves spent 67.77 million to finally pass the first round, it is such a luxury!

On January 20, the labor and management signed a new contract, and the 204-day lockout ended. The new season will start on February 5th, and the time set aside is for the teams to trade and sign up.

The employer introduced a "luxury tax", which stipulates that the average salary of NBA players is between 9 million and 14 million, and stipulates that rookie salaries are paid according to the draft pick. As compensation, the employer retained the "Bird Clause".

Before, the team could only sign three-year contracts with first-round rookies, so McGrady and Billups were free agents in 2000. Now, teams can sign rookies to four-year rookie contracts, which is good news.

The bad news is that Jordan officially announced his retirement in January, and the Bulls dynasty disintegrated.

The fans feel sorry, but the insiders are not surprised at all. Pippen, Rodman, and "Zen Master" Jackson have all confirmed that they will not stay in Chicago.

Time is running out, free agency signings and team trades have gone wild, and teams are recruiting.

The butterfly effect of the Eastern Conference finals last season appeared, and Scott Pippen, who was in decline, joined the Trail Blazers.

The contract is only 58 million for 5 years.

In Yang Rui's previous life, the Rockets and Pippen signed a terrifying 5-year 73 million contract, and Pippen was miserably cheated. The Rockets management hopes to fight for the championship in Barkley and Olajuwon's final years. Pippen did not win the championship last season and his evaluation was very low. The owner Alexander was unwilling to do a business that was obviously losing money.

The "big bug" Rodman, who had poor performances in the playoffs for two consecutive seasons, was ignored after leaving the Bulls. His agent contacted the team and was rejected, even if it was a weak team.

Bad news comes with bad news. Rodman's ankle sprain has long since healed, but no team is willing to take a risk on him. The management believes that he is a restless factor that hurts the team more than it helps.

Under such conditions, no team will provide Rodman with a high salary. Unless he is willing to accept the veteran's basic salary, his career will be over.

The Timberwolves signed Joe Smith, the No. 1 pick in 1995, at a price well below market value. Everyone finds it strange that Yang Rui knows how this signing happened, and the Timberwolves will be unlucky in the future.

The Timberwolves reached a "yin and yang contract" with Joe Smith in order to evade the sanctions of the luxury tax.

The original of this contract is a written text for the league office to read, and the annual salary is 1.75 million US dollars in the 1998-99 season, 2.17 million US dollars in the 1999-2000 season, and 2.25 million US dollars in the 2000-01 season.

However, the copy of the contract has not been announced. The Timberwolves boss McHale conspired with Joe Smith. As long as Smith is willing to join with a low salary in the first three seasons, he will get a 7-year long-term contract with a contract amount of no less than 40 million US dollars. to $86 million. The copy of the contract has the autographs of Timberwolves owner Glenn Taylor, Joe Smith and his agent.

A year later, the media exposed that the Timberwolves signed Joe Smith by illegal means. They were severely sanctioned by the league office and were deprived of their first-round picks for the next five years plus a fine of $3.5 million. Joe Smith was forced to transition As a free agent, signed with the Pistons for 1 year.

Later, the 2003 and 2005 draft picks were returned to the Timberwolves by the league, and the Timberwolves still could not escape the fate of a bad team. Even when Yang Rui traveled through time, this did not change at all.

The Knicks and the Warriors broke out the biggest deal in the free market, and the management aims to defend the title.

The Knicks got "Madman" Sprewell; the Warriors got Chris Childs, Chris Mills and John Starks.

The conflict between Sprewell and Warriors coach Carlesimo is well known. The former All-Star's personal image was worse than Rodman's because he choked the head coach.

Because of the famous "throat lock", "Madman" was suspended for 62 games, and it is impossible to stay in the Warriors. The suspension and lockout made the Knicks pick up a big leak and exchanged a relatively moderate price for a backcourt star. The team gathered the "Big Three" of Ewing, Houston, and Sprewell.

The Knicks also renewed the contract of the role player Bowen for two years, plus Larry Johnson, Oakley, Ben Wallace, Ward and others, countless media exclaimed-who can stop the Knicks? !