When Ray Allen saw the logo on Wang Yi's chest was covered, he thought to himself, This is bad.
Nike's contract with the NBA stipulated that players had to wear jerseys bearing the Nike logo.
So if an NBA player didn't wear a jersey with the Nike logo, the NBA would be in breach of contract.
Before 2020, players could cover up the logos on jerseys they didn't want to wear without much trouble.
For example, Harden, Curry, and Thompson weren't Nike-sponsored players at the time, but Nike supplied the gear for NBA teams, and it bore the Nike logo.
Curry and Thompson would roll down their Nike-branded socks once, so the logo couldn't be seen.
After all, the NBA had no rule against players rolling down their socks.
Harden went a step further and simply cut off the Nike logo.
But Nike had spent a billion dollars on an eight-year deal, and naturally didn't want to see that happening, so they raised the issue with the league.
Over the past two years, the league had also increased the penalties for covering up logos.
At first, the fine was only $25,000. Now it was $5,000.
If the offense was serious enough, players might even be suspended.
If Wang Yi were suspended, one could imagine how badly that would affect the Kings.
But Ray Allen was a smart man. Although he noticed the problem immediately, he didn't say anything.
Everyone else was focused on the game itself, so no one had noticed yet.
NBA President David Xiao Hua had also come to the arena that day.
He was seated in a suite on the fourth floor.
He glanced at the tablet his secretary had brought over. It displayed the current number of NBA viewers.
According to the chart, the audience had