With Wang Yi's retirement and the NBA lockout, the two blows came one after the other.
It was a hard time for the NBA's owners.
It was even harder for the league's lower- and middle-tier players.
Shaquille O'Neal analyzed the NBA's crisis on his show.
"Wang Yi's retirement and the NBA lockout may look like two separate problems, but they're really just one."
"Wang Yi's retirement drove away many investors and cost the NBA a great deal of revenue. That made the owners unhappy with the high salaries, which prevented labor negotiations from moving forward and ultimately led to the lockout. Wang Yi's retirement was the cause; the NBA lockout was the effect."
The host beside him asked, "Aren't you exaggerating the impact of Wang Yi's retirement?"
O'Neal smiled. "No, I'm not exaggerating it. In fact, the fallout from Wang Yi's retirement is only going to get worse. You can already see people losing their jobs because of the lockout. And since Wang Yi retired, the Dow has fallen for months in a row. That's never happened before in history."
"Soon, it'll trigger a massive chain reaction: unemployment will rise, crime will rise. An economy that was already starting to decline could fall even further. We might even be heading for another Great Depression."
The host thought this was alarmist and gave him a polite smile.
O'Neal smiled too. "I know you don't believe me, but let's see where things stand two years from now."
The host nodded. "OK, even if you're right, what can we do now to make things right? How can we stimulate the economy—and the NBA?"
"Unless Wang Yi comes back."
O'Neal's words rang out with conviction.
"I think that's another exaggeration. Even without Wang Yi, we still have Michael Arthur and plenty of other stars."