In late August, the air in Manhattan was thick with the stale smell of asphalt baked by the scorching sun.
The joint training camp in Milan was progressing smoothly under Rick Carlisle's leadership, and engineers from the Germany sports science laboratory had already moved into the stadium to collect foot data from all Celtics. After confirming that everything in Europe was on track, Lin Qi boarded a flight to New York alone.
645 Fifth Avenue, top floor of the Olympic Tower.
Pushing open the heavy door to the alliance president's office, a blast of cool air hits you from the powerful air conditioning.
In the large leather chair behind his desk, David Stern was rubbing the bridge of his nose. Scattered on the desk were the front pages of several major American newspapers, as well as a thick stack of faxes with legal letterheads.
The alliance leader, usually known for his boundless energy, looked unusually tired. The deep shadows around his eyes and slightly graying temples suggested that he had been dealing with a lot of work lately.
Seeing Lin Qi walk in, Stern put down his pen and pointed to the leather sofa opposite him.
"Sit down, Lin." Stern's voice was a little hoarse. "It was indeed a bit hasty to call you back from all the way from Europe. But there are some things that, if we don't discuss them face-to-face before the preseason board meeting, the situation could become very ugly."
Lin Qi pulled out a chair and sat down, his gaze casually sweeping over the Chicago Tribune at the top of the table.
The front-page headline was eye-catching. "On the eve of Kobe Brian's Colorado hearing, several national sponsors suspend endorsement contracts."
The lawsuit that took place last month in Eagle County Colorado, has directly impacted the star image that the league has been working hard to cultivate in recent years. Even though Kobe left Los Angeles for the Chicago Bulls three years ago, he remains one of the league's most important new generation of face-to-face figures. Multinational giants such as McDonald's's and Nutella are lining up to suspend their partnerships, and discussions in American sports media continue to heat up. Adidas and the league's public relations departments have been working non-stop lately.
Stern noticed Lin Qi's gaze, rubbed his temples, and said in a low voice, " Kobe's case has a professional legal team in Colorado handling it; it's a legal process. The league can only do damage control in front of the media for now, as this still falls under the category of off-court crisis."
Stern pushed the newspaper aside, opened a drawer, and pushed a meeting transcript in a confidential file folder in front of Lin Qi.
"But I called you here today not because of the Chicago Bulls ' troubles," Stern said in a low voice, "But because of the disagreements within the Charlotte Expansion Committee and the Board of Directors. If left unchecked, it will directly impact several important proposals to come."
Lin Qi untied the binding of the file folder and pulled out the shorthand notes inside.
As soon as my eyes swept across the first page, two familiar names came into view: Jerry Buss and Michael Jordan.
The time was four days ago, and the place was a closed-door review meeting of the Charlotte Expansion Committee. The stenographic transcript was very detailed, and the fierce exchange between the two sides could be seen between the lines. In the middle of the meeting, Jordan firmly refuted Jerry Buss. Buss and even proposed that the league establish a special auditing team to review the Los Angeles Lakers' financial statements and internal accounts over the past three years.
" The Charlotte expansion meeting?" Lin Qi looked up, his tone calm. "It's no secret in the industry that Michael wanted to buy a new team and become the owner after retiring. But why did he have such a big conflict with Jerry Buss at the expansion meeting?"
Stern stood up, pulled back the blinds, and looked out at the Manhattan skyline.
"It's an old story from two years ago," Stern said slowly, his back to Lin Qi. "The summer the Boston Celtics won their three-peat. Back then, the Los Angeles Lakers lost in the NBA Finals two years in a row, and the management was under a lot of pressure. Phil and Jerry Buss personally flew to Chicago to meet with Michael."
Lin Qi leaned back in his chair, listening quietly. He naturally remembered that sensational comeback that had swept across the United States.
"According to Michael's testimony at the meeting, Jerry Buss made a verbal promise to persuade him to join the Lakers on a veteran's minimum contract." Stern turned around, " Michael insisted that Jerry Buss told him that if he wore the purple and gold and helped the Lakers end Boston's championship run, Jerry Buss would open up a minority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers for him to purchase when he finally retired, making him one of the minority owners of the Los Angeles Lakers."
" Michael believed it," Lin Qi said.
"Yes, he believed it, and he truly lived up to it." Stern's tone was tinged with complex emotions. "Over the past two seasons, the Lakers have adjusted their roster. Although you still won your fourth consecutive championship last year, Michael led the Lakers to the final championship in a double overtime Game 7 this June, and then gracefully announced his retirement under the watchful eyes of the world."
Stern paused, his brow furrowing.
"However, when Michael was ready last week to finalize his original stock purchase agreement, Jerry Buss did not agree."
"A complete denial?" Lin Qi asked.
" Jerry vehemently denies it." Stern shook his head. " Jerry believes the conversation back then was nothing more than a drunken slip of the tongue at a private gathering. Jerry Buss insists that Michael misunderstood him; the Lakers ' shares are the Buss Family's most valuable asset, and he never made any serious business commitments. He even half-jokingly said in a closed-door meeting that people in California who want to buy Lakers shares could line up from Sunset Boulevard to Santa Monica. You know Michael's personality; he felt he wasn't being respected and protested on the spot during the meeting."
Lin Qi flipped through the stenographic notes in his hand, pondering the logic within.
Jerry Buss holds a PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Southern California and later made his fortune in Los Angeles through real estate speculation and exceptional poker skills. Behind his facade of California sunshine and high-society parties lies a ruthless and merciless business logic.
In Jerry Buss's value system, people are strictly divided into "family members" and "employees". He could treat Magic Johnson as his own son, offer him a long contract of up to 25 years, and even generously gift him stock later, because Magic represented the Lakers ' "Showtime" era and was the brand of this family.
The deeper reason is that the Magic was a partner who accompanied Jerry Buss through his leap in the business world.
When Jerry Buss took over the Lakers, the Great The Forum, and the hockey team in 1979 with a debt of over $60 million, the entire league was still shrouded in the shadow of delayed video broadcasts and financial losses. Jerry West was undoubtedly the Lakers ' icon and godfather, but the 1960s and 70s that West represented were ultimately an old era with very limited commercial value. Even after West built a championship-caliber team in management, he remained, in terms of business logic, an excellent "technocrat" and "professional manager." He brought victories and championship banners to the team, but he did not fundamentally rewrite the team's commercial value.
The arrival of Magic Johnson coincided with a turning point in Jerry Buss's integration of Hollywood entertainment into professional sports. His fast-paced, high-octane style, the VIP boxes at the Great The Forum, the Lakers Girls (cheerleaders), and the nationwide viewership phenomenon led to a geometric increase in the Lakers ' market value in the 1980s. In Jerry Buss's eyes, Magic was not just a player, but a co-creator of the Lakers' transformation from an ordinary basketball team into a top global entertainment brand. That equity stake was Jerry Buss's way of rewarding his "business pioneers" and "family members."
But for others, Jerry Buss's boundaries were so strict they bordered on cold-blooded.
When faced with Jerry West's demand for a minority stake, Jerry Buss didn't hesitate to shut the door, effectively forcing out the veteran manager who had laid the foundation for the Lakers ' success. In Jerry Buss's mind, no matter how hard-working and meritorious West was, he was essentially still a salaried employee. Even after West left to join the Grizzlies, the lifetime home season tickets Jerry Buss promised West were quietly canceled after the management fell out. This shows that all of Jerry Buss's generosity and promises came with strict preconditions; the recipient had to remain within his power structure and network of personal connections.
To defeat the Boston Celtics, Jerry Buss was willing to offer equity as bait in the VIP box. But by the time the championship was won, Jordan was already forty, completely retired, and no longer of value on the court, so the standards for business negotiations naturally changed completely.
While Jordan's legendary status is unparalleled, his business empire belongs to Nike, to the Air Jordan brand, and to himself; it never belonged to the Los Angeles Lakers. In Jerry Buss's calculations, Jordan was merely a top-tier mercenary hired on a two-year veteran's minimum salary to help the Purple and Gold Legion defeat their arch-rivals. Allowing such an outsider to interfere with the core of the Buss Family's equity was nothing short of a pipe dream.
For Jerry Buss, casual conversations that weren't written down and weren't legally binding could easily be labeled as "slips of the tongue while drunk."
Just like he could renege on his promise of a lifetime season ticket to Jerry West at any time. It's just a promise, it has no legal effect, it's only up to his whim.
But Michael Jordan was definitely not the kind of retired star who would willingly suffer in silence.
Throughout the 1990s, Jordan was locked in a fierce power struggle with general manager Jerry Krause in Chicago. Jerry Krause's statement, "Management is what wins championships," deeply wounded Jordan's pride.
Jordan's desire for "team ownership" and "team owner status" had long since evolved into an almost obsessive pursuit of dignity. He gave his all in Los Angeles, believing he had secured a ticket to the core of power, only to discover that Jerry Buss had always treated him merely as a high-ranking mercenary.
This disparity was, in Jordan's eyes, no less than blatant deception and humiliation.
" David, isn't this illegal recruitment?" Lin Qi closed his stenography and looked at Stern. "Contacting players who haven't become free agents or have retired beforehand violates recruitment rules. What's more, privately promising players a future transfer of team equity on favorable terms in exchange for star players joining on low salaries. Since Michael has revealed all these details, why doesn't the league launch a formal investigation into Jerry Buss and the Lakers?"