Stern paused for a moment, his gaze fixed intently on Lin Qi.
"Because to truly settle Michael down, the Charlotte Bobcats can't be a pushover team." Stern deliberately slowed his speech. " Michael has high aspirations. If the expanded Bobcats are completely outmatched in the first few years, his appeal will be damaged, and the commercial value of the expansion project will be greatly reduced. For the benefit of the league as a whole, Charlotte needs to have at least some competitiveness and entertainment value in the early stages of its development."
Stern leaned forward, finally touching on the most crucial point of his conversation.
"In next year's expanded draft, Boston has a limited roster of protected players. The entire league knows that Boston's roster depth, amassed over the past few years, far surpasses that of other teams. To ensure Charlotte can smoothly build its basic framework, I hope that in the expanded draft process, Boston can demonstrate sufficient vision and release a few players with immediate impact and potential to help Michael."
A brief silence fell over the office.
Stern's true intentions were finally fully revealed.
On the surface, this was to appease Jordan and inject competitiveness into the newly formed Charlotte Bobcats. But at a deeper level, it was also a tactic by David Stern to weaken the Boston Celtics.
Boston's current roster depth is simply outrageous. The starting five are in their prime, and the bench boasts young talents of Raja Bell, Gerald Wallace, Mehmet Okur, Tayshaun Prince, and even Tyson Chandler Chandler. This near-overflowing talent pool is already putting substantial pressure on the league's competitive balance.
By having Boston relinquish its core rotation players in the expansion draft, Jordan can quickly build a competitive roster while also effectively cooling down this powerful Boston.
This not only resolved the crisis in Los Angeles and appeased Jordan's ambitions, but also subtly balanced the Celtics ' dominance.
David Stern's plan was indeed extremely clever.
Lin Qi didn't reply immediately, but just looked at the alliance president with a half-smile.
Stern naturally understood that this blatant demand for Boston to concede losses couldn't be achieved with just a few official statements.
"Lin, the alliance won't let any manager who prioritizes the big picture suffer." Stern's voice softened, carrying a conciliatory tone. "Since taking over Boston, your business acumen and operational capabilities have been evident to everyone on the board. Frankly, in many multinational strategies and market expansion considerations, you've even surpassed me and many old-school bosses."
Stern paused for a moment before offering his bargaining chip. " Jerry Buss opened up a new chapter for the league in the 1980s, so Los Angeles has always had a place in the league's development. In the new century, Boston can absolutely have the same status. If you support the league's overall interests on this matter, you will not only gain my long-term trust and friendship, Celtics will also gain a voice in the league's core strategy that is on par with Los Angeles."
Stern looked at Lin Qi and offered a more specific promise, "To better prepare for future international competition and business development, the Alliance Office is considering establishing a new strategic advisory seat within the Board of Directors. I hope you will take the lead, providing a direct channel for offering constructive suggestions to the President's Office regarding the Alliance's development and rule improvements."
These words were extremely pleasing to the ear.
But Lin Qi knew perfectly well that the so-called "personal trust and friendship" and "equal status" were nothing but empty political rhetoric. David Stern could promise these things today for the sake of the big picture, and he could just as easily take them back tomorrow for the sake of a new balance.
However, Stern's initiative to "offer constructive suggestions" inadvertently provided Lin Qi with a tool to legally intervene in the rules.
Since David Stern needed to use this pretext to win him over, Lin Qi didn't intend to leave such promises as mere words. Instead, he wanted to take advantage of the other party's eagerness to quell the fire and deliver these vague benefits into tangible policy opportunities on the spot.
" David, your idea is very visionary." Lin Qi adjusted his posture, his expression composed. "If Michael can stay in the league as a team manager and investor, it truly aligns with the long-term prospects of the sport. Boston, as part of the league, has always respected the rules and is willing to support the establishment of new teams within reasonable limits. For the overall benefit of the league, we can cooperate on the expansion draft and board votes."
Stern's tense expression relaxed slightly, but he did not let his guard down, waiting for Lin Qi to continue.
He knew very well that Lin Qi was never one to suffer losses without gaining any advantage.
"However," Lin Qi continued calmly, "Since you mentioned that I can offer 'constructive suggestions' for the Alliance's development, then let's do it now. Regarding the Alliance's future global strategy and competitive landscape, I happen to have some very specific and urgent suggestions, which I hope the Alliance Office can formally include in its upcoming work plan."
Stern's eyes flickered slightly, and he said in a deep voice, "You speak."
"First, the league must re-examine its Europe strategy and abolish the restriction that prohibits NBA owners from owning Europe teams."
Lin Qi looked at Stern, his tone calm and direct. " David, we need to see the reality of the basketball market today. Since last year's Indianapolis World Championship, the whole world knows that Europe basketball has caught up. And everyone has witnessed how rapidly the Europe EBA League has developed this year. At the recent draft, several promising young Europe stars who were initially favored by their respective teams were instead retained in Europe by the high salaries and starting positions offered by the EBA. The global talent pool that originally belonged to the NBA is being genuinely diverted."
Stern paused, his hand holding the water glass still, clearly realizing he'd been struck by a lie. Stern had always harbored ambitions for the Europe market, but his early vision involved the NBA leading a joint venture to create several NBA-owned teams in Europe. However, due to resistance from local clubs and systemic differences, this grand ambition had been difficult to realize.
Lin Qi followed this pain point and said, "The league's previous Europe strategy, in order to prevent equity disputes, explicitly prohibited NBA owners from investing in or holding shares in Europe clubs in the bylaws, insisting on official direct operation. But as it turns out, expecting the NBA to directly open franchised teams in Europe is simply not feasible in reality; it would only result in the entire Europe market being handed over to the EBA."
"We can no longer fantasize about conquering Europe with just a few preseason games. The league must change its approach and adopt a soft penetration strategy at the capital level," Lin Qi stated clearly. "The league office should proactively amend its bylaws to allow NBA owners to invest their personal capital in and acquire Europe teams. Only when enough owners on the NBA board own clubs in Europe will a direct link of interests be established between the two leagues. Once everyone's interests are deeply intertwined, then the future development of player mobility, share swaps, and ultimately, commercial integration will truly have a realistic foundation."
Stern leaned back in his chair, lost in thought.
From Stern's perspective, Lin Qi's proposal was highly commercially viable. The idea was for team owners to personally fund the purchase of teams in Europe for a soft penetration strategy. This would eliminate the need for the league to provide upfront risk funds and would allow these investors to leverage their private capital to establish outposts in Europe, thereby counterbalancing the growing influence of the EBA.
However, what Stern could not have foreseen was that Lin Qi was the true mastermind behind the EBA. The core equity and governance structure of the entire EBA had long been tightly controlled by Lin Qi. Apart from Lin Qi himself, there was no other owner in the United States who could truly gain control of the core clubs in Europe.
By using the banner of "soft penetration," Lin Qi was actually using Stern's influence to legitimately eliminate the potential regulatory risks of his cross-league shareholdings and legalize his basketball empire in Europe.
After a moment's thought, Stern nodded. "The EBA's restrictions on recruiting young international players have indeed caused considerable dissatisfaction among the management of several lottery zones. This direction can be included in the agenda for amending the bylaws."