Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters
Chapter 856 856 533 A War Destined to Lose_3

Chapter 856: Chapter 533: A War Destined to Lose_3 Chapter 856: Chapter 533: A War Destined to Lose_3 From then on, the NBA had become a dominion of Black people, where those who survived could be considered the elite, and even Black people could discriminate against other races within the league. The leap in income, change in mindset, and ascension in class made it feel like they were in a different world.

The direct effect of these prosperous and wonderful things was to significantly weaken the players’ fighting spirit in labor disputes.

The older generation of players, while not earning much, were also discriminated against. Adopting the attitude of having nothing to lose, they truly dared to bring the NBA to a halt if it meant no peace for them. Now, whenever a lockout occurred, the players would split into three factions. One faction remained indifferent, not caring about winning or losing, only wishing to maintain their current lifestyle. Another faction was moderate, considering the feelings of everyone and hoping for a resolution that benefited all. Then there was the uncompromising faction, those carefree hardliners.

To put it simply, the hardliners were people like Yu Fei who didn’t care about not playing for a year, not receiving a salary, fighting just for the sake of their pride.

This made Yu Fei start to reflect.

Would he really have the courage to fight the management to the end if he were a low-tier player?

Who didn’t want to play basketball peacefully and earn a few million US Dollars a year to provide a good life for their family?

...

Who would want to give up such a heavenly lifestyle? If only a little money was lost to revert things back to normal, Yu Fei believed that more than half of the players would concede to the management.

This was why the players’ side was bound to lose.

They were no longer the crazy group willing to risk it all.

Now, when provoked by the management, their blood boiled and they prepared for battle, but as time passed and the new season actually began to suffer, those without money to support their families would immediately kneel to the bosses and start causing trouble within the player ranks.

At that time, hardliners like Yu Fei would end up as clowns, ridiculed by everyone.

The events of today had allowed Yu Fei to foresee such a future.

Rather than fighting the management to the end for people who might stab him in the back at any moment, it was better to step aside after making his stance clear.

You ask if he supports the players’ union? Of course, he supports it.

He was willing to give up the next season to secure a better CBA deal, but how many players were willing to do that?

He had already made his attitude clear; what more could he do?

Yu Fei was no longer as actively involved in labor agreement negotiations as he had been at the beginning.

He occasionally appeared at negotiation venues, but only as a mascot sitting on the sidelines.

Yu Fei choosing to “hang up” was advantageous for the management.

For a person of such drawing power and influence, had he really dug in his heels against them, even just the power of public opinion he could muster was a force not to be underestimated.

But now, Yu Fei didn’t want to play anymore.

He didn’t want to be someone who gets hoisted up as a flag when needed and ignored when he’s not, being dismissive of his suggestions and doing things their own way.

The war had just begun, and after deciding to step back, Yu Fei officially began his vacation.

First, he represented Marvel at the “Iron Man 2” premiere in Los Angeles.

His role in Iron Man 2 was thus revealed.

Actually, Yu Fei became the reason film critics gave bad reviews after the premiere of Iron Man 2.

It wasn’t that Yu Fei acted poorly, but Marvel was accused of false advertising.

When Yu Fei joined Marvel, the promotion was grand, but in Iron Man 2, he only contributed his “voice”, taking over from Paul Bettany to voice Jarvis.

Yu Fei accepted this seemingly boring role because he knew Jarvis would later evolve into Vision, but film critics in 2010 had no idea of the big game Marvel was preparing.

Many people felt sorry for Yu Fei, believing that Marvel wasted a huge traffic superstar like him.

Yu Fei made no comments on this, and Marvel was also trying to downplay the impact of this matter.

However, the negative reviews of the premiere did not affect “Iron Man 2” becoming a blockbuster. Eventually, it grossed 400 million US dollars domestically and over 400 million US dollars in the international market, with the global total approaching 900 million US dollars.

In mid-August, Yu Fei put aside his current work and once again rushed to New York to participate in the labor-management agreement negotiations.

This negotiation was more formal than all previous ones.

Not only were the league’s star players all gathered there, but the five most influential agents—Arne Trem (Yu Fei’s agent), Bill Duffy, Mark Bartelstein, Jeff Schwartz, and Dan Fegan—were all present.

David Stern thanked everyone for their presence before the meeting, then did not forget to threaten the players’ union that if an agreement was not reached today, then next month’s preseason training camp and exhibition games would be canceled.

“I think we might as well announce the cancellation of next season now, then we’ll have time to talk slowly.”

Yu Fei made an offhand remark.

Everyone took it lightly, as the upper echelons in the United States are well-versed in the salami-slicing strategy. They propose a lockout without declaring the cancellation of a season to drag out negotiations, just as Stern said, if there isn’t an agreement today, the training camp and preseason games will be canceled, and if things don’t work out later, they might even cut into the regular season.

There’s plenty of time in the 82-game regular season for slicing.

Yu Fei hadn’t participated in the negotiations for about half a month and found that although he had been absent, he could still keep up with everyone’s pace.

The owners were still demanding the implementation of a hard salary cap, while the players’ union wanted to maintain the status quo. Only if the status quo remained unchanged were the players willing to take a pay cut.

At the moment, the owners had the upper hand.

They could afford a longer halt.

NBA was just one of their assets; they had other businesses, while 90% of the players had no steady income other than their salaries.

Therefore, players were more likely to feel anxious due to the prolonged lockout.

The agents realized this and thought of a harsh strategy; they suggested the players dissolve the union and then sue the NBA in federal court.

The specific operation was to have 30% of the players sign a petition supporting the dissolution of the union to push the dissolution forward. This percentage exactly represented the proportion of NBA players represented by the five agents present today.

Once the union was dissolved, the law would treat NBA players as individuals rather than union members, and different laws would apply. In this case, they could file an antitrust lawsuit against the owners and apply for an injunction forcing the owners to let the players return to work.

However, there are no guaranteed wins in court, and dissolving the union and taking it to court meant there was no possibility of a settlement, putting both sides at risk, so this suggestion was highly controversial among the players.

Yu Fei once again endured the most uninteresting three hours of his life.

The two sides reached no consensus.

After the meeting, Fisher stated, “I believe from today’s meeting results, it’s clear that due to scheduling, we cannot expect the training camp and season to start on time.”

David Stern expressed the same opinion.

“Well, we didn’t do well today; I think it’s fair to say that,” Stern said. “On the other hand, we have said that this is our collective task, to decide what each side wants and what each side needs, if we choose to work in a way that allows the season to start on time. That remains our goal.”

And Yu Fei had only one thought—he didn’t want to get involved in this matter, which was bound to be stuck in the same spot for a long time.

He needed to take care of his own affairs.

At that moment, having returned to China to join the national team’s training camp for the World Men’s Basketball Championship, Yao Ming sent Yu Fei a message.

“Damn, since you’re idle anyway, how about forming a team to play a warm-up match with us?”

Yu Fei inquired further and found out that the national team’s previously scheduled opponent had stood them up, and with two weeks before the start of the World Championship, they had no warm-up matches to play.

Wanting to find something to get away from the labor negotiations, Yu Fei happily agreed.

Larry Fleisher served as a consultant for the players’ union from the 1960s to the late 1980s, orchestrating nearly all the major professional basketball events during those decades.

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