The Golden Age of Basketball

Moreover, unlike those Black athletes who get headaches at the sight of text and can only engage in physical activities rather than high-intensity mental labor, Gan Guoyang is quite smart and clear-headed. Even though he lacks experience and knowledge in law and other fields, with the help of his legal advisor team, he can firmly control the situation.

Furthermore, he constantly employed various psychological tactics and verbal attacks to anger Stern and somehow managed to dig up some baseless dirt, pushing Stern to the brink of collapse multiple times.

After three days of mutual attacks, the management team couldn't take it anymore, and even the always energetic David Stern couldn't withstand such endurance from Gan Guoyang.

At this point, Gan Guoyang began to present his labor agreement proposal:

1. The luxury tax should be postponed, mainly to ensure that stars with 10 years of playing experience can enjoy the benefits of the salary cap increase.

In the future, a maximum salary ratio will be set according to the size of the salary cap, to limit the upper salary limit, but not now.

2. In the new round of labor negotiations in 1998, the luxury tax can be considered for inclusion, but by then the labor side's salary distribution ratio should be appropriately increased.

3. Introduce a rookie salary grading system, which is a standardized contract that sets the salary range and terms based on draft position to prevent unreasonable super large contracts.

4. Introduce a mid-level exception, giving each team a mid-level exception that accounts for a certain percentage of the salary cap, to be used for the team to sign capable regular players in the league.

5. Introduce a minimum salary ordinance, allowing teams to sign some bottom-tier players above the cap, while the league should take out 1% of the revenue annually to establish a new pension fund for retired players.

In addition, Gan Guoyang also demanded that the league include luxury box ticket revenues, advertising revenues, etc., in the total league revenues, to be distributed with players.

All these terms are measures that have been proven to be effective in balancing and satisfying the relationship between labor and management in later generations, but Gan Guoyang is just bringing them to the table earlier.

The management side also found that this is indeed a relatively secure, reasonable, and balanced solution for all parties' interests.

Stern asked Gan Guoyang during a break in the meeting, "Sonny, how long have you been thinking about these things?"

Gan Guoyang replied, "For many years, perhaps. Larry had such a vision back then; I am just realizing his ideals."

Stern smiled and said, "Larry is amazing, but not that foresighted. No need to use Larry's name. Honestly, I think these terms are indeed good. But I want to ask you, how much are you planning to take for the new season?"

Gan Guoyang said, "Of course, I will take my deserved value. Can't take more, as that would be unfair, and can't take less, as that would affect others' income. Larry said long ago, the most important thing is balance."

"Then can't you give away more championships to other teams for balance?"

"I've only won 7 championships, not even in double digits. What's unbalanced about that?"

Stern shook his head; this guy is really insatiable when it comes to championships and victories.

On the eighth day of negotiations, July 27, a bombing incident occurred at the Atlanta Olympic Park, causing 1 death and injuring 111 people.

The bombing incident somewhat drove the progress of the negotiations, because according to rumors, the criminal's next target was NBA players and officials.

Thus, Gan Guoyang, representing the labor side and the union, reached a preliminary agreement with the management side, and a new labor agreement was signed.

The new labor agreement controlled rookie wages, established mid-level and minimum salary terms, and temporarily postponed the implementation of the luxury tax.

However, this labor agreement is just a transitional scheme, with both labor and management taking a step back. Comprehensive negotiations will begin in the summer of 1999.

That's when both parties actually need to exert real effort.

On the day the labor agreement was signed, Gan Guoyang resigned from his position as president of the Players Union and appointed Fleisher's former close partner, NBPA's chief legal counsel Jim Quinn, to take over.

At the same time, Gan Guoyang appointed David Robinson instead of Patrick Ewing as the vice president of the union.

The NBA Players Union needed a Black vice president, and David Robinson, who had served in the military and played a significant role in the 1988 struggle, undoubtedly had enough qualifications.

He was also smart, disciplined, of excellent character, with Christian beliefs, an outstanding deputy in all aspects, and could be a good partner for Gan Guoyang in union work.

In just about ten days, Gan Guoyang managed to resolve the labor dispute, achieving astonishing speed.

Following the implementation of the new transitional labor agreement, Gan Guoyang returned to Portland to negotiate a new contract with the Trail Blazers.

At this point, Tang Jianguo offered a contract that left everyone dumbfounded at first, but upon careful reflection, seemed very reasonable: 3 years, 100 million.

The contract amount shocked the entire nation, but soon everyone thought Ah Gan deserved the price.

Now, Jordan, Ewing, and others realized who the real big winner was.

So, they quickly delved into preparations for the 1996-1997 season, and everyone was on edge.

That man really came back.

After concluding the labor negotiations, Gan Guoyang continued to seclude himself in Portland for training.

During this time, he occasionally called Kobe and O'Neal, informing them to attend the Trail Blazers' rookie training camp on time.

Gan Guoyang regularly participated, urgently needing to see the worst rookie class in Trail Blazers history.