Defeating the Mavericks, Spurs, and Heat in succession to win the championship, the process was difficult, and the final majestic victory made people evaluate this finals as "the most legendary championship journey."

Brother Dong enjoyed the joy of winning, Bosh became the focus of the spotlight he dreamed of, and both of them achieved their goal of hugging the warden's thigh.

As for the NBA, the ratings and revenue of this year's playoffs have set new highs in NBA history!

Trail Blazers VS Mavericks, Spurs VS Timberwolves, Trail Blazers VS Spurs, Knicks VS Celtics, Pistons VS Knicks, Trail Blazers VS Heat... each of these series.

They are all explosive!

In particular, the tiebreaker between the Trail Blazers and the Spurs set a new NBA playoff single-game ratings record with more than 42 million paid views.

The league's commission for NBA playoff games is as high as half, and it's hard points that don't count. The league is making a lot of money this time.

But as the saying goes, what goes up must come down. As soon as the NBA's single-season revenue hit a record high, the league encountered its biggest crisis in more than ten years.

On June 30, 2011, negotiations between NBA officials and the players union failed, and both parties announced a shutdown!

During the last lockout, Michael Jordan was on the front line and did not give in at all for his own interests.

This time, it was Michael Jordan who was at the forefront. He was still seeking his own interests and did not make any concessions. Instead, he kept proposing terms that were unacceptable to the other party, trying to rob the other party of nearly 20% of their vested interests, which the other party could not accept.

Angry and went on strike.

This is the first time Michael Jordan has officially participated in league activities as the owner of a team. At the end of last year, he officially acquired all the shares held by the former black media owner. From 2004 to now, in the past seven years, he has accumulated

Invested US$7.5 billion and accumulated 97% of the team's shares.

This is regarded as the most cost-effective investment in the contemporary basketball era.

Over in New Orleans, the Hornets were in a poor market and had inconsistent attendance. When the league bought the team from George Sheen to exercise the trusteeship clause, it spent $300 million.

Jordan fought on the front line, but unlike 13 years ago when he was praised by fans, this time he became the target of criticism.

However, NBA team owners have different opinions on the lockout.

Nearly half of the teams are unwilling to shut down, including the Spurs, a team that has suffered a lot in previous years.

Because the Spurs have the combination of Kobe + Duncan, their popularity has further skyrocketed, and the game ratings are extremely high. Time Warner, which has a good relationship with Kobe, is even prepared to spend more than 100 million US dollars in three years to buy the rights to broadcast the entire Spurs game.

The Knicks, Trail Blazers, Pistons, Heat, Mavericks...and other teams are not willing to shut down. Some of them are not short of money, and some have profitable lineups.

But the majority of the teams are trying to get more benefits, and the players are unwilling to accept too big concessions...In the end, they have to stop.

Liu Xiu thought that the matter of butterfly wings would become uncertain, but after seeing the current situation, he knew that it was inevitable.

In 1998, the NBA had its first real lockout. It was the players who took the initiative, but the boss didn't want to lock down at that time.

At that time, the teams invested too much money in the mid-1990s, and the owners didn't want to delay. They finally signed a labor agreement that gave players 55% of their income sharing, as well as a contract of up to 7 years, designated veteran regulations, etc.

Player priority terms are given.

This time, the team owners have gained experience and have been making money in recent years. The so-called "losses" they use are cumulative.

Like the Rockets, they even count their income and expenses since the establishment of the team, as long as they spend more, as losses.

Including the construction of arenas, tax expenses, and the team's investment in the team itself...all are considered expenses.

Now that they know that NBA operations will become more and more profitable, they naturally want to adjust the income ratio to be beneficial to them as bosses. An extra 1 percentage point will be the net profit.

Nowadays, players' income is much higher than in 1998, and the bosses feel that the players will be unable to sit still.

Liu Xiu has also participated in internal discussions of the players union many times this year. After the official suspension on July 1, he participated in telephone conferences and video conferences more frequently.

He has always firmly supported the players in safeguarding their own interests, insisting on the retention of the 'maximum salary clause', 'designated veteran clause', 'bird rights' and other clauses, and that the income share cannot be reduced...etc., the terms of the maximum salary

, is to protect the interests of players with high salaries. If the income share cannot be reduced, it is to protect the interests of low-level players.

Although he did not participate in the negotiations, his attitude was one of the solid backing behind the head of the players union.

But when the time came to the end of July, Liu Xiu withdrew from the "negotiation group" of the players union. Fisher, the chairman of the players union, and Chris Pao, the vice chairman of the players union, were confused.

Although there is a strike, their goal is to finalize the new labor agreement in the offseason and do not want the new season to really be suspended.

At this time, Liu Xiu, the strongest player in active service, who could compete with Jordan to become the best superstar in history and the face of basketball, suddenly stopped participating in the negotiations?

Not long after, an even more explosive news made the players union confused.

The team bosses are also confused!

Liu Xiu revealed to Charles Barkley, who was following him for an interview, that he chose to retire!

As soon as this news came out, it shocked the entire sports world!

29 years old, in his prime, just won the 5th championship of his career, the team was fully capable of helping him reach the first place in history, but he suddenly retired!

…

On August 3, 2011, NBA officials confirmed at a regular press conference that Liu Xiu had submitted a retirement application to the league, and the Trail Blazers management had approved the application.

It was also revealed that in late July, because Paul Allen's cancer had recurred, Liu Xiu and the Trail Blazers management jointly applied, and the league agreed to allow Liu Xiu to go to the hospital to meet with Paul Allen...

Vice President Liu Xiuhe just submitted an application to the league in accordance with the rules. After Paul Allen was sent to the intensive care unit, Liu Xiu, who was in Los Angeles, took Anne Hathaway to the hospital. Submitting the application was just a process.

If the league fines him, then if they admit it, they can slap Stern in the face.

However, when the league announced this, people still didn't understand why Liu Xiu retired. Instead, Microsoft took advantage of it. Bill Gates and Ballmer cursed after seeing the news. Microsoft's stock price plummeted that afternoon...

In addition to Ballmer's product control, Bill Gates' business operations, and Paul Allen's communication skills are equally important to Microsoft's development.

Paul Allen has always been responsible for establishing relationships with major partners, upstream and downstream leaders, and political dignitaries.

Both Ballmer and Bill Gates begged Paul Allen to spend money everywhere.

The recurrence of Paul Allen's cancer has dealt a huge blow to Microsoft.

This has nothing to do with the NBA or Liu Xiu.

Liu Xiu suddenly retired and was related to Paul Allen's serious illness, which attracted a lot of media attention.

Liu Xiu happened to be in Los Angeles again, and there were a lot of paparazzi. Soon, some information that was not kept secret was unearthed and released.

Liu Xiu is raising cash, selling some local bars and real estate in Portland, borrowing money from Rahim's fund, financing from Little Flying Squirrel's food company, and getting financial support from Portland's local clothing and flower industries...

After these news were exposed, some people already guessed what Liu Xiu was doing.

For a time, fans' attention focused on Liu Xiu, who has retired, from when the NBA lockout will end.

By mid-August, NBA Vice President Joke said in an interview that for the sake of fairness in the game, players are not allowed to invest in NBA teams in principle.

By the end of August, news broke that Paul Allen planned to disband the Portland Trail Blazers.

As soon as the news came out, a group of people from the NBA headquarters rushed to Los Angeles and wanted to meet with Paul Allen, but Paul Allen refused because he did not want to be disturbed.

On September 1st, another shocking thing happened in the sports world!

NBA officials announced that Liu Xiu had purchased 92% of the shares of the Trail Blazers from Paul Allen for US$500 million, entering the voting stage for team owners.

…

In the summer of 2010, Forbes Sports estimated the market value of NBA teams at $200 million.

On the basis of partial share acquisition and lockout, the price at which Liu Xiu purchased the Trail Blazers is not too surprising.

In addition, the Trail Blazers are a money-burning team. With the NBA's resumption of operations uncertain and the revenue for the new season unclear, it is already a very bold act for someone to spend $500 million to buy a team.

The Trail Blazers' market value is not as high as that of the Bulls, simply because they earn more and spend more.

Since the NBA's labor negotiations have not gone smoothly in the past few years, the Hornets have been on the shelves for several years but have not been sold. The black owner of the Bobcats sold all the remaining shares to Jordan before the end of last season because he was afraid of a lockout.

After that, the value of the team plummeted. When the former owner of the Wizards sold the team, he was purely out of anger, and the price was equivalent to selling at a low price...

But that's not the point. The point is that Liu Xiu retired and originally wanted to buy the Trail Blazers!

Some people have speculated on this possibility before, but they didn't expect it to be true.

As the news was announced, various inside stories were unearthed.

Paul Allen's cancer recurred this time. Although he relied on his money to survive, his body and bones are not as strong as before. He is almost 60 years old, and he is not too depressed about this. He suffered from a serious illness when he was very young.

Therefore, he never married and did not want to leave any descendants. He was afraid that his children would inherit the same disease as him.

He had a legendary life and did many spectacular things, so although death was scary to him, he was not afraid of it.

He had no regrets in his life. He tried everything he wanted to do.

Including dating the actress he had a crush on when he was in elementary school at the age of 30. Even though the actress was over fifty at the time, it was still one of his best memories.

But there's one thing he can't let go of - the legendary Trail Blazers.

He has no descendants, but he has a sister who has been helping him with business matters.

But his sister, unlike him, was not interested in sports at all.

Although the cancer did not kill him and his money-making ability was still very strong, he felt that he did not have the energy to continue managing the team, and he did not feel comfortable giving the team to his sister.

When Liu Xiu and Anne Hathaway visited Paul Allen in the hospital, the latter had an idea and decided to sell the team to Liu Xiu.

So there was a scene where Liu Xiu retired and repeatedly emphasized in front of the media that league regulations did not allow players to invest in the team.

According to the news broke by the New York gossip media, a group of executives headed by Joke clearly opposed Liu Xiu's acquisition of the Trail Blazers.

But Stern was already busy, negotiating with the players union, facing pressure from broadcasters and sponsors, and easing contract disputes between teams and owners of leased arenas...

As a result, due to opposition from Joke and others, Paul Allen planned to disband the team!
To be continued...