584 A Man Who is Not Content With What He Deserves is Like a Snake that Tries to Swallow an Elephan (2/2)
”It's a good thing he is a restrained free player and we have the right to a contract renewal. We can match the offer of any other teams. According to the rules, the other teams can only offer him a four-year contract, while we can offer him a five-year contract,” Dai Li said coldly.
”But if Ronny keeps insisting on the five-year 150 million dollar deal, what do you plan to do? Do you really plan to lose him?” Cassel asked.
”I don't know,” Dai Li said, shaking his head. He then said, ”But I don't feel that he is worth the highest wage for five years! Worst case: we give him a qualification offer, use him for another year, and ask him to scram!”
...
Back when the Clippers accepted Wood's rubbish contract, Ronny was one of the conditions. Back then, Ronny only had a rookie contract. He was only a bench player and his game time was limited, but he still contributed an average of 12.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game.
The Clippers fancied Ronny's potential and planned to make him into the core of the team. They gave him a lot of chances. They let him become a starting forward and developed a lot of plays that centered around him. Ronny's stats continually increased. In the most recent season, he reached an average of 19.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game.
As a forward, 19+5+3 was a decent result. The previous season was the last year of Ronny's rookie contract, so contract renewal became one of the Clippers' main task over the summer.
Before the season ended, the Clippers had already decided to renew Ronny's contract and they offered him a five-year 85 million dollar deal. Although that contract was not the top wage, it was still considered pretty high among for a newbie's contract. After all, Ronny had never been a higher ranking player and wasn't considered an all-star.
Ronny rejected this offer and informed the media that he was fighting for the top wage.
After Dai Li joined the Clippers, they played quite a number of overtimes, which improved the average statistics of several of the Clippers players. They played several more minutes each game, so, naturally, they got higher stats. Ronny's average points per game went above 19.
The Clippers did not want to lose Ronny; they even offered him a five-year contract worth 90 million dollars. This was five million more than the previous offer, and his average annual salary would be over 18 million dollars. However, Ronny was still unsatisfied; he wanted the top wage!
Based on NBA rules, Ronny had already played four full seasons in the NBA, so he fulfilled the requirements of the Larry Bird exception clause. Although he had been traded once, his rookie contract inherited the Larry Bird exception clause. The team that obtained the player after the trade could still execute the Larry Bird exception clause. As such, Ronny could use the clause to obtain a top wage during contract renewal.
The Larry Bird exception clause states that free players could play for a team for over three years. Teams can re-sign their own free agents, at an amount not affected by the salary cap for a maximum of five years. The starting salary for the first year of the contract would be 25% of the current salary under the restriction of the salary cap. Every consecutive year, the salary would rise by 12.5% annually. However, if the player moved to another team by the end of the season, then his salary only rose by 10.5%, and the contract length was limited to four years.
The 12.5% annual salary increase in the Larry Bird exception could only be used on first-round drafted rookies. Ronny was a first-round drafted rookie. His wage in the first year was close to 25 million dollars, and the 12.5% increase in consecutive years would make his five-year salary 150 million dollars.
If he made 90 million dollars over five years, a loss of 60 million, he would lose 12 million dollars per year. Naturally, Ronny did not want to lose that much.
...
In the meeting room, everyone was discussing Ronny's contract renewal.
”150 million over five years is impossible. Ronny isn't worth this much. Although his stats improved to 19+5+3, he is still not an all-star. He's not worth such a high salary.”
”Ronny's stats are based on the fact that there's more time to improve. In truth, his shooting rate hasn't improved that much since he was on the Chicago Bulls. If he weren't the tactical core of the team, he would not have the ball so much. He would never have gotten stats like these.”
”I believe that Ronny can become an all-star player. However, it's difficult to believe he can become a game-changing leader of a team. A five-year deal worth 150 million dollars is really too much.”
Everyone in the meeting room began stating their opinion.
If one were an all-star or had similar stats to an all-star, then a team could offer him a top wage without having to worry about facing a loss. Of course, this did not guarantee teams would earn profits.
A mega superstar, on the other hand, was guaranteed to make a huge profit for a team even if they offered him a the top wage.
Some players had strategic value. They occupied the slot of the top earner but they helped the team make the playoffs. For the team, these sorts of returns were well worth the investment.
Apart from them were mega super rookies. These players were definitely going to become mega superstars in the future. They could very well bring teams the championship or even create a golden era for the team. Teams were naturally going to offer players like these the top earner clause because it was the equivalent of paying for the future in the present,
Ronny wanted to become the top earner with a five-year deal worth 150 million dollars. Clearly, he felt that he was the kind of player who could develop into a mega superstar.
Unfortunately, he was not such a player.
In the meeting room, the management of the Clippers discussed this for at least half a day before finally reaching a consensus. They decided that they would not satisfy Ronny's demands for the 150 million dollar five-year deal.
”At the moment, it looks like we still have the initiative in Ronny's contract renewal. However, I'm worried that the other teams will start causing problems once the playoffs are over. If other teams offer him huge contracts, then it will be up to us to see if we want to match their offers. In that case, we become the passive party. I would prefer to complete contract talks as soon as possible,” Xiao Yunan said and looked at Dai Li.
”A man who is not content with what he deserves is like a snake that tries to swallow an elephant!” Dai Li sighed. He then said, ”I will think of some way to put pressure on Ronny. In the training camp, I will intentionally pay more attention to players in the forward position. I will also follow some free agents. Hopefully,, Ronny will know that we are already starting to look for his replacement. That way, he may be more anxious to renew his contract with us!”