So what about GOAT? I m not negotiating with you...

In the summer of 2025, James discovered that the initiative was not in his own hands for the first time since he entered the league in 2003.

If LeBron considers him to be the GOAT of the basketball circle, he can understand it as the curse of the GOAT. Because of the basketball GOAT, which is recognized by more people, Michael Jordan also had such helpless days in the last period of his career.

In 1999, Jordan retired for the second time. The retreat was vigorous, but the next thing was like Lei Jun, who resigned from Kingsoft Company in 2007. He was rich and no longer had to go to work, but he became empty. What should he do?

According to Jordan's original plan, Chicago Bulls owner Reinsdorf will sell him some shares and invite him to join the team's management. This is the treatment of the Magician. Even if he had to leave the NBA because of HIV infection, the Magician also bought a 4.5% stake from Lakers boss Bass.

But Reinsdorf refused.

Jordan could only target other teams, first trying to acquire the Charlotte Hornets (now the New Orleans Pelicans). At that time, NBA president David Stern jumped out to support it, "We welcome Michael to return to the NBA in another form." Hornets owner George Sinn priced the team at $160 million, and was only willing to sell 50% of Jordan's equity and did not give Jordan control at the commercial level. The two sides had been scrambling for more than a month, and finally Jordan announced the termination of the acquisition. Subsequently, the Vancouver Grizzlies were linked with Jordan again, but they only talked once and broke up. The Grizzlies were also unwilling to give Jordan management rights.

At this time, a team that seemed impossible to have a relationship with Jordan appeared in front of him, the Washington Wizards.

In 1998, the NBA failed to reach an agreement on labor and capital, and the players and the boss were in a big fight. Jordan was a hardliner among the players, and Wizards boss Abel Polyn was a hardliner on the capital side. Both sides were at odds. Jordan spoke without hesitation: "If you can't make money, sell the team."

Polyn was very angry, "Who are you? How dare you ask me to sell the team?"

Lies will not hurt people, the truth is the quick knife, because Polyn is indeed hesitating whether to sell the team at this time. Pauling has two teams in Washington, one is the Washington Capitals in the Hockey League and the other is the Wizards. In 1995, Polling invested a total of US$180 million to build a new stadium, which is now the No. 1 Capital Athletics Hall. The main purpose is to expand his influence in Washington.

It is great to spend money, but it is difficult to make money. Especially the Wizards, which became a completely bad team in the late 1980s. From the 1989 season to the 1997-98 season, they only entered the playoffs once and were eliminated in the first round. In the 1998-99 season, the Wizards averaged 16,099 players, 21st in the league; in the 1999-2000 season, it fell to 14,982 players, and this season, the Wizards lost 40 million US dollars.

Pollin was really forced into a desperate situation. He was almost eighty years old at that time, and he had no way to turn losses into profits. In 1999, Polling sold the Capitals to Ted Leonsis, and at the same time he also sold him 44% of the Wizards' shares for a total price of US$200 million. The two parties made an agreement that if Polling sells the Wizards, Leonsis has the right of first refusal.

Leonsis is the owner of the Wizards now. He is very low-key and was even more unknown to anyone in 1999. In fact, he and Cuban have made a fortune in the same way, and they are almost the same time. They both rely on the Internet to make a lot of money in the late 1990s. Both of them had a net worth of about one billion US dollars at that time. Cuban bought the Mavericks, and he was very flirtatious. He also made a name for himself on TV. Leonsis made a fortune in the United States. He became the boss of the Capitals and did not say a word when he was in the Hockey League meeting.

Like Cuban, Leonsis really likes basketball. He buys the Capitals to prepare for the future purchase of all the shares of the Wizards, but he can't play Cuban's way of interfering in the team. On the one hand, the Pollin is old and keeps the Wizards tight. On the other hand, Leonsis feels that he is unprofessional, no one listens to his words in the basketball circle, and needs "voice" allies.

Jordan and Leonsis hit it off.

Leonsis took the initiative to attack, first approached Jordan's agent Falke, asked Jordan's whereabouts and needs, and then went straight to Chicago to meet Jordan. Jordan wanted to buy shares of the Wizards and participate in team management. Leonsis coveted Jordan's star effect and reputation. After only meeting a few times, the two sides decided to work together to do big things.

But there is still a stumbling block ahead of them. The Wizards boss Polyn, he doesn't agree, so Jordan won't come.

Leonsis is an excellent peacemaker who deals several times between Pauline and Jordan, striving to satisfy everyone's wishes. For Paulin, we will talk about money first and then control, so that the Wizards, Antheld will continue to serve as general manager, and for Jordan, we will be the president of basketball operations. The contract is 5 years, and we only need to report to Paulin.

Finally, Leonsis personally took Jordan to Polyn's villa, realizing the apparent "smile and revenge". In January 2000, the three parties finally finalized the contract details. Jordan bought 10% of the Wizards' equity from Leonsis, including 12% of the Capitals' equity, and after the five-year contract expires, he can obtain 10% of the options shares and will own 20% of the total equity in the future.

But then again, Leonsis was humiliating and Polling endured humiliation just to help Jordan’s evolution from a retired player to a boss. Isn’t his moral level too noble? There are many good people in the world who will help others and sacrifice themselves to save others, but such people will definitely not be NBA bosses..

Leonsis and Polling both believed that if Jordan was a mascot, he would make a lot of money for the Wizards, and Jordan would definitely not be willing to be a mascot. He would go to the court step by step and make more money for the Wizards.

This is indeed the case.

At the end of January 2000, Jordan officially announced his role as the Wizards' small boss and president of basketball operations, and Washington, DC was filled with joy. At that time, US President Clinton rarely went to the Wizards to watch the game at home and chatted and laughed in the private room with Jordan. However, the president of basketball operations cannot help the team win, at least it cannot be immediately effective. In the 2000-01 season, the Wizards won 19 and lost 63. "Lucky" was that they won the No. 1 pick. Then, there was the popular draft. As the Wizards' decision-making man, Jordan chose Kwame Brown with the No. 1 pick.

At this point, Jordan can no longer help but play.

Everyone has path dependence, and letting a team win, players and management are two different ways. The latter needs to be patient and wait, but Jordan doesn't want to waste time. He just wants to win, win immediately, and win all the time.

There is only one familiar path, and he plays on the court himself.

On September 25, 2001, after the "911" incident in the United States, Jordan announced his second comeback, with only $1 million in annual salary, donating all to the families of the victims of the "911" incident.

It is not easy to go from a player to a boss, and it is not easy to go from a boss to a player. According to NBA rules, Jordan must sell all his shares, so his 10% Wizards' shares and 12% of the Capitals' shares were repurchased by Leonsis. At the same time, his 10% of his options shares were left unresolved.

Jordan and Polyn reached two agreements, one was a verbal agreement. When Jordan retired again, he would buy back 10% of his shares; the other was a black-and-white agreement. In order to make up for Jordan's salary losses when playing, he would receive $10 million in compensation after the player's contract expired.

Pollin laid a foreshadowing and was unwilling to sign a repurchase agreement. The reason given was that it violated the labor-management agreement, but in fact, the 10 million US dollar compensation agreement he signed also violated the labor-management agreement.

Jordan overestimated Polling's moral bottom line, but at this time he was confused and ignorant. In the 2001-02 season, Jordan returned and hired his familiar head coach Doug Collins. He played 60 games, averaging 22.9 points, 5.2 assists and 1.4 steals. In these 60 games, the Wizards lost 30 wins and 30 losses, but in the 22 games he missed due to injury, the Wizards lost 7 wins and 15 losses, with a total record of 37 wins and 45 losses, and missed the playoffs.

In September 2002, the Wizards exchanged Hamilton for Jordan's North Carolina alum Starkhouse from the Pistons. Using a future All-Star to be an All-Star in the Year is in line with the trading logic of winning the current situation, but all the right or wrong transactions are only based on the final result.

In the 2002-03 season, Jordan averaged 20.0 points, 3.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He even played 15 substitutes. The Wizards still lost 37 wins and 45 losses, missed the playoffs, and lost all of them in the last five home games, including overtime loss with the Pistons. Hamilton scored 6 points for the Pistons in overtime, Jordan scored a single point in overtime, and Starkhouse only scored 2 points.

Jordan, the great basketball god, fell in Washington, DC. The bosses of the Wizards don't care because they have made a lot of money. Due to Jordan's comeback, the number of live broadcasts of the Wizards across the United States has increased by 7 times, and the home attendance rate has never reached less than 60% of the game. In two seasons, the Wizards went from losing 40 million to making a profit of 30 million US dollars, and one in and out was 70 million US dollars.

Jordan retired for the third time. This time he was not going to return to the court, but wanted to return to the position of president of basketball operations and continue to be the Wizards' small boss.

Suddenly, the American media began to reveal that Jordan's Wizards teammates had enough and were unwilling to work with him again. Jordan has changed from a basketball idol to a team leader and a sinner, bullying every teammate.

Jordan traded Hamilton not because of the contract, but Hamilton quarreled with him, saying that he would never want to be the "Jordan horseman" written by the media anymore;

Jordan threatened his teammate Larry Hughes, if he passed more to Starkhouse instead of Jordan, he would sit on the bench;

Tyron Lu, the current head coach of the Clippers, and the Wizards' substitute back then, would pass the ball to Jordan every time he came on the court, "If he didn't do that, he wouldn't be able to stay in the league."

Finally, they end with a story that no one later admitted.

Jordan held a small meeting without Jordan in the last few games of the Wizards. The players gathered together to discuss whether to prepare a gift for Jordan for retirement. Everyone looked around and no one spoke. Until the end, someone in the corner said, "Forget it."

Everyone felt relieved and did not give gifts.

Jordan saw this news and did not make much excuse. He thought it was a negotiation method of the Wizards, and perhaps he wanted to hand over some of the power, or he wanted to raise the price of the shares.

He lacks the sensitivity of palace fighting.

Leonsis negotiated with him, and the two sides negotiated for 90 minutes. Leonsis politely stated that he might not sell 10% of his shares to Jordan again. Then, Paulin walked into the conference room and they talked for another 5 minutes.

These 5 minutes may be the most humiliating 5 minutes in Jordan's life.

Polling used his 37-degree mouth to say something minus 37 degrees to Jordan.

"We are not fellow men, I will not let you continue to control the team."

"I bought this team and have been the boss for 39 years. I will never hand over this team to you and will not sell it to you again."

"I never thought of being a partner with you."

Then, Polling took out a check of $10 million. "We're cleared up".

Jordan shook off the check, cursed and left with a slanderous face. The New York Times quoted a passage from Jordan's close friend and described this experience as Jordan's biggest setback since he lost the high school entrance examination.

In 2009, Jordan was inducted into the Hall of Fame. In his speech, he mentioned that he lost the high school team and joked about Leroy Smith, who replaced him in the school team, but he did not mention the Wizards or Polling.

It was the painful past that he had gone from God to man and was fooled by another person, and it was a scar deep in his heart.

GOAT is not omnipotent. GOAT in one field may be just an ordinary person in another field.

player Jordan is worth unlimited, he can angrily criticize anyone, Reinsdorf muttered "I will regret it" while signing him a large $30 million contract; when everyone thought Jordan would be tied with the Bulls, he heard a loud "no" after retirement.

Yu Yongkejia, Jordan who can play on the court can make Polyn let go of his hatred, but as long as he does not return to the court, Polyn will recover his memory and will be revenged.

In 2015, Jordan once again cooperated with Leonsis, and they plus Cuban invested $44 million in sports data company Sportradar. In 2021, Sportradar was listed on Nasdaq and Jordan rang the bell. Today, Sportradar's total market value exceeds US$8 billion.

Okay, time and money can always smooth out all the trauma.

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