One Year Left to Play-Chapter 121 - 39: When in Doubt, Ask Dad
Of course, during that period, player salaries were skyrocketing, so agents of players who had just signed new contracts weren’t really affected.
But for agents with players still on salaries of several hundred thousand US Dollars a year, the 4% commission seemed dispensable, and perhaps after a lawsuit, the agency might even have to pay money themselves. Players loved getting into trouble then, and old agent contracts stipulated that agencies must help players with lawsuits...
Among them, David Falcao’s agency was the hardest hit; they once had more than half of the league’s players, which was mostly low-salary players.
More importantly, with the substantial rise in player salaries, the league increased its control over agents. The situation quickly reversed from a previously weak player-strong agent dynamic, as the power used by agencies naturally made many players dissatisfied.
Gradually, David Falcao’s agency declined. With the high turnover of NBA players, as of now, David Falcao’s agency only has over 30 players under contract.
The critical point is their years-long struggle with the NBA ended in a crushing defeat!
The cunning of that Jewish old man in New York was something David Falcao had witnessed firsthand.
years!
To bring down this giant in the agent world, Stern spent 10 years.
Throughout that period, he even cooperated with him, using Jordan to promote the NBA worldwide.
Finally, at the pivotal moment after Jordan’s retirement, he brought down this agent who manipulated players to control the league in one fell swoop.
That skill, he had to admire.
However, David Falcao wasn’t too discouraged by this; losing to someone like David Stern didn’t feel shameful to him.
After all, during the salary and endorsement fee boom, he had already filled his pockets from those few players.
Currently, David Falcao had a real headache: one of his capable and eloquent agents, who had signed several talented new stars, Charles Banks, came to him to complain again.
Lately, Charles Banks came to him complaining about Zhang Hao, one of this year’s two high-school lottery picks, because Zhang Hao refused his interview request.
That rejection statement, David Falk found very intriguing.
Banks are all liars... 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮
David Falk also thought Charles Banks loved to boast, always making grand promises to players, speaking nicely but with a minimal chance of fulfillment, almost indistinguishable from con artists.
But this wasn’t the point; David Falk knew why Charles Banks came to complain—to make him step down as the head of the agency. Because with Glenn Robinson’s players under his hand, the salary of Banks’ players was the highest among all agents in the company, even higher than the boss himself, since Jordan was still drawing a three-million-plus US Dollar salary and didn’t share endorsement bonuses with him. Garnett, another player under Banks, was convinced to give away a million out of his four-million-a-year endorsement fee to Banks.
Compared to him, who had just been taken down by David Stern, Banks was soaring high within the company.
David Falk had another option, which was to let Banks go independent, in which case Banks wouldn’t have to share the earnings with the company.
Neither choice was something David Falk would opt for.
Just drag it out for now...
While Banks was cursing Zhang Hao, his phone rang. After answering the call, he was overjoyed and said, "That Chinese high schooler has taken down the information for hiring an agent—seems he doesn’t want an agent anymore. When he renews his contract, whichever team shows interest, we’ll just bring the player over..."
David Falcao felt speechless hearing Banks say this. This trick worked ten years ago, but not now. Player connections are stronger than ever and might surpass player-agent relationships. Times have long changed.
But it didn’t really affect him, so he didn’t care.
After sending off the chattering Banks, David Falcao remembered seeing Jordan’s training a few days back... Next summer could be interesting!
For this, he had already prepared to contact that deep-pocketed man in New York. For such matters, one must hire someone to step in. He knows they hate him, so he avoids appearing on those teams’ management radars when major events occur—otherwise, it’s almost certain to end badly.
Several days passed.
David Falcao was casually talking with a Players’ Union official, who shared with him that the league had chosen to make concessions and would not touch the current salary terms for now. The Players’ Union was ready to make concessions and fixed rookie contract salaries, with the condition that rookie contract terms must be restricted. It wouldn’t take long for the NBA to restore order and resume operations...
While chatting, the Players’ Union official unexpectedly mentioned Zhang Hao, which surprised David Falcao.
"David, today’s high schoolers are something else. Garnett from your company signed a three-year, 12-million endorsement deal. That Chinese high schooler plans to partner with Starbucks to set up a subsidiary in China..."
"What? Sean, what did you say?"
...
...
Suddenly, the agent market for Zhang Hao exploded with activity.
