Bishop of the Devil

In the Sterling incident, except for Sterling's rather miserable ending, everyone else was generally satisfied with the ending, and it was a happy situation for everyone.

Magic and other consortiums preparing to acquire the Clippers can also accept this result. They did not know that Ballmer participated in this competition. Now that they have so much buffer time, they can also raise more funds... …

At present, Johnson and the consortium behind him only have about 800 million U.S. dollars in funds. Originally, they were quite confident. After all, ESPN announced that the Clippers' market value is only more than 600 million U.S. dollars, with a premium of more than 100 million U.S. dollars. They are expected to win. The Clippers should be fine.

But now because of Ballmer's involvement, they obviously have no confidence...

…

After returning to Charlotte, Richard led the team on the next road trip.

The first away game is against the Thunder. The Thunder lineup is already pretty good right now. The team has Westbrook, Love and Ibaka, but it lacks an outside offensive point. Otherwise, there is nothing wrong with this lineup. , at least reaching the playoffs is no problem at all.

McClendon treated Richard to a meal the night before the game.

A lot of people came to this meal. In addition to McClendon, the consortium he belonged to also came.

The shares of the Thunder team are quite complicated. Generally, other teams have either a single owner or two or three owners, but the Thunder has as many as eight owners!

McClendon is just one of the bosses…

The PBC consortium has absolute control over the Thunder, and these eight bosses are all members of the PBC consortium.

In the minds of fans, the Thunder boss seems to be a poor and stingy guy...

In fact, this is not the case. In terms of financial resources, the financial resources of the PBC consortium are no less than those of Ballmer or Paul Allen. The richest among their eight bosses is worth more than 10 billion U.S. dollars.

And the reason why there will be stinginess in later generations is definitely because there are too many people and everyone has different opinions, so Harden was let go.

Right now, Richard is having dinner with the eight bosses of the PBC consortium.

"Li, you are really young and promising. When I was your age, I seemed to be worth tens of millions of dollars, far from being able to compare with you." Clay Bennett, chairman of the PBC consortium, looked at Richard and sighed. Said endlessly.

Just by looking at the name, you can tell that this guy is no ordinary person. The combination of Tang Shen and the number one parallel importer is quite extraordinary...

However, although Bennett is the chairman of the consortium, his net worth is actually the least among the eight members. Currently, he is only worth about two to three billion US dollars, which is not as rich as Golden Dragon...

"Thank you, Clay. I'm in my forties, so I'm not young. You know, when Paul was my age, he was already worth tens of billions." Richard said with a smile.

Several people laughed. They were really incomparable to Paul Allen, a lucky man favored by God.

It was precisely because Bennett's hometown was in Oklahoma that the SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma and changed their name to the Thunder.

Of course, the relocation was not caused by Bennett, but by McClendon.

The league was also very reluctant to let the Sonics move because Seattle's economy is quite developed, full of high-tech industries, and the residents are quite wealthy and are willing to pay to watch games.

And Oklahoma, nicknamed Goose Village, the difference can be seen from the name...

This is also the reason why Stern punished McClendon in the first place. He was really angry with the PBC consortium.

If you don’t want a good big ball market, you have to move to Goose Village. Isn’t this a mental illness...

…

"Everyone, I'm afraid it won't be a simple meal tonight, right?" Richard asked with a smile.

Although Richard is considered a top rich man now, his reputation is not big enough to warrant the dispatch of all the PBC consortium...

"Yes, we have a cooperation that we want to talk to you about. To be precise, George wants to have a good chat with you." McClendon said with a smile.

Richard looked at the sixty-year-old man called George, nodded and smiled.

George Caesar is the richest member of the PBC consortium, with a net worth of more than tens of billions of dollars.

"Lee, we know you have the idea of ​​acquiring the Clippers."

"We also admire your personal financial strength, but now that Ballmer is involved, I think this will put a lot of pressure on you. How about letting me share some of the pressure with you?" George Caesar said with a smile. .

It was quite euphemistic, but Richard generally understood the purpose of tonight's meal.

George Caesar is preparing to inject capital into himself and share the Clippers' shares with himself.

Richard chuckled in his heart, how could he agree to this? If he really agreed, then there would be no point in trying so hard to obtain the Clippers.

He wants to control 100% of the Clippers and will never accept any other shareholders. Even if Paul Allen wants to come in and interfere, Richard will definitely not agree...

Of course, Paul Allen definitely has no interest in getting involved. The Trail Blazers have done a good job, and he will only worry about the Clippers when he is full.

"Thank you Mr. George for your kindness, but I don't feel too much pressure." Richard continued with a smile on his lips.

"Don't forget, I have Paul Allen next to me. To be honest, I may be able to get a loan of less than one billion US dollars with just one phone call."

"Including my personal liquidity, I think I can still come up with 2 billion US dollars. If Ballmer is really willing to spend 2 billion US dollars on the Clippers, then I will not go into this muddy water. …”

Several members of the consortium sitting around Richard were immediately stunned...

Is Richard crazy? Directly prepared 2 billion US dollars? !

This is 2 billion US dollars in cash. Among the members of the PBC consortium here, except for George Caesar, the total net worth of others does not reach 2 billion US dollars!

Even if George Caesar, who is worth more than 10 billion, is asked to come up with 2 billion US dollars in cash, he will never be able to come up with it.

Originally, George Caesar had prepared 500 million U.S. dollars and was considering giving up the Thunder and cooperating with Richard to build the Clippers. Even based on the premium, he felt that the Clippers could definitely win the 1 billion U.S. dollars.

The US$500 million of his own will allow him to occupy 50% of the Clippers, just like Jordan...

Jordan has made a lot of money over the years, and George Caesar feels that his future income will never be lower than Jordan's.

The reason is simple. The Clippers' potential is too great.

When it comes to the market value and profitability of NBA teams, the Clippers are not ranked high. They are slightly above average and it is difficult to enter the top ten.

But when it comes to the team's potential, if the Clippers are ranked second, no one would dare to be ranked first.

Sitting in the Los Angeles market, as long as the Clippers can cultivate a large group of die-hard fans, the Clippers may become another Los Angeles Lakers in the future.

If ten years doesn't work, then twenty years. Anyway, as long as Richard is here, sooner or later the Clippers will be able to reach the level of the Lakers.

Unless New York also has a second team one day, the team with the greatest potential is the Clippers.

…

But now George Caesar felt that he had made a wrong calculation, or that he had underestimated Richard.

I really can’t afford to offend someone who wants to spend 2 billion US dollars with just one mouthful...

Don't tell me, what Richard just said was definitely not bragging.

His psychological limit for acquiring the Clippers this time is 2 billion U.S. dollars. Unless Ballmer can come up with a price of more than 2 billion U.S. dollars, Richard is bound to win the Clippers.

The reason is simple. It won't take long. After the NBA signed that huge broadcast contract, the market value of all teams will rise sharply.

The Clippers' market value in 2019 was US$2.2 billion. It seems that Ballmer didn't make much from his US$2 billion acquisition...

But think about it carefully. When Ballmer acquired the Clippers, the market value of the Clippers was only 600 million US dollars. In just five years, it increased by 1.6 billion. This is how terrifying.

And the most important thing is that the Clippers did not have any impressive record in 2019, and if Richard were to acquire them, he would be confident that the Clippers would become the second Warriors.

You must know that the Warriors' market value in 2019 is US$3.5 billion. Why they can reach such a terrifying market value is not because the team's record is so good.

In terms of foundation, the Warriors' foundation is no better than that of the Clippers. In terms of the ball market, besides New York, whose ball market is better than Los Angeles?

Therefore, even if Richard pays a premium of US$2 billion to acquire the Clippers, in a few years, as long as he can lead the team to a strong record, he will still be able to make a profit.

Maybe even make a net profit of two billion US dollars!

Of course, making money has never been Richard's main goal. His biggest goal is to build a wealthy team that is completely his own.

…

"Well, Lee, if you are really young and promising, then we wish you smooth sailing in acquiring the Clippers." George Kaiser did not continue to pester. He knew very well that he would have no chance to get involved with the Clippers.

The meal was very lively, and since business cannot be done without mercy, businessmen of PBC Consortium's level did not ignore this topic shamelessly.

…

The next night, the game officially started.

Richard is still quite interested in Westbrook. In fact, Westbrook, who has just entered the league, actually has a pretty good reputation.

Unexpectedly, since he led the team alone, his reputation has been getting worse year by year. When he got a triple-double in the season for the first time, the fans were very excited. After all, even if such data is achieved, it is actually quite difficult...

A triple-double in the second season has little impact.

By the time he got his third triple-double, Westbrook had almost reached the point where everyone hated him...

It’s really hard to love a player who has missed the first round of the playoffs for three consecutive seasons and whose shooting percentage is less than 40% while shooting crazy shots.

Later, Kobe Bryant once said that the player in the league who looked most like him was Westbrook, but after Westbrook's character collapsed, he never said this again.

What a bastard Kobe...