In the 2018 draft, the Eagles with the probing sign have a special love for Trae Young, who is known as "Little Curry", and the lone ranger with the fifth sign is indispensable to Slovenian youngster Doncic.
The Hawks, who had player preference, took the lead in grabbing Doncic and then proposed a player swap deal with the Lone Ranger, which not only returned the delightful Trae Young, but also received some cash and salary space.
The 18-19 season was the NBA debut for Doncic, but for the Lone Ranger star Nowitzki it was his retirement season, two stars trained by the European basketball system, successfully completed the batsman this season, and the Lone Ranger owner Cuban was lucky to find the core of the rebuild.
In the second season of rookie, Doncic, who won all the honors in Europe, began to rule the NBA, averaging 28.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game, leading the team to a record of 43 wins and 32 losses to the seventh place in the West, and played the playoffs as the core of the team at the age of 21.
Since then, the Clippers have become the nightmare team of the Lone Rangers, knocking out this emerging team for two consecutive seasons, and there are obvious shortcomings in the team lineup, which makes Doncic's gorgeous stats of averaging 32 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists per game become a background board.
This season, the Lone Rangers finally sent off the "Glass Man" Porzingis, and the team reached the playoffs with the fourth place in the West, ushering in the challenge of the Utah Jazz in the first round. In this series, because the strength of the two stars is not in a grade, the Lone Ranger finally eliminated the Jazz 4-2, and Doncic reached the division semifinals for the first time in his career, and The Lone Ranger boss Cuban, who sat on the sidelines to watch, danced excitedly.
Let's walk into the "basketball kingdom" of Cuban together:
A history of fortune that is difficult to replicate
In 1958, Cuban was born in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the United States, the Suburban city of Pittsburgh, the United States, the Inheritance of Jewish genes made Cuban from a young age has a strong interest in making money, at the age of six, he understood the principle of buying low and selling high, relying on the difference in the price earned by reselling newspapers to harvest the first bucket of gold in his life, and at the age of 12, he bought the first pair of basketball shoes in his life with the money earned from selling garbage bags.
In order to reduce the pressure on his parents, Kuban began to try multiple jobs in his spare time, such as bar waiters, dance instructors, tutors, party hosts, etc. These childhood experiences made Cuban more aware of communicating with people and being better at tapping into the needs of the public at the same time.
The talented Cuban took only three years to study the entire high school curriculum, directly across the senior year of high school into the University of Pittsburgh to study psychology, after a year of study, Cuban gradually realized that psychology has no future prospects, so he decided to transfer to Indiana University to study economics.
After graduating from college, the adventurous Cuban came to Dallas, Texas, known as the "Cowboy of the West", at a time when the American calculator boomed, and the thinking Kuban quickly sniffed this business opportunity, and then set up a computer consulting company, and in this year's time, the company developed to a net profit of more than $30 million.
In 1990, after selling the computer company he founded, Cuban set his investment in sports broadcasting, and he and his college friend Wagner used five years to create a famous American sports website, realizing the desire of fans to watch games anytime, anywhere.
After four years of development, the sports site created by Cuban is famous throughout the United States, and the unprecedented enthusiasm of fans has made the value behind this site soar, and in 1999, Yahoo decided to spend $5.9 billion to acquire this site, and the founder of Cuban was worth more than half a billion DOLLARs overnight.
After tasting the sweetness, Cuban officially embarked on the road of "snowballing" investment and money, and his investment fields involved the film and television industry, various video productions, live broadcast of matches, sports teams, etc. The $280 million purchase of the Dallas Mavericks (now the Mavericks) in 2000 was Cuban's biggest investment in the early days, and the reason he bought the team was that his personal interests were greater than commercial investments.
How much money has Cuban made since the acquisition of the Lone Ranger?
During the 1980 All-Star Game, the NBA decided to set up a team in Texas in order to better develop in the United States, and Dallas Mavericks founder Donald was able to join the largest basketball league in the United States after paying a $12 million membership fee.
When he first entered the league, due to the care of the league in the draft, the Dallas Mavericks quickly joined the ranks of the strongest team, and in 1988, they met the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.
Fast forward to the 99-00 season, the Dallas Mavericks achieved a record of 40 wins and 42 losses, and finally ranked ninth in the West and missed the playoffs, and the team's poor record led to little profitability, and Donald finally decided to sell the team. Cuban, who had achieved financial freedom and a great love for basketball, immediately spent $280 million to buy the team.
In the 22 years of owning the Lone Ranger, Cuban experienced the taste of the championship in 2011, and the team's market value has been continuously increased as the NBA's commercial value has been continuously tapped, and it has now come to the tenth place in the league. List of the NBA's top 10 teams by market capitalization:
- 1. New York Knicks: $6.08 billion
- 2. Golden State Warriors: $5.97 billion
- 3. Los Angeles Lakers: $5.64 billion
- 4. Brooklyn Nets: $3.62 billion
- 5. Chicago Bulls: $3.54 billion
- 6. Boston Green Army: $3.28 billion
- 7. Los Angeles Clippers: $3.16 billion
- 8. Houston Rockets: $2.75 billion
- 9. Toronto Raptors: $2.71 billion
- 10 Dallas Maverick: $2.68 billion
Looking at the market capitalization alone, the Lone Ranger's market value increased by $2.4 billion from 2000 to 2022, and given that NBA teams are currently in the market, if Cuban sells the team now, the team is expected to sell for $3 billion. Of course, the odds of basketball-obsessed Cuban selling the team are almost zero, but that still doesn't affect the fact that the Lone Ranger has increased the value of Cuban by more than $2 billion over 20 years.
After all, the change in the team's market value is only an imaginary number, about how much money Cuban relies on the Lone Ranger, or it depends on the team's net profit every season, taking the 2011 Lone Ranger championship as the dividing line, before the 11 years of the NBA is in the development period, a team's net profit in a single season average of about $30 million.
In the following 11 years, Xiao Hua took office to continuously optimize the NBA business system, the revenue of each team began to climb, the most fierce development is the Golden State Warriors, last season's team net profit of up to 200 million US dollars, in contrast to the team's record and geographical location is not superior lone ranger, in the last 11 years of the team's single season net profit of about 65 million US dollars.
In summary, Cuban's net income per season after owning the Lone Ranger is about $45.7 million, and a total of about $1.045 billion has been earned in 22 years, excluding shareholder dividend income, and the actual arrival is more than $700 million.
The first gold-laden championship in team history
In the summer of 2010, Lone Ranger head coach Carlisle formed a "sunset red" team.
In the previous ten seasons, the Lone Ranger had bad luck and became a backdrop for the miracles of each team:
In the 2003 Western Conference Finals, he lost 2-4 to the Spurs, and Nowitz only played three games with a genetic injury; in the 2006 Finals, he had a 2-0 opening advantage and was subsequently pulled by the Heat four games in a row; in 2007, he sat on the first throne of the regular season, and the first round of the playoffs was completed by the Warriors in the "Black Eight"; in 2010, it was the familiar "Bull and Horse War", and the Lone Ranger was once again turned into "Black Seven" by the opponent.
In the 10-11 season, the Lone Ranger achieved a record of 57 wins and 25 losses in third place in the West, at this time the league belongs to the era of the Lakers and the Heat, on the one hand, two consecutive championships, on the other hand, the newly formed Big Three, no fans before the start of the playoffs are optimistic about this aging Lone Ranger.
Playoffs first round against the Trail Blazers
Facing the Blazers with "Yellow Mamba" Roy and Aldridge, the first four games between the two sides have come and gone, the most exciting individual play is, Roy, who took off his knee meniscus, slashed 18 points and 5 assists in the late G4 quarter, leading the team to complete a 23-point reversal, turning the big score to 2-2.
Just when fans thought that the spell of the Lone Ranger's first-round exit was about to reappear, "German Chariot" Nowitzki used a personal performance of 58 points in two games, refused to reverse, and led the team to the next round with a total score of 4-2.
Western Conference semifinals against the Lakers
Facing the lakers who have won two consecutive championships, the Lone Ranger started the game poorly, once led by the opponent by 16 points, at this time head coach Carlisle changed the field, focusing on improving the team's offensive and defensive conversion speed, the position battle ball was all handed over to Nowitzki, relying on the alignment advantage to continuously chase points, as Kobe Bryant failed to shoot three points in the last moment of the game, the Lone Ranger struggled to get the opening red.
In the next three series, the Lone Rangers won very easily due to the Lakers' outside shooter group feeling too bad, and finally swept the defending championship 4-0. In this series, the Dallas outside shooter group can be described as a full bloom, with a three-point shooting rate of 46.2%, while the Lakers only have 19.7%, such an inefficient offense is difficult to help the Lakers achieve dynastic feats.
Western Conference Finals against Thunder
After seeing the Lakers eliminated by a three-pointer, then Thunder coach Brooks decided to limit the Lone Ranger shooter group with a bag-and-clip defense, a tactic that gave Nowitzki too many singles opportunities, Ibaka, who has excellent defensive ability on the inside, was completely dominated by Nowitzki's mid-range shooting, coupled with the efficient play of front player Marion, the Lone Ranger easily passed the level 4-1.
Finals against Miami Heat
In 2011, the first season of the Heat's big three was all the way to the finals, when James was 26 years old, Wade was 29 years old, and Bosh was 27 years old, and the three stars were at the peak of their careers and had unlimited vitality on the court.
In the first game of the Finals, the Heat gave the Lone Ranger a powerful move as soon as they came up, and the Big Three scored 65 points to win easily; in the last quarter of the second game, they held a 15-point lead, and just when the fans were already celebrating the victory, the Lone Ranger played a 20-2 attack wave in the last six minutes through high-pressure pressing tactics, completing an epic reversal.
In the next two games, the Heat and the Lone Ranger each won one, the two sides ushered in the Tianwang Mountain showdown, in this crucial game, the Lone Ranger outside shooter group lived up to expectations, the full three-point shot 19 13, this group of veterans with a fiery feel to beat the Heat soldiers to a look of ignorance.
In the sixth game of the Finals, veteran Jason Terry played brave in the first half, scoring 19 points from the outside, and Nowitzki officially took over the game in the second half, and finally led the team to eliminate the Heat by a score of 4-2, winning the first championship in team history. Nowitzki averaged 26 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2 assists per game in the Finals, and was elected FMVP without suspense.
Looking back at the lone ranger's journey to win the championship, they have defeated the Blazers who are good at creating miracles, the Los Angeles Lakers who have impacted the three-game championship, the Thunder whose talent overflowed the screen, and the Heat Big Three who are at their peak, Carlisle led a group of veterans to rely on experience and wisdom to help Cuban win the first championship.
Cuban and Nowitzki
"I will guarantee that you will have a job for the rest of your life, the team you like that position I will give you, your jersey will hang in the most conspicuous place in the stadium, I will build you the biggest and most NB statue in history at the entrance of the stadium, we have experienced the peaks and lows together, I am afraid I will never meet anyone like you again in my life, thank you for your career contribution to the Dallas Mavericks!" 」
At the 2019 Nowitzki retirement ceremony, lone ranger boss Cuban revealed his true feelings, giving his promise to the veteran who was about to leave the game, and he cried like a child after the speech. In order to make Nowitzki happy to leave the game, Cuban invited five of his favorite stars: Pippen, Barkley, Kemp, Bird and Schramf to the scene to bid farewell to the departing superstar and friend.
In the 1998 draft, Nowitzki was selected by the Bucks with the ninth pick in the first round and was sent to the Lone Ranger, and the big man from Germany raised his average to 21.8 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.2 blocks in just three seasons, laying his core position on the team.
Beginning with the 00-01 season, the Lone Ranger reached the playoffs for 15 consecutive seasons, and Nowitzki was worth as much on the team as the Spurs during Duncan. In his 21-year career, he has been named an All-Star a total of 14 times, four times to the Best Team First Team, five times to the Best Team Second Team, three times to the Best Team Three, and won the regular season MVP in the 06-07 season. Compared with these honors received by Nowitzki, his relationship with his boss Cuban is more enviable.
As a superstar in the league, Nowitzki revealed in an interview with reporters more than once: "I have enough money to spend, there is no need to make too much!" So during the 2010-16 season, Nowitzki voluntarily applied for multiple salary cuts, totaling $78 million, and at that time$ 20 million was already a star's top salary, and the love of basketball was not mixed with money, which coincided with Cuban.
Of course, the $4.4 billion Cuban is not stingy for this close friend, in the summer of 2016, the 38-year-old Nowitzki retired to the bench, at this time Cuban still offered him a two-year 40 million renewal contract, and then saw that the team still has salary space, and unilaterally added $10 million to him, so Nowitzki received the highest annual salary of his career at the age of retirement, $25 million.
In an interview with the media, Cuban joked about his own operation:
In the summer of 2017, Nowitzki in order to make room for the team to recruit stars to join, he announced that he jumped out of the contract, Cuban at this time wanted to renew the contract for tens of millions of dollars, but the latter refused, under the joint negotiation of the two sides, the driver and the lone ranger signed a two-year 10 million contract.
Write at the end:
Between 1998 and 2019, Nowitzki devoted all his loyalty and effort to the city. Similarly, Cuban's interest-oriented NBA has done everything in its power to protect drivers' most sincere love of basketball, and if Wade and Riley have made us aware of the NBA's money-first nature, Cuban and Nowitzki are the only traces of warmth left in the real world.