Chapter 263: The Setup
“Welcome aboard as a team shareholder, my friend!”
Chen Yilun froze for a moment when he heard Ranadivé say that.
He knew full well that the contract in his hand was simply Ranadivé’s way of tying him firmly to the team. The shares he was getting were just management shares—useless except for dividends.
But shares were still shares. In an instant, he had gone from an employee to an owner.
There were countless wealthy people in the world who could casually buy a skyscraper, a shopping mall, or even a private island in the middle of the ocean. But only thirty people could own an NBA franchise. That’s true scarcity.
Looking at the black-and-white print on the contract, the corner of Chen Yilun’s mouth twitched slightly.
As the team’s top decision-maker, he was intimately familiar with last year’s revenue. Ranadivé’s gift could only be described as weighty.
If nothing unexpected happened, the team’s finances this year would climb to an even higher level. When that happened, the dividends from his shares would reach figures ordinary people could never dream of.
“What a generous gift,” Chen Yilun finally managed after holding it in for half a minute.
“It’s worth whatever it costs,” Ranadivé said, patting his shoulder with a tone of genuine sincerity. “I know the team’s success and profitability today are because of you. You’ve earned this.”
Chen Yilun took a deep breath and signed his name on the final page of the contract. As the last stroke landed, his identity changed completely.
“Keep working hard—I don’t want you letting me down!”
Ranadivé stood up, straightened his suit, and continued, “I’ve got things to handle back at the company. I may come around even less from now on. Take good care of our team.”
With that, he left the VIP lounge with Eric, not looking back.
But just as he reached the door, Ranadivé suddenly turned and said, “Since you’re a shareholder now, you can attend league owners’ meetings for me. If anything requires a decision, just call me. And stop trying to do everything yourself—hurry up and find someone to take over the General Manager position.”
...
After Ranadivé left, Chen Yilun sat alone in the VIP lounge. He stayed silent for a moment, then lit a cigarette.
This time, he smoked unusually slowly.
There was too much information hidden in what had just happened—and in Ranadivé’s words. He needed a moment alone to piece everything together.
Ranadivé sending him to league meetings didn’t mean much.
Changes to league rules and major decisions were always discussed between Adam Silver and the major team owners beforehand. Only after reaching consensus would they hold formal meetings. Even if Chen Yilun attended, he’d just be going through the motions.
What really mattered was Ranadivé’s last sentence. He wanted Chen to manage the team from a macro perspective as a shareholder, instead of micromanaging every tiny detail like before.
But if that was the case, shouldn’t Ranadivé have assigned one of his own trusted people, or hired a professional manager, to replace him?
Why hand Chen such a major personnel decision?
He kept thinking, lost in thought until his cigarette burned down to the filter.
This didn’t add up. In his original timeline, Ranadivé was famous for being paranoid and constantly meddling in the front office, which was why the Kings’ management kept plunging into chaos.
Even just two years ago when he first arrived in Sacramento, Ranadivé blocked him at every turn, making everything more difficult.
So why the sudden change?
The truth was, much of Chen’s confusion came from thinking like an employee.
For a team owner, the biggest reason to own a franchise is profit. Only after that comes glory and championships.
Ranadivé had blocked many of Chen’s moves earlier mainly because Chen’s ideas were too advanced; he feared they might hurt the team’s profitability.
But reality proved Chen right. Not only did the team make more money each year, they even won a championship.
Owners loved employees like that.
If you can’t lead a team, you burn yourself out trying to do everything alone.
To Ranadivé, Chen Yilun was the perfect high-value team leader. And when an owner has someone like that, he only needs to do two things:
Give him enough benefits so he never thinks about leaving, and give him enough freedom to fully use his talent.
That was why Ranadivé was willing to make such a big concession.
But Chen still hadn’t connected the dots. What he was thinking about was—
“With this shareholder status, I can finally execute my plans much more effectively!”
He paced excitedly around the VIP lounge.
Since summer, he’d wanted to bring in the disbanded Spurs-system members, but his lack of seniority made it hard to act.
Now, it was different. With shareholder status, Chen practically had a get-out-of-jail-free card. Even Ranadivé wouldn’t be able to touch him easily.
Once the news got out, he was sure plenty of his seniors would come straight to him.
After the burst of excitement faded, Chen quickly turned to a new problem.
Who should be the next General Manager?
Recruiting someone from outside was the first option he eliminated.
The Kings’ front office was already bloated. Bringing in an outsider would definitely shake things up.
The only viable candidates were his two deputies: Divac and Blackstone.
In terms of business ability, Blackstone was miles ahead of Divac.
But the issue was that Blackstone had only been with them for less than a year; his position wasn’t stable yet. Besides, he’d only come because the opportunities under Chen were better—his relationship with Chen was purely professional.
Divac, on the other hand, was a long-time team veteran. His capabilities might not be strong, but his loyalty was unquestionable. For Jokić alone, Divac would stand firmly with Chen no matter what.
Faced with this dilemma, Chen was completely torn.
“This is driving me crazy. I don’t want to think about it anymore!”
He rubbed his cheeks hard and pushed himself off the sofa.
“I still have a few days. I’ll deal with it then.”
Author's Note
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