Juwan Howard, a 6-foot-9-inch, 23-year-old, generous basketball player, had a complete turnaround in his career as a basket-baller in a period of one month. During this time, his worth had increased six fold from $37.5 million to over $200 million. Events leading to this had been initiated by the Bullets signing up the University of Michigan junior in the year 1994 under the leadership of John Nash. At first, Howard had desired a six-year contract with the team for $24 million.
However, the later negotiations at Abe Pollin’s residence, Bullets owner, offered him an 11-year contract for $37.5 million. Nash considered Howard worth much less than this. Under this contract, Howard was to be a free agent immediately after the second season. During this time, player transfers began to take place between the various clubs.
Two months before the start of the negotiations, Nash resigned under pressure leaving Wes Unseld to witness the loss and return of the team’s favorite player. During the two years, Howard’s life was marked by excellent performance in the field and philanthropic activities during his free time. There were no serious controversies except for the accusation of having fathered a four year old child. The claim later turned to be true as presented to the court. In short his career was more than a success (Barry et al., 2007).
The negotiations of the player’s transfer were first held in the Falk Associates Management Enterprises (FAME) headquarters situated at Chevy Chase Pavilion under the legal leadership of David Falk and his partner Curtis Polk. They were kicked off by Unseld’s offer of $78.4 million which Howard considered to below his self-assessed worth at the moment.
On the same day, 11th of July, Mourning’s negotiations were made and in a player ranking, Howard and Mourning took third and fourth place as the best basketball players at the time. Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal took first and second place respectively. Riley, Heat’s representative, promised to make Mourning the highest earning player in his team.
This sparked controversy amongst the different players as it was considered against the Collective Bargain Agreement (CBA) to disclose such information. Riley’s got himself of the hook as his pledge did not contain any monetary figures.
Once Mourning’s negotiations had been finalized, Howard’s case was revisited. Heat’s offered $84 million which they increased to $91 million with $3.5 Million bonuses as the haggling continued. Even after Falk giving the Bullets another chance to make a better offer and retain their best player, their offer was $10 million lower than that of the Heat team.
Finally, the Bullets lost to Riley with Heat’s offer of $95.2 million accompanied by $6 million in bonuses. Howard and Falk did the best to persuade the bullets to make any better offers. However, their efforts seemed to bear no fruits and Howard got ready to begin his career in Miami (Barry et al., 2007).
According to Barry et al (2007), Howard was only beginning to settle for his new life as a Heat’s player when Mourning disclosed Riley’s actions through an interview in which he said his deal was worth more than $100 million. Riley was accused of concealing some information from the NBA and the league during the negotiations.
This would lead to the cancellation of Howard’s contract with Heat and a fresh attempt for the Bullets to reclaim their most valued asset. Heated debates between Pollin and Riley and amongst other officials would arise in the process. Legal actions were taken and arbitrators chosen to bring the Howard case to a close as stated by the NBA at the start of August.
Finally, the arbitrators ruled in favor of the Bullets. In the long run, Howard was back to play for the team but this time he was worth much more. The haggling and the Riley’s mistakes had made him a $205 million man. This he considered the second most important occurrence in his life after his graduation.
Reference
Barry, B., Lewicki, R.J., & Saunders, D.M. (2007). Negotiations: Readings, Exercises, and Cases, 5e. Retrieved from www.ecampus.phoenix.edu.gg