空洞的高尚

Michael+Baumann

BY TAKING BIG PAY CUTS， KEVIN DURANT AND DIRK NOWITZKI ARENT MAKING ROOM FOR THEIR TEAMMATES. THEYRE JUST SAVING MONEY FOR THEIR EMPLOYERS.

接受大幅降薪，凱文·杜蘭特和德克·諾維茨基并沒(méi)有給隊(duì)友騰出空間。他們只是在為自己的雇主省錢罷了。

On Thursday， Dirk Nowitzki， the NBAs active leader in games and minutes played， points， free throws， and defensive rebounds， re-signed with the Dallas Mavericks for $10 million over two years. Compared to Nowitzkis $25 million team option for 2017–18， which Dallas declined， its a huge haircut for the future Hall of Famer， but Nowitzki is 39 years old and coming off a season in which he played fewer minutes per game （and fewer games overall）， scored fewer points per game， and attempted fewer shots per game than he had in any season since his rookie year. Nowitzki is certainly on the decline， and far from his MVP form of a decade ago.

周四，在出場(chǎng)次數(shù)，上場(chǎng)時(shí)間，得分，罰球和防守籃板排名現(xiàn)役第一的德克·諾維茨基，以兩年1000萬(wàn)美元的價(jià)格與達(dá)拉斯小牛完成續(xù)約。諾維茨基原本2017-18賽季的合同金額為2500萬(wàn)美元，擁有球隊(duì)選項(xiàng)的小牛選擇了拒絕，對(duì)于這個(gè)未來(lái)的名人堂成員來(lái)說(shuō)，新合同屬于巨幅降薪。但諾維茨基已經(jīng)39歲了，前一個(gè)賽季他的場(chǎng)均上場(chǎng)時(shí)間（總出場(chǎng)次數(shù)），場(chǎng)均得分，和場(chǎng)均出手次數(shù)均少于新秀賽季。諾維茨基當(dāng)然處于下滑階段，狀態(tài)也遠(yuǎn)不及十年前的MVP階段。

Still， Nowitzki will make less over his two-year deal than free-agent bench guy Amir Johnson will make with the Sixers next season alone. Hell make $8 million less per year than Joe Ingles （career high 7.1 PPG in his age-29 season last year）， less than half as much as Zach Randolph， whos almost as old as Nowitzki， and only a half-million per year more than Justin — not Jrue， Justin — Holiday. But this deal keeps him with the only NBA franchise hes ever played for， and Nowitzki has already made over a quarter of a billion dollars in salary over his career. While some might question the wisdom of taking an 80 percent pay cut to keep living in Texas and playing for a lottery-bound club， hes a grown-up and can do what he likes.

即便如此，諾維茨基兩年合同掙到的錢，還不如自由球員阿米爾·約翰遜與76人下賽季的一年合同多。他年均比喬·英格爾斯（29歲的他上賽季場(chǎng)均只有7. 1分）少拿800萬(wàn)美元，他的年薪幾乎只有和他差不多大的扎克·蘭多夫的一半，也只比賈斯汀——不是朱，是賈斯汀·霍勒迪多50萬(wàn)美元。不過(guò)這份合同把他留在了生涯唯一效力過(guò)的NBA球隊(duì)，這些年里，諾維茨基已經(jīng)掙到了超過(guò)2.5億美元。盡管有些人質(zhì)疑接受80%降薪，繼續(xù)生活在德州，為一支注定樂(lè)透的球隊(duì)打球是否明智，但諾維茨基畢竟是成年人，他有權(quán)做自己想做的事。

Like Golden States Kevin Durant， whos fresh off a $10 million pay cut of his own， Nowitzki can do whatever he likes， but that doesnt make it admirable.

和勇士隊(duì)剛剛接受了1000萬(wàn)美元降薪的凱文·杜蘭特一樣，諾維茨基想做什么都可以，但這并不意味著他的行為值得贊賞。

The putative reason Durant took less money to stay with the Warriors was so that money could be redistributed to his teammates and strengthen the teams roster. To Golden States credit， thats happened： Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala got pay bumps， and Nick Young， the NBAs god of folly， came up the coast from the Lakers at a cost of $5.2 million. The rules that govern NBA salaries and transactions are Byzantine to say the least — just look at all the shifting pieces behind Chris Pauls move to the Rockets from the Clippers — but in short， Durants pay cut didnt make the Livingston and Iguodala extensions possible， it made them cheaper， both in terms of the Warriors overall salary outlay and in terms of their luxury tax bill. Warriors ownership， led by venture capitalist Joe Lacob， could have paid Durant， Livingston， and Iguodala and just gone deeper into the luxury tax， but they chose not to. （Maybe Young doesnt come over as the teams midlevel exception if Durant takes the max， but I dont think Swaggy P is going to be what puts the Warriors over the top in 2017–18.）endprint

杜蘭特少拿錢留在勇士公認(rèn)的原因，就是可以把錢分給隊(duì)友，強(qiáng)化球隊(duì)的陣容。勇士值得贊賞的是，他們讓這種假設(shè)成為了現(xiàn)實(shí)：肖恩·利文斯頓和安德烈·伊戈達(dá)拉的薪水都出現(xiàn)了上漲，還有尼克·楊這個(gè)NBA的荒唐之神，離開(kāi)湖人轉(zhuǎn)投灣區(qū)的他拿到了520萬(wàn)美元薪水。NBA的薪水和交易規(guī)則，往小了說(shuō)也是拜占庭式的——看看克里斯·保羅從快船交易到火箭時(shí)動(dòng)用了多少籌碼就知道了——但簡(jiǎn)而言之，杜蘭特降薪并沒(méi)有讓利文斯頓和伊戈達(dá)拉的續(xù)約具有可能性，無(wú)論從勇士的整體薪資還是奢侈稅角度看，杜蘭特只是讓他們兩人變得更廉價(jià)而已。以風(fēng)投資本家喬·拉科布為首的勇士老板們本可以付給杜蘭特，利文斯頓和伊戈達(dá)拉工資，交更多的奢侈稅，但他們卻沒(méi)有選擇這么做。（假如杜蘭特選擇頂薪，楊可能不會(huì)接受球隊(duì)的中產(chǎn)特例，但我不覺(jué)得是Swaggy P的合同讓勇士2017-18的總薪金突破天際）。

Meanwhile， the Mavericks， who finished 11th in the Western Conference last season， are almost certainly not going to make the playoffs this season， and have thus far failed to attract any notable free agents. That shouldnt be Nowitzkis problem， anyway； his job is to use his arsenal of YMCA dad moves to score points， not assemble a competitive roster.

與此同時(shí)，上賽季排名西部第11的小牛本賽季幾乎沒(méi)有打進(jìn)季后賽的希望，他們因此未能吸引任何有名氣的自由球員。不管怎么說(shuō)，這不該是諾維茨基的問(wèn)題；他的任務(wù)是利用老大爺打法不斷得分，而不是組建一個(gè)有競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力的陣容。

But as The Ringers Danny Chau wrote when Durant first signed，“Durants decision makes it painfully clear that it will always be the players who have to make sacrifices， never the owners.”

可正如The Ringer的丹尼·周在杜蘭特簽約時(shí)所寫，“杜蘭特的決定讓人痛苦地明白，需要做出‘犧牲的永遠(yuǎn)是球員，永遠(yuǎn)不是老板”。

On the grand scale of global economic injustice， Durant making $25 million next year and not $34.5 million isnt even a drop in the bucket. Since time immemorial， people have complained about how much athletes get paid， and to be totally frank， those complaints arent without merit. Durant is a godlike basketball figure， a former league MVP， last years Finals MVP， a two-time Olympic gold medalist， a four-time scoring champion， and an eight-time All-Star. Countless millions of people， including me， love watching him play basketball， and while theres great value in entertaining the public， hes not healing the sick， teaching people to read， or performing any function thats strictly essential to society as we know it. On some level， Charlotte Observer columnist Scott Fowlers much-pilloried take about Steph Curry making the equivalent of 1，000 schoolteachers salaries is spoton. We probably would be better off if we took $40 million from either Lacob or Curry and spent it on teachers.

與更廣大的全球經(jīng)濟(jì)不公相比，杜蘭特明年只拿2500萬(wàn)而非3450萬(wàn)確實(shí)不值一提。一直以來(lái)，人們總是抱怨運(yùn)動(dòng)員的收入，說(shuō)實(shí)話，這些抱怨并非毫無(wú)根據(jù)。杜蘭特是個(gè)神奇球員，他拿過(guò)MVP，是上賽季的FMVP，兩奪奧運(yùn)金牌，四次拿下得分王，八次入選全明星。包括我在內(nèi)的數(shù)以百萬(wàn)計(jì)的人喜歡看他打球，盡管娛樂(lè)大眾具有重要價(jià)值，但他沒(méi)有治愈病患，沒(méi)有教人讀書，也沒(méi)有做出社會(huì)并不可缺的貢獻(xiàn)。某種程度上說(shuō)，《夏洛特觀察家》專欄作家斯科特·富勒針對(duì)斯蒂芬·庫(kù)里的收入等于1000名教師的廣受批評(píng)的評(píng)價(jià)，其實(shí)相當(dāng)?shù)轿弧Ｒ苍S從拉科布或庫(kù)里那里拿走4000萬(wàn)，分給教師們是更好的做法。

Of course， thats not the choice Durant or Nowitzki made. In an egalitarian utopia， sports teams would be public utilities， like a parks department or a library system， provided by a city for the emotional and intellectual well-being of its citizens. Sports teams are essentially civic institutions now anyway， and average people take great pride in their success， to the point where we root for the institution， sometimes — specifically when it comes to salary negotiations — against the individual athletes who make it successful.endprint

當(dāng)然，那不是杜蘭特或諾維茨基做出的選擇。在一個(gè)絕對(duì)平等的烏托邦里，運(yùn)動(dòng)隊(duì)也會(huì)是公共事業(yè)，就像公園部門或圖書館系統(tǒng)一樣，由城市提供，滿足市民的情緒與智慧需求。不論怎樣，體育球隊(duì)如今已經(jīng)成為關(guān)鍵的公共設(shè)施，普通人從它們的成功中感受到了巨大驕傲。我們支持這樣的公共設(shè)施，有時(shí)候——特別是薪水談判時(shí)——我們會(huì)站在讓球隊(duì)取得成功的個(gè)體的對(duì)立面。

Sports owners have co-opted that civic pride and are squeezing not only their workers but us fans. Civic pride causes us to support "Dallas" or"Golden State" or "New York，" but sports owners， who will charge you $11 for beer because they can， have insinuated themselves into that relationship， to their great profit.

球隊(duì)的老板們共同享受著那樣的成功，他們不止壓榨自己的員工，還壓榨我們這些球迷。城市共有的驕傲導(dǎo)致我們支持“達(dá)拉斯”，“金州”或者“紐約”，可只要想就能一杯啤酒收11美元的老板們卻慢慢讓這種關(guān)系為他們帶去了巨額利潤(rùn)。

Make no mistake， the Warriors arent a public utility， but a for-profit business， so their labor savings here arent being passed on to the consumer. The average Warriors ticket cost 69 percent more in 2015–16 than it did the year before. Now that Durants taking a pay cut， Lacobs organization is raising the cost of season tickets 16.9 percent in 2017–18. As little as $10 million means to Durant， or $20 million to Nowitzki， it means even less to Lacob and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

不要搞錯(cuò)了，勇士不是公共事業(yè)，而是一個(gè)追逐利潤(rùn)的企業(yè)，所以他們?cè)趧谫Y上節(jié)省的錢并不會(huì)傳導(dǎo)給消費(fèi)者。勇士在2015-16賽季的平均票價(jià)比前一賽季上漲了69%。杜蘭特降薪了，拉科布的球隊(duì)卻把2017-18賽季的季票價(jià)格提高了16.9%。盡管1000萬(wàn)美元對(duì)杜蘭特和2000萬(wàn)對(duì)諾維茨基來(lái)說(shuō)都是小意思，但這些錢對(duì)拉科布和小牛老板馬克·庫(kù)班來(lái)說(shuō)更是九牛一毛。

So we， the fans， the citizens who buy tickets and jerseys and overpriced hot dogs and pay the taxes that fund arena construction， arent getting that money back，. Its either going to Durant and Nowitzki， who are what make basketball compelling， or the owners， whose function in society is to turn millions of dollars into billions of dollars.

所以我們這些球迷，我們這些購(gòu)買球票，球衣，花大價(jià)錢買熱狗，交稅支持場(chǎng)館建設(shè)的市民，是不會(huì)拿回那些錢的。這些錢要么進(jìn)了杜蘭特和諾維茨基這些能讓籃球變得更有吸引力的人的腰包，要么進(jìn)了老板口袋，他們?cè)谏鐣?huì)中的作用，不過(guò)是把百萬(wàn)美元變成億萬(wàn)美元。

Without players， the owners would have no product at all. Without owners， players would have to hire their own administrative and marketing arms， which probably wouldnt cost anywhere near the 50 percent of basketball-related revenue the owners get. I like watching Durant and Nowitzki play basketball， but I dont know what function owners serve that couldnt be filled more cheaply and effectively by hired-gun administrators in a league owned by the players. Meanwhile， Lacob is a venture capitalist. Cuban is a relic of the dot-com bubble turned reality television heel. For as much as Durant and Nowitzki arent healing the sick， though， Lacob and Cuban dont even make you smile — unless youre a fan of Shark Tank or throwing money at a 3-D orthodontics company.endprint

沒(méi)有球員，老板們便拿不出任何產(chǎn)品。沒(méi)有老板，球員可以聘用管理人員和營(yíng)銷團(tuán)隊(duì)，這些成本根本不可能達(dá)到老板們得到的籃球相關(guān)收入的一半。我喜歡看杜蘭特和諾維茨基打球，但我不覺(jué)得老板的職能不能被球員擁有的聯(lián)盟所聘用的管理人員取代，這些人還會(huì)便宜，工作效率更高。拉科布是風(fēng)投資本家，庫(kù)班則是互聯(lián)網(wǎng)時(shí)代的產(chǎn)物，現(xiàn)在轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)殡娨暶餍恰＞退愣盘m特和諾維茨基無(wú)法治愈傷病，可拉科布和庫(kù)班甚至無(wú)法為你帶來(lái)笑容——除非你是《創(chuàng)智贏家》的粉絲，或者投資了3D正牙公司。

Thats more than you could say for Clippers owner Steve Ballmer， who as the former CEO of Microsoft was complicit in making Internet Explorer your default web browser， even though it doesnt work that well. Some NBA owners， like the Lakers Jeanie Buss and the Knicks James Dolan， did nothing more to deserve their billion-dollar piece of the basketball pie than being born into the right family.

關(guān)于快船老板史蒂夫·鮑默，能說(shuō)的就更多了，他是微軟前CEO，是他把IE變成了你的默認(rèn)瀏覽器。還有一些NBA老板，比如湖人的珍妮·巴斯和尼克斯的詹姆斯·多蘭，除了生在了好家庭，他們沒(méi)做出什么配得上分享籃球這個(gè)數(shù)十億美元大蛋糕的事。

After all， Durant and Nowitzki could have demanded to be paid what theyre worth. Nowitzki in particular， as the immensely popular face of a franchise thats treading water， is the rare athlete who could win the PR battle in a contract dispute against the abrasive Cuban.

不管怎么說(shuō)，杜蘭特和諾維茨基本可以要求符合自己身份的薪水。尤其是諾維茨基，作為“劃水”球隊(duì)里廣受愛(ài)戴的球員，他是少數(shù)幾個(gè)能在與令人討厭的庫(kù)班的合同糾紛中贏得公關(guān)大戰(zhàn)的運(yùn)動(dòng)員之一。

In todays American labor culture， demanding to be paid the value of your labor is frequently painted as "not being a team player，" which is a cardinal sin for a team sport athlete. Athletes are trained not only to play a game， but to be obedient and to respect people in power just because theyre powerful， and regardless of whether theyre shown the same respect in return. When Durant or Nowitzki — themselves both worth hundreds of millions of dollars — gets mesmerized by that power， its not a huge deal. But when the lessons of those relationships get translated to ordinary worker-employer relationships， it is. When was the last time your boss used the phrase "be a team player" and gave you good news？ Why should you sacrifice for your employer？

Suffice it to say， Id rather the odd $10 million go to the players， and not the owners. And unless youre in the business of ripping off housewives or saddling college kids with lifelong debt or kicking people out of their homes， so should you.

在如今美國(guó)的勞工文化中，要求得到與勞動(dòng)價(jià)值相當(dāng)?shù)膱?bào)酬，通常會(huì)被定義成“不是團(tuán)隊(duì)球員”，對(duì)于一個(gè)團(tuán)體項(xiàng)目的運(yùn)動(dòng)員來(lái)說(shuō)，這算得上罪大惡極了。運(yùn)動(dòng)員不僅接受比賽訓(xùn)練，他們還要學(xué)會(huì)順從和尊重有權(quán)力的人，僅僅因?yàn)閷?duì)方有權(quán)力，而不論對(duì)方是否回報(bào)了同等的尊重。當(dāng)杜蘭特和諾維茨基——他們都價(jià)值數(shù)億美元——被那樣的權(quán)力迷惑，這并不是什么大問(wèn)題?？墒钱?dāng)這些關(guān)系轉(zhuǎn)移到日常工作/雇傭關(guān)系時(shí)，那就是問(wèn)題了。上一次你的老板用“做一個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)選手”做借口，告訴你所謂好消息，是什么時(shí)候呢？你為什么要為雇主做出犧牲？

這么說(shuō)吧，我寧愿球員得到那1000萬(wàn)，也不愿意讓錢進(jìn)老板的腰包。除非你的職業(yè)是搶劫家庭主婦，讓大學(xué)生背上一輩子的債務(wù)，或者把其他人趕出家門，你也應(yīng)該支持我。endprint