The All-Star Weekend wrapped up flawlessly.
ESPN's Bobby Marks was quick to spill the tea on the labor negotiations, dropping an article titled "Where Did the Players Win?" to break down the differences between the old and new CBA for fans.
First up, the big one: Basketball Related Income, or BRI, splits.
Under the old CBA, players got a hefty 57% of BRI. But before the Dallas drama, Marks noted that the players' union, led by Derek Fisher, was ready to stomach a drop to 52%.¹
Then came Dallas.
Zack didn't just talk the talk—he fought tooth and nail, securing a 54% BRI split for players. Plus, under the new CBA, owners have to chip in 1% of their BRI to create a welfare fund for retired players and the league's lower-tier guys.
Zack's reasoning? "Haven't these players sweated and bled for you?"
Historically, the league's MO was to make active players foot the bill for retirees and role players, skimming about 1% of the players' BRI for a welfare pool.
Not anymore.
The new CBA still has players contributing 1% to the welfare pool, but now owners are matching it, ensuring better benefits for retirees and the league's middle and lower class.
Next, the players and owners are teaming up to create a salary cap oversight committee.
This group lets the league, with both sides' approval, tweak the salary cap and luxury tax each year to keep BRI spending in check.
Marks called it a game-changer: "Now, everything's out in the open. Players can use this oversight to see if owners are actually losing money, and owners can talk through any seasons where they're bleeding cash."
In Marks' view, this setup nips a ton of potential conflicts in the bud.
For example, if the 2010-11 season's numbers show the cap shouldn't rise, players and owners can hash it out together.
No more owners whining about overspending after the cap's set, or the league slashing future caps and ticking off players.
Plus, this committee gives players a bigger voice, protecting their rights and setting them up to have more leverage in future negotiations.
Marks knows this is power players have never had before.
It's the first time they're truly part of shaping the NBA's future.
In Zack's previous life, the league eventually rolled out a similar cap oversight deal as revenues dipped, but the version Zack fought for in Dallas is a supercharged upgrade. Unlike the historical timeline where players just ate cap cuts or hikes, Zack secured them a real say in pushing back against owners.
And with players now helping steer the NBA's future, superstars have even more reason to expand the league's reach. A bigger pie means more revenue, which means a higher cap down the road.
That's why old-school owners like Jerry Buss backed the committee. In Dallas, Buss saw through Zack's tough exterior to his push for dialogue and his ambition to grow the league's revenue to pull everyone out of the rut.
As the most successful owner in NBA history, Buss knew better than anyone: squeezing players to the limit doesn't grow the game. Teaming up to bake a bigger pie does.
Of course, the negotiations weren't just about big-picture stuff. Owners also brought up the rising cost of chasing titles.
Zack and other superstars, knowing the league's rulebook was a mess of outdated code, didn't make it hard for owners. They agreed on updates like extending the Messiah Clauses, tweaking the Bird Rights, revising sign-and-trade rules, and introducing a super luxury tax.
Under the new CBA, the Big and Small Messiah Clauses are extended to seven years.
Basically, if a player meets the criteria for either clause in their first seven years, they can sign a max deal worth 30% or 35% of their team's cap when their contract's up.
The Small Messiah Clause can also stack with NBA veteran service time.²
For small-market owners, extending these clauses makes it easier to keep their superstars.
Take LeBron James, who qualifies for the Small Messiah Clause (originally the Rose Rule). This summer, when his contract expires, he'll hit both the seven-year veteran mark and the Small Messiah criteria. If he re-signs with Cleveland, he can lock in a max deal worth 35% of the cap.
Zack sees this as a fair fix.
As for the Bird Rights tweak, Zack and the player reps had no gripes. The new deal lowers the annual raise to 8%, but with the league's current revenue, that's a predictable dip.
To Zack, the real game-changer is the sign-and-trade overhaul.
Under the new rules, sign-and-trade deals are capped at three years with a max raise of 4.5%.
What's that mean?
Let's use LeBron again. If he wants to leave Cleveland this summer via sign-and-trade, the old rules would've let him ink a five-year, $130 million max deal with a new team. Under the new CBA? He's looking at a three-year deal worth just $63 million.
"Sign-and-trades were supposed to leave something for the original team," Clippers owner Donald Sterling said during the talks, a rare point Zack agreed with. "But let's be real—superstars use it to avoid taking pay cuts. If a player really wants to help their old team, they shouldn't expect to cash out the same way."
In this dialogue-driven negotiation, per the league's official statement, both sides spoke openly, hashed out their concerns, and reached consensus on key issues.
Online, fans were thrilled to learn the lockout threat was dead, thanks to the talks.
At the end of his article, Marks added: "To keep playing the game we all love, the players stepped up. Under the Messiah's leadership, they won a bigger voice and a better BRI split (compared to their earlier concessions). And thanks to his relentless push, they stopped a lockout that could've happened."
Fans never want a lockout to derail the NBA.
So, beyond the BRI split or the welfare benefits Zack fought for, when fans learned how hard the players, led by Zack, battled in Dallas to keep the game going, the image of Zack and his fellow superstars skyrocketed.
The cost?
Here's the kicker: compared to 1964, the league and owners owe Zack a thank-you.
The New York Times ran the numbers the next day.
If owners had settled things through dialogue, they'd only lose a bit of pride and profit. But a mid-season shutdown or future lockout? That'd cost the league over a billion dollars.
Zack knows from history that the lockout push by small-market owners was a reckless, emotional move with no regard for consequences. And those owners who egged on the league to punish players via a lockout? Aside from Michael Jordan, they all got pushed out eventually.
Now, in a brighter NBA landscape than history's timeline, Zack flipped the script, threatening a strike to show clear-headed owners the massive losses a shutdown would bring. Since the league still needs Zack to rake in cash, even the owners who hate him have to grin and bear it.
Who says Zack only prints money for the Warriors?
When he takes Golden State on the road, don't those home teams cash in too?
For many small-market teams, their biggest payday comes from hosting the Warriors. In hard numbers: if a team's tickets usually go for $100, on Warriors game night, Zack's star power bumps that up to $300.
February.
Back in Oakland from Dallas, Zack and the Warriors kicked off their annual stretch run.
Aiming to break the Bulls' mythic record, the Warriors hit a snag, dropping two games late in February.
At Oracle, despite beating the Lakers three times before, they ran into a Kobe Bryant who flipped on god mode. Dropping 49 points, Kobe was straight-up unstoppable.
No team stays hot for all 82 games, so Zack shrugged off the loss.
As for their upset loss to the Raptors at the end of February?
In freezing Toronto, the Warriors' ice-cold shooting was the main culprit. But Steph Curry, starting for Nash, coughed up the ball eight times, making him the target of a full-on fan roast.
In the postgame online pile-on, Warriors fans, baffled by Curry's careless turnovers, even started a poll: "Should Stephen Curry give up the No. 30 jersey?"
The result stung: over 80% of fans wanted him to ditch it.
Zack, confused, quipped, "Only 80%? What, the other 20% don't have keyboards to vote?"
As someone who's been around, Zack knows even future Curry's style was never about playing it safe. So, at this stage, where he's still paying his dues, turnovers are part of the deal.
Still, Zack doesn't go easy on his "nephew."
"Steph, if you keep handing the ball to the other team like that, I'm gonna kick your butt, got it?"
"Uh-huh," Curry mumbled, used to Zack's tough love.
The more Curry gets to know Zack, the more he sees that Zack's only hard on the people he cares about.
Take Danny Green, for example—Zack's basically given up on him. These days, his only expectation for Green is that he doesn't eat random stuff off the floor.
Despite dropping two games in February, the Warriors, built on a strong foundation, are still seen as likely to break the Bulls' record this season.
But in February, Zack and the Warriors weren't the main story.
The trade deadline stole the spotlight, with teams scrambling to bolster their rosters.
The Magic swapped Rashard Lewis to the Wizards for Gilbert Arenas.
In this timeline, "Agent Zero" Arenas got lucky.
Last season, the Cavaliers traded Allen Iverson to the Wizards for Antawn Jamison, setting off a chain reaction. While Arenas was sidelined with injuries, Iverson took Javaris Crittenton under his wing, preventing the infamous gun incident from Zack's memory.
When Iverson planned to return to the 76ers on a minimum deal last summer, Crittenton asked the Wizards to trade him to Philly to reunite with his "big bro."
The Wizards agreed.
Without Crittenton—who, in Zack's memory, ended up serving 23 years for murder and drug charges—the gun scandal never happened, and Arenas dodged a bullet.
But post-injury Arenas isn't the player he once was, so the Wizards decided to tank and rebuild.
Magic GM Otis Smith has always been high on Arenas. Betting he's got some gas left in the tank, and with Courtney Lee's growth making Lewis expendable, Smith sent Lewis and a future first-rounder to Washington for Arenas.
The Wizards? Fully committed to tanking, they became the biggest wildcard at this year's deadline.
Beyond shipping out Arenas, they also traded Caron Butler and Drew Gooden to Dallas for Erick Dampier, Marquis Daniels, and a future first-rounder.
Here's the kicker: right after the deal, the Wizards amnestied Dampier.
Historically, Zack recalls, the Wizards used the amnesty clause on Ilgauskas in a Jamison trade, letting Big Z return to Cleveland. But in this timeline, with no "Z Clause" yet, the Wizards' amnesty of Dampier—and Dampier's public plan to rejoin Dallas after the trade cooldown—exposed a massive loophole in the league's rules.
No surprise, the "Dampier Clause" will likely replace the "Z Clause" in this timeline.
Years back, the Cavs pulled a similar move with Eric Snow, but his lack of clout meant the league didn't notice the flaw. It took the Dampier amnesty for them to catch on.
Zack knows these trades have made the tanking Wizards a major disruptor this season.
For one, even if Arenas is a shell of his former self, his three-point shooting fits perfectly in Stan Van Gundy's one-star, four-shooter Magic system. With "St. Jack" Jackson and "Turkish Thunder" Turkoglu already on the wings, Smith's roster vision is spot-on—Arenas is the piece they needed, not Lewis.
As for Butler and Gooden, sent to Dallas to aid their rebuild?
In March, Zack, aiming to lead the Warriors to surpass the Bulls' legend, will soon face a Dallas team nearing its championship form from his memory.
On March 2, back at home, the Warriors' first opponent of the month is the newly fortified Mavericks.
Looking at Dallas' roster, Zack noticed that, aside from Tyson Chandler, they've nearly assembled the championship squad that steamrolled in his memory.
"Fate's a funny thing," Zack thought to himself that day.
…
¹: Historically, the players' union settled for a 49-51% BRI split.
²: Veteran service time in the NBA max salary rules means players with 0-6 years can sign for up to 25% of the cap, 7-9 years for 30%, and 10+ years for 35%.