In 1995, the Boston Celtics were caught in the double dilemma of "a sluggish record (35 wins and 47 losses) + internal strife within the family" - Italian founder Giuseppe Leonetti Sr. Held 62% of the controlling shares, but was troubled by the overt and covert fights between his eldest son Tony (corrupting advertising rights) and second son Paul (competing for management rights). Vincent Collet, the inconspicuous deputy director of the Logistics and Technology Department, only holds a marginal 3% "technical investment" stake, but he has the ambition to change the team's destiny.
At that time, the NBA was in the "paper financial era". Vincent seized on the loopholes and used "ink fraud" to tamper with advertising contracts and salary reports, accurately igniting the "fist fight" in the Leonetti family: making old Giuseppe suspect that Tony was harming the public and enriching his private life, provoking Paul to fight for power, and then teaming up with small shareholders to press for debts, pushing the family conflict to the climax. In the golden draft season of 1996, he forged broadcast rights valuations and draft reports to induce the family to sell its core asset "cable broadcast rights" at a low price. He used cash flow to bind small shareholders and acquire family shares at a low price. Finally, he swallowed up the family trust with a "debt-for-equity swap" and counterattacked from 3% to 62% of the controlling stake.
The story does not stop at the business war. After Vincent took power, he used the proceeds from broadcast rights to sign Antoine Walker, paving the way for the Celtics to return to the playoffs. This not only restored the "financial opacity" characteristics of the NBA in the 1990s, but also used "Italian family machinations + basketball operation logic" to write a legend of a court power grab that "doesn't involve blood but sees gunpowder."
