After wrapping up matters in Japan, Gilbert returned to North America and continued working on preparations for The Avengers.
However, the first thing he dealt with upon returning to Los Angeles concerned his basketball team. That summer, LeBron James finally made his decision—to go to Miami and reunite with Wade and Bosh.
As soon as the news broke, the entire league was shocked.
Previously, the Celtics' Big Three joining forces had already been shocking enough, but those were three veterans at the tail end of their primes. The Miami Big Three were different—these were superstars squarely in their prime years.
With these three teaming up, could the rest of the league even play?
Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich erupted in anger on the spot, calling it a disgusting, anti-competitive act of forming a superteam. He then hurried to recruit players to counter the threat posed by the Heat's Big Three.
Owners of the other teams across the league lodged protests, but it was already a fait accompli—protesting was useless.
Gilbert had of course heard about it, but he wasn't shocked, since it had happened in his previous life.
Not being shocked didn't mean he had no reaction. Gilbert soon posted on social media
"Wade and Bosh, you'd better be careful. That guy's a vampire—he'll suck you dry. If he tries to grab the ball, don't give in. It'd be best to have him stand in the corner and shoot threes."
As everyone knew, James wasn't actually that good at three-pointers. Gilbert's comment was loaded with implication.
Even more brilliantly, Gilbert exposed James's fundamental weakness and stirred up internal strife within the Big Three.
After he spoke out, Cavaliers owner Dan quickly followed up: "I've known for a long time what kind of person LeBron James is.
He's a player driven by commercial interests and calculations, utterly lacking in sportsmanship and utterly ungrateful. Without the Cavaliers' development, he'd never have reached where he is today."
If James could still keep his composure in the face of owner Gilbert's criticism, then Dan's accusations were far more serious.
Gilbert was not only the owner of the Seattle Thunder, but also a renowned director, media tycoon, and super tycoon.
Being criticized by someone like that—James, who had long understood capital and media logic—couldn't stay calm.
Yet he had no real countermeasures and didn't dare talk back. ESPN, famous for hyping James, hurried to speak up for him, and various sports media joined the fray, making things hard to handle.
James was a superstar pushed by Nike, so Nike's CEO quickly called Gilbert, asking him to stop attacking James.
But Gilbert showed no courtesy. He once again posted on social media
"Regarding the claim that James will win one, two, three, four, five, six, seven championships, I have something to say.
He'll win at most one championship, but he'll get eight runner-up finishes.
Because he's in the East, and the Thunder are in the West."
Only then did everyone realize that Gilbert could be quite a loudmouth too.
Gilbert's words were not without basis; the main reason was the rapid growth of the team's core player, Kevin Durant.
In the just-concluded 2009–2010 season, Kevin Durant averaged 39.5 minutes per game, putting up 30.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.0 block per game.
While winning the scoring title, his dominant performance led the newly renamed Seattle Thunder into the playoffs, where they were defeated 4–2 by the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers.
On the NBA's official MVP rankings, Kevin Durant ranked second, behind only LeBron James.
The team's other two core players, Russell Westbrook, averaged 16.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, 9.4 assists, and 1.3 steals per game.
Stephen Curry averaged 17.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 1.1 steals per game.
Coupled with the growth of defensive anchor Ibaka and a group of tough role players, the team had clearly become a highly competitive young force in the Western Conference.
In Thunder games, one could often see this scene: Westbrook charging inside like a human explosive, either finishing the layup himself or tossing an alley-oop for Ibaka to hammer home.
Otherwise, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry would open fire from the perimeter, gunning opponents down.
More importantly, when opponents locked down Westbrook's drives, Kevin Durant's ball-handling offense and mid-range game—developed over several seasons—often left defenses helpless.
And Stephen Curry, this perimeter artillery piece, was often overlooked because of Kevin Durant and Westbrook. The result was that he knocked down 166 three-pointers in a single season at a 43.7% shooting percentage.
Stephen Curry had already displayed historically elite shooting ability, but his brilliance was completely overshadowed by Kevin Durant and Westbrook, and few people noticed it.
Even so, sports media had already given the trio a nickname: the Thunder Three Youngsters, and with Ibaka added, the Thunder Four Youngsters.
This was precisely where Gilbert's confidence lay. With another two years of development, the team would have the ability to compete for a championship.
Moreover, this lineup could be maintained for five or six years. After that, even if one or two players had to be let go due to salary issues, the team would still retain formidable competitiveness.
And future drafts could still be used to strike gold and rebuild the roster.
If memory served correctly, there was a Serbian chubby kid named Nikola Jokić with tremendous potential, and he was only a second-round pick.
If James were truly to face this roster assembled by the "Ape-Catchers Alliance," winning one championship would already be his good fortune; winning two would mean he was truly impressive.
If he could win three championships, then he would surpass Jordan and be the undisputed GOAT.
Because he was very satisfied with the team's performance, Gilbert not only handed out generous bonuses to everyone in the organization, but also invited the Thunder Three Youngsters to appear in his film The Avengers.
It wouldn't take much—just one or two days of shooting would be enough.
All three were extremely excited. Acting in a movie was something they had never even imagined. They had all seen Jordan's Space Jam.
But this was different. This was Gilbert's movie. Even if it was just a cameo, it was more than enough to brag about.
There was no helping it—the team owner was a film director. He simply had that kind of ability.
Another focal point of attention was the Arsenal football club. In recent years, although Arsenal had not won the Champions League again, they remained regular participants and maintained strong competitiveness in the league.
Professor Wenger was now cultivating new forces to replace the gradually aging core lineup, and there would likely be a period of struggle.
However, leveraging Arsenal's brand, combined with Gilbert's media promotion, the fusion of football and film culture truly had potential.
In countries where football was popular, people might not necessarily watch movies, but they would definitely watch football matches. A giant club like Arsenal, though not as attractive as Real Madrid, was still top-tier.
This was undoubtedly very beneficial to Gilbert's film promotion strategy. His films being able to circulate freely around the world owed Arsenal a certain amount of credit.
Next, looking at Apple's boom: after the release of the iPhone 4, it immediately triggered a revolution in the mobile phone industry, and Apple's stock price surged.
By May, Apple's market capitalization had surpassed Microsoft, reaching 219 billion US dollars, becoming second only to ExxonMobil.
By August, with explosive sales of the iPhone 4 and investors' expectations for Apple's new products, Apple's market value surpassed ExxonMobil, reaching 266.2 billion US dollars and becoming the world's most valuable publicly listed company.
More importantly, this market value was still rising continuously. Every time Apple announced new sales figures, its market capitalization climbed another step.
All of this was inseparable from Steve Jobs's shrewd leadership.
He emphasized innovation and also reformed Apple's business model.
The iTunes and App Store ecosystem contributed more than 1 billion US dollars in annual revenue to Apple, forming a dual-engine growth model of hardware plus services.
In terms of products, the iPad released in January 2010 further consolidated Apple's leading position in the consumer electronics field, selling nearly 15 million units throughout the year and becoming a new growth engine.
The launch of the blockbuster iPhone 4 triggered a global buying frenzy, with annual sales reaching 40 million units, accounting for 39% of Apple's total revenue.
Unlike in his previous life, the current Steve Jobs was in excellent health, full of vitality, and showed no signs at all of suffering from a serious illness.
As Gilbert's most important ally, his health affected the hearts of many people.
With Apple's explosive growth, countless eyes focused on the company. Wall Street capital became eager, and Apple's stock turned extremely, extremely sought after.
At this time, the joint efforts of Steve Jobs and Gilbert kept the restless Wall Street capital outside Apple, preventing it from further expanding its influence within the company.
When faced with enormous profits, capital dares to trample all human laws.
At this moment, it was estimated that quite a bit of capital was praying, praying that God would send down a bolt of lightning to strike Steve Jobs and Gilbert dead.
And Gilbert did not only hold shares in Apple. The Banana Social Company under the Fruit Group was a Facebook replica, established even earlier, with a market value of 74.2 billion US dollars.
Another company, Watermelon, was a Google replica, with a market value as high as 147.5 billion US dollars, making it the fifth-largest internet technology company.
In addition, the Fruit Group also held shares in companies such as Amazon, Oracle, and Microsoft. Although not large individually, together they amounted to an astronomical figure.
Because of this, in the Forbes Rich List released in September, Gilbert claimed the top spot for the first time, with an estimated fortune of 82.4 billion US dollars, surpassing the second-ranked Carlos Slim Helú's 53.4 billion US dollars.
The Forbes Rich List also hinted at the end: "Because many of his assets are not publicly disclosed, we are unable to calculate exactly how much wealth Gilbert possesses.
In addition, during the economic crisis, Gilbert used keen judgment to acquire many high-quality assets, which is also the reason he suddenly rose to the top of the list this year."
It had to be said that topping the Forbes Rich List, and also ranking third on the Forbes Celebrity List, brought Gilbert both gains and attention.
Especially after seeing his astonishing wealth, people found it even more exaggerated.
Usually, everyone focused too much on Gilbert's identity as a film director, thereby overlooking his status as a super tycoon.
When Naomi Watts saw the Forbes Rich List, she complained, "No wonder people are jealous. I think you'll soon become the first trillionaire.
It's normal for people to be jealous—after all, there's just too much money."
Gilbert expressed helplessness: "I earned this money by getting up early and working late, through sheer hard work. They insist on trying to grab it, so I have no choice but to resist."
...
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