The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 97 - 92: LeBron Substituted for Su Wan?

Chapter 97: Chapter 92: LeBron Substituted for Su Wan?

"What are you doing, you idiot, do you need to specify his relationship with LeBron? Did you give him that one-billion contract? No, buddy, it was us begging him to sign this crucial contract for us. Toyota built an arena for Yao, and Alexander was able to escape the ranks of the poorest NBA owners thanks to Yao. That’s why we have to seize the Huaxia market. You’d better think it through, and before that, you don’t have to report anything to me. There’s no need for you to handle negotiations with Su either, we’ll assign someone else!"

Nike executives were furious, and within about a day, Nike sent a new representative along with a new contract, still for 7 years, but the amount reached 1.1 billion, an increase of 10 million from the original total.

That amount was just 10 million short of the 1.2 billion they had offered Yao Ming back in the day.

Before getting the new contract from Nike, Su Wan had met separately with Adidas and Reebok, as well as representatives from two domestic brands.

Each had their own issues.

Adidas and Reebok didn’t have enough money, and aside from not having enough money, the domestic brands also lacked quality.

Su Wan could sign with a domestic brand, but definitely not now.

Especially now that Nike was giving him a 7-year contract worth 1.1 billion, he had even less reason to sign with another brand.

Let’s just harvest these "leeks" first.

Before signing, Su Wan looked at the new representative with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, "Don’t you have anything to tell me?"

The representative flashed a standard smile with eight teeth visible, "Not a word, I’m just responsible for bringing the contract and sincerely hope you will sign it, and agree to cooperate with Nike, that’s all."

"I like your attitude, much better than that pretentious jerk. I hope all future Nike representatives I deal with are like you." Su Wan read through all the terms once more, and they were the same as the previous contract, so this extra 10 million seemed to be Nike’s way of apologizing.

Nothing more to say, really.

He picked up the pen and signed his name on it.

Soon, the news that Su Wan had signed a 7-year contract with Nike worth 1.1 billion spread all over the United States.

This contract, which was 17 million more than the 7-year, 93 million contract LeBron James signed two years ago, caused some buzz, but it was just that—buzz. There were no media outlets that thought Nike offering such a contract to Su Wan was outrageous.

Hmm...

If Su Wan had signed with another brand, there might have been such voices.

But since he signed with Nike, media outlets affiliated with Nike serving LeBron James couldn’t possibly undermine their own people, right?

Nike headquarters would never approve of such a move.

These media stopped targeting Su Wan, so it was impossible for a large-scale skepticism to form.

After all, Su Wan’s stats were there for all to see—at this point, he was still averaging 21.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.6 blocks per game. His average points, rebounds, and assists had slightly declined since his time with the Cavaliers, but considering that the Pacers were a more mature team with more scoring options, these slight declines were insignificant.

He was still only the third player in history to average a 21+5+5 during his rookie season!

With such stats, signing a 7-year contract worth 1.1 billion wasn’t something to make a fuss about.

At most, people couldn’t help but remark on Su Wan’s age:

He was only 19, but he had already become a "billionaire"!

The All-Star Weekend lasted three days, from February 14th to the 16th.

Su Wan was to participate in the Rookie Challenge on the first day and then the All-Star Game on the 16th.

Additionally, as a starting All-Star, he was required to attend various official events: appearances, interactions, signings, and photo sessions...

And with Nike’s "billion-dollar contract," he became even more noticeable during All-Star Weekend, and together with his race, the fans wanting to take photos with him were countless, lining up from Denver to Indiana outside his hotel.

Su Wan had only one feeling:

Tired!

More tiring than playing basketball!

So when the Rookie Challenge started, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Playing basketball was truly the most relaxing thing in the world.

At this time, the Rookie Challenge was still in the format of Freshmen vs. Sophomores.

As part of the "04 generation," Su Wan would join Howard, Iguodala, and others to challenge the "03 golden generation."

Before the game, no one was optimistic about them; this rookie class was filled with too many "potential stocks" needing growth, with only Su Wan averaging over 16 points, while the "03 generation" had three rookies averaging over 16 points, which was even more after a year of experience.

The strength gap was too significant, no wonder the media was not optimistic about them. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

An even more critical point...

In order to harvest "zone" values in the summer league, Su Wan had offended all his peers, and given his standout performance, it was impossible for his peers to unite against him. At this moment, Su Wan suddenly realized that being too outspoken wasn’t necessarily a good thing... Bullshit!

No cooperation, no cooperation!

I’ll do it myself!

As the Rookie Challenge began, Su Wan’s actions on the court immediately caused gasps from the audience because he was actually calling out names, challenging the "chosen ones" from the "03 generation" to one-on-one bullfights.

What had been an unremarkable "Rookie Challenge" suddenly became full of highlights.

The atmosphere was just like the street, full of exclamations.

Initially, only Wade actively responded to Su Wan’s provocations.

Carmelo Anthony, unhappy with Su Wan for stealing the spotlight as the host, completely ignored him, but once "Sweet Melon" realized that the Denver fans really were into it, he also began to respond to Su Wan’s provocations.