I really can't handle the ball

Chapter 65 Sneaker Contract
On July 7st, with the official opening of the NBA free agent market, one after another explosive transaction information quickly swiped the screen on the Internet.

On July 7, the trading market ushered in the first breaking news. This deal was not about players, but related to the league's top coach George Karl.

The Bucks official website announced a peaceful breakup with head coach Karl and hired Terry Porter as the head coach of the Bucks.

Within a few hours of the official announcement, George Karl found a job again, and the Denver Nuggets invited him to be the head coach, which can be described as seamless.

After the Bucks changed coaches, they quickly made a deal.

The team's main point guards Sam Cassell and Elvin Johnson were sent to the Timberwolves in exchange for Joe Smith and Anthony Peeler.

This move by the Bucks is to completely strengthen Mike Reid as the team leader. So far, the Bucks have entered the era of "small flying knife".

The Timberwolves have also assembled the "three-headed monster" and will attack the championship trophy next season.

On July 7, the Mavericks traded with the Warriors for Antawn Jamison and Mark Jackson and Adrian Griffin.

When Li Xuan saw this transaction information, he was also a little surprised. He didn't expect the Mavericks' uniform team to be so powerful, so they brought Jamison over.

At this stage, the Mavericks are relatively weak at the small forward and center positions, and there is nothing wrong with bringing Jamison.

"It seems that I can only play the role of the team's sixth man." Li Xuan was depressed for a while, and then continued to browse other transaction information.

On July 7, the Hawks signed free agent Stephen Jackson for one year and $4 million.

The Heat announced the six-year, $6 million signing of restricted player Lamar Odom from the Clippers.

On July 7, the Wizards announced the signing of Gilbert Arenas, a restricted player from the Warriors.

Since the old club Warriors did not have enough salary space to match the offer given by the Wizards, they could only watch the Wizards poach Arenas away.

This is equivalent to the star that the Warriors trained with great difficulty and gave it to the Wizards for nothing, but they didn't get anything. It was a blood loss.

With the conclusion of this deal, David Stern discovered that the NBA had a fatal loophole in the issue of second-round pick renewals, and immediately called management personnel to work overtime to discuss how to make up for this loophole.

Not long after, the alliance issued an announcement to formulate the Arenas clause.

The content of the terms is: For restricted free agents who have played in the NBA for 1-2 years, the salary of the first year of the invitation contract must not exceed the middle-class terms of the year.

This method limits the first-year salary to ensure that the team with the first player can provide the player with a corresponding contract by citing the Bird clause or the middle-class clause.

On July 7, Li Xuan finished his seven-day special training, bid farewell to Nash, and boarded a flight to New York alone.

Bill Duffy called to tell him that he had picked up several endorsement cooperations in New York, and the sneaker contract with Nike was coming to an end.

Before Li Xuan went to Eagle County for special training, he discussed the sneaker cooperation with Bill Duffy.

If the price offered by Nike is right, then sign the contract. If it doesn’t work out, then don’t worry, wait for the value to be reached before renegotiating.

"James can sign a seven-year contract worth $7 million, how can I sign a three-year contract worth $9000 million." Li Xuan pondered for a while, then leaned back on his seat and closed his eyes.

A few hours later, Li Xuan walked out of the airport, met Bill Duffy, and discussed tomorrow's itinerary on the way to the hotel.

"Shoot one or two endorsement commercials tomorrow morning, and meet with Nike's negotiators in the afternoon to discuss cooperation matters." Bill Duffy finished speaking and handed the list of endorsements to Li Xuan.

After checking it, Li Xuan replied, "No problem, Mr. Duffy."

"Li, leave the negotiation to me tomorrow, and I will do my best to help you get the most benefits." Bill Duffy said confidently.

"Then please trouble Mr. Duffy." After Li Xuan finished speaking, he looked at the bustling street scene outside the car window.

When they arrived at the hotel where they were staying, Li Xuan and Bill Duffy separated and went back to their rooms to rest.

The next morning, under the arrangement of Bill Duffy, Li Xuan filmed one or two simple endorsement commercials.

In fact, accepting endorsement advertisements at this time is a blood loss. If he earns his worth in the NBA, the price will increase several times.

But Li Xuan needs to rent a training arena to complete his daily training, and he also needs to hire a professional trainer. He still needs some expenses in life, so he has to earn money in advance. Not so good pay off.

Therefore, Li Xuan only asked Bill Duffy to accept two or three endorsement commercials, and the salary he got was enough for him not to worry about money before the start of the new NBA season.

In the afternoon, according to the itinerary, Li Xuan met with the negotiator of Nike in the meeting room of a five-star hotel in New York.

"Li, I'm very glad to meet you. In fact, we have planned to sign a contract with you very early. Joining the big family of Nike will allow your influence to continue to expand."

Before the negotiation started, the representative of Nike shook Li Xuan's hand with a smile on his face.

After the simple greetings, the two sides went directly to the topic.

The representative of Nike gave a five-year 5 million cash contract, thinking that the price they gave was very sincere.

In fact, for an ordinary No. 13 rookie, this contract is indeed very rich.

But Li Xuan is not an ordinary lottery pick. The market behind him is unpredictable and has huge potential.

"My employer and I are not very satisfied with this contract. It is far from what we expected. I have also negotiated with you a few times. I don't want to beat around the bush. Let me tell you what the price is in your mind?"

"Mr. Duffy, this is also the market situation. Our heart is to increase the price by another 500 million. What do you think?" Nike representative responded.

"Then there's nothing to talk about. If your vice president hadn't asked us to negotiate, we wouldn't have come at all, because Reebok gave a seven-year offer of 7 million. You have already missed YAO, and you won't miss Li again." Right?" Bill Duffy said with a very tough attitude.

This is indeed the case. After Dayao was insulted by Nike, he refused to cooperate with Nike and signed a 7-year 5000 million dollar shoe contract with Reebok.

The reason why Li Xuan was able to get a higher offer for sneakers than Dayao.

The reason is that the center's sneakers are very difficult to sell, and Li Xuan is still a shooting guard in theory, and the guard's sneakers are relatively popular. In addition, his style of play is very ornamental, and he has great potential in the sneaker market.

After hearing this, Nike's negotiators were stunned for a moment. They had already made a low-level mistake and missed a Chinese person, and the Chinese person in front of them had to sign.

Therefore, Nike's offer must not be lower than Reebok.

"I can't make up my mind on this. I'll ask the top management for instructions first. Wait a moment." After finishing speaking, Nike's negotiator quickly left the meeting room and called Nike's top management to report.

A moment later, a Nike representative came back with the latest offer and handed Duffy the contract.

“经过高层的商讨，给出的报价是3年3500万，100万签字费，外加三条奖励条款：入选最佳新秀一阵奖励200万；获得最佳新秀奖励200万；三年内入选一次最佳一阵或者最佳防守一阵奖励500万。

Bill Duffy nodded after reading it, Li Xuan also felt very satisfied, and signed his name on the contract.

This theoretical contract worth 3 million in three years once again shocked the entire NBA league.

(End of this chapter)