basketball hero

Chapter 169 Signing the Bucks
Ying Xiong felt very sorry when he was told that Yi Jianlian had been traded.How exciting it is to be on the same team with your compatriots in the distant United States.But trading this kind of thing is not something he can decide.All I can do is to bless Ah Lian and hope that everything goes well for him in the Nets.

After the draft, Ying Xiong's parents and Li Jianwu returned to China under the arrangement of Bill Duffy. For them, this was the first time in their lives to come to the United States. They were able to witness Ying Xiong being selected on such an occasion as the NBA draft. , can be regarded as a worthwhile trip.However, Ying Xiong doesn't have the time and energy to accompany them on a trip to various states in the United States. He is busy negotiating contract signing with the home team, the Milwaukee Bucks.

During the period, Yi Jianlian, who was traded to the Nets by the Bucks, contacted Ying Xiong by phone.On the phone, the United Arab Emirates expressed regret that they could not fight alongside him in the new season.The two greet each other and cherish each other.

Bill Duffy has been actively involved in negotiations with the Milwaukee Bucks since the draft.In order to strive for more benefits for the employer, as a broker, he is not only his own job, but also a time to reflect his own value.

In the NBA, because each team that selects a first-round rookie in the draft must provide at least two years (three years before the 2005 labor agreement) guarantee contract for the first-round pick, it is impossible to sign a short contract with them.So unless the team gives up the right to sign the first-round pick (for example, in 1996, after the Chicago Bulls selected Travis Knight with the No. waived him), making him an unrestricted free agent, or the team would have to sign him.

For Ying Xiong, the 8th pick in the first round was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks, which basically ruled out the possibility of being given up by the team (with a lottery pick).So for him, no matter what the two-year guarantee contract is, he can't escape.For a rookie, the difference between a guaranteed contract and a non-guaranteed contract is still very big.Non-guaranteed contract teams can cut you at any time without any consequences.

According to the current labor agreement, the first-round pick contract (that is, the rookie contract) is a 4-year contract, the first two seasons are guaranteed contracts, and the next two seasons are team options.After the end of the first and second seasons, the team has to choose whether to implement the team options for the third and fourth years before October 10 of that year (it will be postponed if it is a non-working day).

On July 7, accompanied by agent Bill Duffy, Ying Xiong signed the contract provided by Bucks general manager John Hammond.After the signing was done, he and John Hammond shook hands with a smile.

John Hammond said with a smile: "Ying, welcome to our big family! Hope we have a happy cooperation!"

Ying Xiong laughed and said, "It must!"

应雄和雄鹿队签下的是一份为期4年的新秀合同。合同情况：4年1127万美元，2008年签，2012年夏天到期。合同前两年为全额保障，第三、第四年为球队选项。其中，2008-2009赛季的工资为240万美元。

For Ying Xiong, this is the second contract in his career.Compared with the CBA contract, even if it is a rookie contract, the NBA contract amount is not comparable to the CBA contract.However, in the NBA, taxes are also very high, and the annual salary of 240 million US dollars may be only half of it.But even so, if converted into RMB, it is several million.

From a high school student player to an annual salary of millions, it only took two years for Yingxiong.But in the past two years, he has grown from a water dispenser player who was newly promoted in the CBA to a star with the title of MVP in the finals, and the speed of his progress is unbelievable. —but it really happened.

After signing with the Bucks, Bill Duffy helped Yingxiong negotiate an endorsement contract.This endorsement contract is provided by the famous sports brand, Nike.

The endorsement contract lasted for two years, and the contract amount reached 200 million US dollars!After signing this contract, Ying Xiong will use the equipment provided by Nike during his two seasons in the NBA.

The reason for the two-year contract is the result of the game between Bill Duffy and Nike.For Nike, as a player from China, Ying Xiong has a vast Asian fan market behind him, and as a lottery pick, he has a high starting point, sufficient exposure and the possibility of becoming a talent, and he Still an outside player.The two-year endorsement contract corresponds to his two-year guarantee contract. If he doesn't make it out and the contract expires, the company doesn't have to pay the endorsement fee.

Bill Duffy was unwilling to let Ying Xiong sign a five-year contract with Nike because once signed, if Ying Xiong soon became an All-Star, the endorsement contract would be cheaper to sign.As an agent, he can draw a certain percentage of commissions from the endorsement contracts of his players, so everyone is on the same boat, and he must maximize the benefits as much as possible.

In the NBA, there is a saying that "centers don't sell shoes". Although big players will make sports brands more recognizable and visually attractive, in fact, it is those forward and guard players who really attract brand owners.This is the law that almost all brand owners follow.

Even a player with absolute dominance and influence like Yao Ming, because of his status as a big man, the sneaker endorsement contract signed is not even as good as some ordinary All-Star guards.For example, LeBron James received a huge contract of 2003 million U.S. dollars in seven years from Nike when he first entered the league in 7. This is unthinkable for big players.

Adidas also wanted to sign Yingxiong before, but lost out in the competition with Nike.They are only willing to offer a one-year endorsement contract of $1, which has no advantage over Nike's two-year $70 million contract.

Ying Xiong was very excited. He just signed a rookie contract with the Bucks and an endorsement contract with Nike.But this was not over yet. A few days later, Bill Duffy found him the endorsement of another energy drink company, with a contract amount of $1 a year.

Bill Duffy helped Ying Xiong find an apartment in Milwaukee through his connections.This apartment is small in size, but it belongs to the type of "a small sparrow has all internal organs".What Yingxiong is most satisfied with is that the transportation of this apartment is very convenient.Not far from the apartment is the subway station, which can easily go to the Bucks training hall.Moreover, the rent of this apartment is not expensive, and the monthly rent is only 1000 US dollars.For Ying Xiong, who has already signed a rookie contract, there is no problem in this regard.

In this way, Ying Xiong settled down in the United States.It wasn't too difficult for him to adjust to life in America.Here, as long as you have money in hand, you can do whatever you want.Once the language barrier is passed, it will not be too difficult to go out.Milwaukee is not a big city in the entire United States.But in the United States, even in ordinary cities, transportation and shopping are very convenient.

Bill Duffy sent someone to arrange Ying Xiong's trivial matters in the United States.For these, he is very satisfied.Because I don't have to bother to deal with these things right now, I can focus on restoring my body.

Fortunately, QQ is available in the United States, so Ying Xiong can still communicate with Sun Jing and friends in China through QQ.Sun Jing cared about him very much. Knowing that he was selected by the Bucks, she was naturally happy for him.She said that she must work hard and not lose to her boyfriend.

The NBA Summer League has started.For those low-ranked first-round picks and some second-round picks or even undrafted picks, the summer league is a good opportunity for them to show themselves.In the past few years, many players who performed well in the summer league got playing time in the new season.For undrafted rookies, the summer league is a great opportunity for them to fight for a contract.In the NBA, very few regular rotation players make it to summer league, let alone All-Stars.For each team, the summer league is "scouring Taobao" and training troops, which is not very important to the victory or defeat.

Due to a foot injury, Ying Xiong did not have the opportunity to play for the team in the summer league.For him, he is very eager to play in the summer league, find a feeling, and feel the competitive atmosphere with the NBA in advance.After all, he hasn't played an official game for almost half a year.

For Xiong, it is a pity that he cannot play in the summer league, but the most important thing for him is the regular season.As long as you can fully recover before the regular season, everything you have endured and paid before will be worth it.

In late July, Yingxiong, who had no summer league assignments, resumed training in Milwaukee.At this time, the swelling of the ankle had completely disappeared, but just to be on the safe side, he did not carry out intense confrontation training.He is very clear that haste makes waste.If you want to come back to play too eagerly, once the injury recurs, your first NBA season will cast a shadow over your future.

(End of this chapter)