Sun Xiaotian's last shot in the Christmas battle was exploded on the Internet, which was very similar to Maddie's 35.13 seconds back then, and some people even watched it over and over again.

"Can I say I've watched it twenty times? That shot was so beautiful! Adrian Wojneros, a well-known Yahoo Sports journalist (affectionately known as "Wo Shen" by Chinese fans), said after the game.

He played 41 minutes in the game, scored 44 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds, and scored 11 points in the final 97 seconds. Although James had a super triple-double, 32 points, 11 assists and 14 rebounds, Sun Xiaotian finally became the brightest star in the Christmas battle.

It was also with this game that the whole United States set off a big and small discussion about Sun Xiaotian, and the cause of the incident was because of a report by ESPN after the game.

The content of the report is roughly to compare Sun Xiaotian's performance in his rookie season with the performance of Jennings' rookie season, believing that Sun Xiaotian's ceiling is limited and it is impossible to become a superstar, and the Bulls should talk about the team's rise The chips are pressed on Rose, waiting for Rose's comeback, not a rookie, and ESPN's comprehensive consideration is still inseparable from Sun Xiaotian's skin color.

"This report is unfair, it's unfair to him, I'm optimistic about his future, he'll be a superstar, let's see what he does to us!" James said this in an interview.

Sun Xiaotian has never spoken out in the face of discussion, he feels that there is no need, as long as his team can win and he can enjoy basketball happily, it is enough, and he doesn't care about anything else. And it's not just him, most people find his performance incredible. He averaged 17.3 points, 5.6 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game this season, and had a shooting rate of 48.5%, and the three-point shooting rate that was criticized at the beginning of the season also quietly reached 37.4%, and the efficiency value was the highest among all rookies.

At the moment, the Bulls have a 24-12 record and are in fourth place in the East, and if it weren't for the team's injuries, the Bulls would be much more than that.

After the Christmas game, the Bulls will have four days off for a few days. Thibodeau gave everyone a holiday, in addition to spending the holiday with his family, more to let the players relieve pressure and rest.

However, Sun Xiaotian's itinerary is full, and the most important thing is to visit Adidas and sign a shoe contract with Adi.

Before the draft, Adi showed a strong interest in Sun Xiaotian, not so much in Sun Xiaotian, but in the vast Chinese market behind Sun Xiaotian.

At the beginning of the draft, Adi was a little hesitant to sign the rookie, but in the more than two months since the start of the season, Sun's dazzling performance has not only impressed Adi's management, but also the management of other sports brand companies, including Nike and UA. But for this piece of fat, Adi will never give it to others, and they have issued a six-year endorsement contract of $100 million for Sun Xiaotian.

For Sun Xiaotian, there is an important reason for choosing Adi, because Maddie is the first NBA player to sign a lifetime contract with Adi, and Sun Xiaotian still remembers the excitement when he held the T-mac1 generation.

As for Nike, the impression in Sun Xiaotian's mind has not been very good, and Sun Xiaotian is not saying that he hates Nike, but more of a rumor.

It is said that as early as 1998, the management of Nike China discovered Yao Ming and successfully made Yao Ming wear Nike shoes, and then in 2000, Nike and Yao Ming signed a four-year contract of 200,000 US dollars. In the CBA at that time, this endorsement contract was absolutely sky-high, even much higher than the contract given to Yao Ming by the Shanghai team, and looking at the CBA at that time, only Wang Zhizhi's endorsement contract was slightly higher than Yao Ming.

However, after Yao Ming landed in the NBA as a champion and signed a large number of top endorsement contracts, Nike's contract suddenly looked very shabby. When Mr. Yao's contract expired in the summer of 2004, Nike management was conflicted. On the one hand, they were worried that Yao Ming would open his mouth, so they didn't dare to shoot advertisements for Yao Ming after Yao Ming landed in the NBA; On the other hand, they know very well what the Chinese market behind Yao Ming means.

Before his contract expired in 2004, Nike made a four-year, $1.6 million contract extension offer to Yao Ming. In Nike's opinion, big men don't sell shoes very much, and this offer is 8 times that of Yao Ming's first contract, which is generous enough for a big man, but what Nike didn't expect was that their offer directly angered Yao Ming.

Yao Ming was furious when he received the offer, believing that Nike lacked a minimum of respect. A year ago, Nike just generously gave LeBron, who didn't play in the NBA, a 7-year 90 million fat contract, and a year later, Nike treated himself so stingily who has become a superstar, can Yao Mingyan not be angry? It was after deciding that Nike lacked respect for himself that Yao Ming decided to break with Nike.

After learning that Yao Ming angrily rejected Nike's offer of $1.6 million for 4 years, Reebok took the initiative to negotiate with Yao's team. Reebok promised Yao Ming a lot of favorable conditions, but also sincerely pointed out that Reebok's first brother is Iverson. Reebok's sincerity made Yao Ming, who had been hurt by Nike, feel sincere, and Yao Ming instructed Yao's team to start substantive negotiations with Reebok.

After learning that Yao Ming intended to jump to Reebok, Nike panicked, and they immediately added an offer that no one could refuse: a total of up to $120 million over 7 years. But it was this sky-high contract that "no one would refuse", Yao Ming refused without hesitation, and he chose Reebok's 7-year 50 million contract instead.

For the so-called backbone, he gave up a full 70 million US dollars? Many people think that Yao Ming is crazy, as the so-called business talks, Yao Ming does not need to give up 70 million US dollars of real money in order to be angry, but Yao Ming disagreed, he told Nike people before announcing his contract with Reebok: "I can take less money, but you have to treat me sincerely." ”――

UA aims to open up the Chinese market has also been paying attention to Sun Xiaotian, although UA is a young company, but in this competition, UA's sincerity is the greatest, and the owner Kevin Plank, who is also a professional player, personally went to Chicago to meet with Sun Xiaotian, and offered a six-year $120 million endorsement contract, no one will refuse. But in the end, Sun Xiaotian still chose to join Adi, in his words: "I belong here!" I just want to follow in the footsteps of the wheat. ”

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The success of advertising endorsements also shows the soaring popularity of Sun Xiaotian. In the latest round of All-Star voting, Sun Xiaotian has also received more than 430,000 votes, second only to Wade and Rondo among Eastern backcourt players.

Regardless of how many of the 430,000 votes came from China, it can fully show that Sun Xiaotian has indeed been recognized and loved by fans.