The voice on the other end of the phone surprised Chamberlain, it turned out to be West, who had just been separated.

AFTER A BRIEF SILENCE, CHAMBERLAIN ASKED SEVERAL 'HELLO', AND WAS A LITTLE IMPATIENT, ONLY THEN DID I HEAR AN OBSCURE VOICE FROM THE OTHER END, WEST'S VOICE: "Z, I'M DE LONTE, ARE YOU STILL IN THE TRAINING GYM?" I, I, I, I've got something, something I want you to help with — oh no, it's please. ”

Usually West looks like he is thousands of miles away, but it was the first time that Chamberlain heard him take the initiative to talk to someone, or on the phone, he heard West's embarrassment on the phone, so he said happily: "Okay, I haven't left yet, you can come back." ”

Shortly after he hung up the phone, West ran back, and although he was trying to calm his rapid breathing, Chamberlain could tell from his flushed face that he was running back.

Seeing Winnie was also there, West was stunned for a moment, he rubbed his hands and looked at Chamberlain in embarrassment, Winnie packed up some things, and said lightly: "You talk, I'll go first." ”

Chamberlain sat down on the stool, motioned for West to sit across from him, and asked, "What do you need help with?" We're all brothers, and if I can help, you can just ask. ”

West licked his lips with his tongue, he lowered his head and pondered for a while, then raised his head and said, "Can you lend me some money?" ”

Chamberlain subconsciously asked, "Borrow money?" "It's very common for NBA stars to borrow money, often go out to play, and if you don't have a credit card, you can only borrow money, of course, people like Jackson can also eat overlord meals and play overlord chicken, but they need to be good at fighting and have the same thick skin as the city wall.

West looked at Chamberlain in embarrassment, and the latter hurriedly said, "Oh, don't you care, how much do you borrow?" ”

West's face was relieved, but he gritted his teeth and said, "That, Z, it may not be what you imagined, I didn't borrow money to play or do something bitch-reared, my daughter is sick, but I have no money on me, and my credit card is frozen......"

"How much does it cost?" Chamberlain simply asked directly.

West said, "Four thousand." ”

Chamberlain took out his bank card and said, "You come with me, I don't have so much money on me now, let me go and withdraw the money first." ”

He took West to the nearby JPMorgan Chase Bank, where he had a silver card, which Winnie handled for him, and he could enjoy many member services, such as no need to queue for large withdrawals. Chamberlain took $10,000 and counted out eight thousand and handed it to West.

He felt that West should need more than four thousand dollars, and maybe he would borrow it in several parts, but Chamberlain believed that with West's usual withdrawn style, he might not have many friends, especially those who could borrow money at will.

Chamberlain was worried that West would go to loan sharks, which would cause unnecessary problems for the team.

West counted, looked up and asked, "Eight thousand?" ”

Chamberlain patted him on the shoulder and said, "You take it first, I lent you 4,000 yuan, and the other 4,000 yuan is the New Year's gift I gave to your daughter on behalf of the brothers in the team. ”

West nodded silently, slammed the money into his pocket and left, without saying that he wanted to leave an IOU, nor did he thank Chamberlain, maybe this was his temper.

Chamberlain didn't care much, he felt that although West was withdrawn and rigid, he was not the kind of villain who borrowed money and didn't pay it back. The most important thing is that he is not short of money now, West's previous appearance reminded him of his past self, when he was also short of money, but his pride forced him to not bow his head and borrow money casually, that kind of painful taste, he deeply understood.

After sending West away, Chamberlain got into Winnie's car, which was actually his car, the Dodge Ram, but it had been Winnie driving it lately. Li Qun suggested that Chamberlain go to get a driver's license, and even Shirley was preparing to take the driver's license test.

According to the U.S. highway law, U.S. citizens can take the driver's license test from the age of 16, but the test is 1 license, and you need to be accompanied by someone who has obtained a lifetime driver's license to go on the road, and you can take the full driver's license at the age of 17, and you can transfer to a lifetime driver's license after five years. California's laws are more lenient, and you can get a driver's license at the age of fifteen, while Chamberlain was nineteen.

The negotiation team sent by adidas booked a small conference room at the Plaza Hotel in San Francisco, which is not well-known abroad, especially in Asia, and is in fact the most upscale hotel in the United States, and the grade is even higher than that of the Hilton Hotel, which is also a five-star hotel, and the presidential suite costs more than $10,000 a night.

The time was set at seven o'clock in the evening, Winnie and Chamberlain arrived at 6:50, when they arrived, Adidas' people were already waiting there, after entering the door, the two sides briefly greeted each other, and then cut to the topic, Adidas made an offer to Chamberlain, the price is 20 million US dollars for endorsement fees for five years, and a signed boot will be launched every quarter.

Getting this offer, Chamberlain was a little dissatisfied, and Winnie was directly enraged, she slapped the contract on the table with a gloomy face, and asked with a sneer: "This is the sincerity you showed?" 20 million in five years, are you kidding? ”

Chamberlain was prepared, in the NBA's shoe endorsement game, "big men don't sell shoes" has long been the golden rule, the most shabby of all sneaker contracts is often the interior superstar, to take one of the most famous examples, that is Karl Malone, who has barely been awarded a decent shoe contract and can only wear some second- or third-rate unknown sneakers for most of his career. The most shabby thing is that at one point he even had to pay for his own shoes to wear.

And the sad thing is that this situation is not only encountered by Malone, Robinson, Olajuwon, Mourning, Mutombo, these top interior players, none of them have won a big contract for sneaker endorsements, the only exception is O'Neal, it is because of his ability to play treasures, so he got a big contract.

In the early days of his career, Malone mainly wore veteran sneakers Converse, although because Jordan-led Nike was impacting the basketball shoe market, and Converse's influence in the NBA at that time was declining, they still refused to believe in Malone's influence, and just gave Malone a pair of sneakers and a sponsorship fee that was better than nothing. And when Malone gradually sat on the throne of the first striker in the West and hoped that Converse could increase endorsement funds, Converse announced the termination of the contract with Malone without thinking.

After breaking up with Converse, Malone struggled to find a new sneaker contract and finally had to accept a contract from a niche brand, Laguerre. Laguerre's owner is the well-known Michael Jackson, who was founded in 1979 and is largely focused on leisure and body shaping. And in the early 90s, when they entered the NBA, they only used 150,000 yuan a year to get Malone and another super interior Olajuwon.

With Laguerre's exit from the NBA market in the mid-90s, Malone, who had no shoes to wear, had to pay for shoes himself. The dignified NBA's No. 1 power forward actually needs to pay for shoes himself? Naturally, this became a joke for a while. In 1996, Marlon came up with a "clever plan" when he and a few friends invested in the acquisition of a bankrupt sneaker manufacturer called APEX, and began to advocate for himself

Because I am not happy that I have to spend money to buy shoes, I simply spend money to set up a factory to make shoes for myself? This is undoubtedly a bad deal because of a small loss. As a result, within two years, Malone gave up on APEX. After that, in 2000, he officially re-signed with the former brand sponsor Converse, and the annual endorsement fee was less than 300,000, while the endorsement fee of the budding Maddie in the same period was 20 times that of him, and the endorsement fee was still increasing every year.

Big men have never had an advantage in acting as sneakers, and even Yao Ming didn't change this rule, and in a sense, the Great Wall of China, which swept the entire business world, was also the frustrated sneaker war. In 2003, when he was facing a contract extension with NIKE, NIKE was only willing to offer a 4-year ultra-low new contract of 1.6 million US dollars, and Yao Ming signed a 4-year contract of 200,000 US dollars with NIKE when he was in the CBA, and NIKE thought that the new contract had increased 8 times was good enough. However, during the same period, NIKE provided LeBron with a 7-year 90 million fat contract

Yao Ming has always been low-key and humble, and at that time, he thought that it was okay to get an endorsement fee with an annual salary of 400,000 yuan, but when he learned about Nike's sky-high contracts for rookies such as LeBron and Anthony, he was immediately angered. Since then, Yao Ming broke up with Nike completely, and turned against each other, and finally cooperated with Reebok, and the contract was 50 million for seven years, not even half of the little emperor's contract.

In terms of strength, Yao Ming is naturally not as good as the little emperor LeBron, but in terms of commercial value, Yao Ming, who is enough to lead the direction of Asia, can definitely throw out the little emperor a Pacific Ocean.

Chamberlain was mentally prepared when he came, that is, he might only get a base salary contract, but Adidas still went too far, and the contract he was given was too base salary.

Of course, Adidas is also qualified to do this, first of all, their main market is football, and the NBA is only their secondary market, which is not very important. In addition, in the NBA, they also have strong enough spokespersons, that is, Maddy, Garnett, Duncan, Billups and Arenas, who are known as the Adi Five Tigers.

Winnie and Adidas argued, but the latter did not back down, and they refused to accept Winnie's offer of a contract that would match Nike's contract with LeBron, the little emperor, at least nine million for seven years. In Adi's view, this is an impossible sky-high contract, even if Garnett or Duncan, two super interior players who have already made a name for themselves in the NBA, can't get such a contract.

Since it can't be negotiated, there is no need to talk about it anymore, Adidas hopes that Winnie will lower his requirements, they are very optimistic about Chamberlain, this guy's fierce style of play is really well received by the market, but Winnie is unwilling to sell Chamberlain at a low price, so this negotiation will not end.

Winnie invited Adidas and Reebok successively, and this negotiation ended, and the second began again.

Compared with Adidas, Reebok is bound to Chamberlain, although the former is very optimistic about Chamberlain's potential and market dominance, but the latter's image is not quite consistent with their market culture, Adidas is marked as gentleman and elegant, even if it is violent, it is also elegant violence.

And what about Chamberlain? Rebellious, rebellious, arrogant, tough, brave, and destructive. All of this is exactly what Reebok is pursuing culturally, and their biggest star, Allen Iverson, represents all of this, and has sold countless sneakers for them.

In Reebok's view, Chamberlain is the second AI, and it is also a large AI with the Asian market......

Winnie knew that, too.