On the morning of October 28, Coach Brooks gave the Thunder a half-day vacation, and the big win at home made the whole team very satisfied, although the 29th was going to Detroit, but after a big win, a simple rest is the best reward.

This season, the Thunder's surge in live broadcasts across the United States has also put Durant and his agent Kleiman into happy troubles, and in the offseason, they just signed a 10-year, $300 million super-large contract with Nike, but there are also a lot of additional terms on this contract.

For example, the playing time of the new season, the average points per game in the new season, whether you can start as an All-Star in the new season, various honors in the new season, Nike activities in the offseason, Nike training camp in the offseason...

After a series of terms were signed, Durant saw the thick requirements on the contract and felt like he had become a walking advertising machine.

"Can we ask Nike to change my Gen 1 signature sneaker, I want to use a weave construction on the upper to make the sneaker more integrated, like Kayce's Flow sneaker, and some boring games, I don't want to play in garbage time."

Durant has been looking at Li Ze's signed sneakers since he saw it, and after the opening game of the new season, he immediately called his agent home, thinking of Nike's harsh contract, Durant was a little depressed.

"Kevin, Nike needs to make money, and you also have a 5% share of the sales of each pair of shoes, you are now their biggest investment star, they have to get a return on you, Nike will control the cost of sneakers, they will use their own mature technology, this is market behavior!"

"As for playing time, you have to fully comply with the requirements of the contract, I've already said hello to the Thunder side, don't be willful, want to have a huge commercial value, you need Nike's help at the moment."

Agent Kleiman can't hope that there will be any mistakes in this big contract, the NBA agent's commission is up to 4% of the player's contract amount, but in terms of market sponsorship contracts, the agent's commission is usually 10%~15%, and Kleiman took 10% of the commission this time.

After Durant heard Kleiman's words, he sighed helplessly, and then went on to ask:

"I remember there was an issue in Sports Illustrated about LeBron James' investment and sponsorship portfolio, and he had close to $150 million in sponsorship business, when are we going to get to that level?"

Kleiman, the economic man, was helpless when he heard Durant's inquiry, and then carefully explained:

"The Goodwin brothers do have energy, in the sports agent space, it's amazing that kind of sponsorship business, Kevin, you should be patient and look at James signing to brands, Nike, Coca-Cola, Upper

Deck and, more recently, Cadbury Schweppes' chewing gum. ”

"These brands don't over-consume his image, we have to follow the same strategy, the new season with a lot of national live streaming and the help of Nike, your business value will also skyrocket, you just need to keep your own data and try to increase some hit rate!"

Durant nodded approvingly when he heard the previous words, but when he heard the shooting rate, he suddenly complained helplessly:

"Maintaining a shooting rate of more than 40 per cent is already a very high level of competition, and not every player can easily approach the 180 club."

"You can't be the one who came to me when you saw Kayce's data, right? That's too much to ask! I'm under a completely different defensive pressure now. ”

"I'm just asking you to be prepared a little bit in advance, you know, the more live streams in the U.S., the more attention you get, the media and the pundits will amplify your behavior, and the same 18 shots or so, you're hitting less than Kayce, and I'm afraid you're going to be criticized later."

"After all, you are the one who takes the most money in the Thunder team, once your performance is not the best in the team, the media reporters will definitely not let this go, if you don't want to see these brainless accusations, Kevin, you can only raise your requirements for yourself!"

“......”

Durant was speechless when he heard the words of his agent Kleiman, he was already very concerned about his opinion of himself in the unexpected world, and when he thought that this might happen in the future, Durant wanted to directly pick up the keyboard and spray the garbage media who didn't understand the ball at all.

At the same time, Li Ze also met Chapman, who had been working crazy before, Big Machine Records released two albums on August 10 and October 25, Chapman has been busy from the beginning of the year to now, and now that the album is on sale, he can finally take a break for a while.

"Congratulations on another great success! It's a lot better than I expected, and it seems that the independent record label is still growing! ”

Li Ze poured a glass of juice for Chapman in front of him and said with a smile.

"I don't know if it's really a success, maybe it would be better for you and Taylor to sign Sony Music or Universal Music Development, but in terms of making money, we did make a lot of money."

"Kayce, the company has received endorsement invitations from many beverage brands, among which Pepsi is very sincere, they are the official sports drink sponsor of the NBA, of course Coca-Cola also has an endorsement contract, you know, Sprite is the official soda of the NBA."

"Choose one of these two, I can help you get at least 6 years and 25 million endorsement contracts, what do you think about this?"

Hearing Chapman's words, Li Ze pondered for a moment, then shook his head with a smile, and said with the appearance that I saw through you:

"I know you're not optimistic about these two endorsements, tell me your chicken soup story, and what did you learn from Steve Stott?"

"You can always guess what I'm thinking, you don't look like a 20-year-old at all!"

Chapman took a sip of juice and then spoke:

"In 2003, Queens, New York-based Cooloz was producing a drink called Vitamin-Water, which was just three years old, and it was gaining momentum, with annual sales of more than $100 million."

"You might think it's a good result, but they're not as good as Pepsi and Coca-Cola's smallest branded drinks, but the company believes in influencer marketing, and they made a deal with the most popular young athlete in the New York area, David Wright of the New York Jets."

After Wright became the face of Vitamin-Water, he acquired another 0.5% stake in the brand's drink, and then they went with 50

Cent has secured a major sponsorship contract. ”

"Speaking of this, I actually experienced it myself, 50

Cent's costume props in the MV are the ones I am responsible for, and Vitamin-Water can find 50

Cent, it's because they saw the music video. ”

"Three years later, Vitamin-Water launched 50

Cent's personalized flavor formula, which also helped the company achieve a huge increase in sales, and finally Coca-Cola acquired Vitamin-Water for more than $4 billion. ”

"And 50

If Cent sells his share agreement, his income is likely to be close to $100 million, Kayce, if you are looking for more long-term benefits, I suggest you choose a start-up brand of sports drink, not just to be a spokesperson, but to get a stake and participate in a deeper collaboration. ”

After listening to Chapman's chicken soup story, Li Ze laughed and teased:

"You Amerika people, you like to tell stories in everything, just send me your alternative next time, I believe in your choice, you know, I have always pursued long-term interests."

After teasing the other party, Li Ze took the document handed to him by Chapman again, carefully browsed through various small brands of sports drinks, and after seeing the brand BodyArmor, Li Ze subconsciously had some future memories in his mind, and then said:

"Just BodyArmor! Don't ask me why, sometimes my instincts are right, just like when we chose country music, I think this brand will also grow in the future, invest in them, and try to get a 10% stake. ”

Chapman doesn't care, he has been taught Li Ze's intuition for many years, and the big machine record company can develop smoothly, relying on Li Ze's intuition back then, and the contract is done, Chapman also gossiped about Li Ze with a smile:

"How do you and Shakira get along? When I was at Sony Music, there were several factions inside, and in Spanish, Shakira was very influential, and if you also wanted to get into the Spanish market, she would definitely be of great help, and I really didn't have a better resource than her in this regard. ”

When Li Ze heard Chapman's gossip, he couldn't help but pout, and then said helplessly:

"Don't think I'm so utilitarian, okay? And we're just good friends, skateboarding, surfing, shopping, reading, studying, music, dancing, food, we're just getting along with each other, not at all like the media reports... The Sun is full of fabricated news. ”

"Keep being your best friend! But don't think Shakira too simply, the other party is not the kind of ignorant third-rate singer, I will take care of the sports drink contract! ”

“......”

On October 29, the Thunder flew to Detroit, where they will take on the Pistons on the road, and with Ben Wallace's retirement, the former Pistons Five will be a thing of the past, and the Pistons got off to a bad start to the season and lost to the Nets.

Li Ze naturally also paid attention to this game, after all, this is the new season debut of the United Arab Emirates, and the result did not disappoint, 13 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and 1 block, the performance was decent, and interestingly, 6 of the 13 points came from three-point shots.

The fans of the Celestial Empire are also very satisfied with the performance of the United Arab Emirates, although the style of play is not tough enough, most of them are iron-blooded jump shots, but the data is good-looking, and the fans are not very demanding, scoring double-doubles, rebounding five or six, which is fine, as for the Nets winning or losing, the fans don't care at all.

Since getting on the plane, Durant has been looking at gossip magazines, which has also aroused everyone's curiosity, and Jeff Green couldn't help but ask:

"What's wrong, Kevin? How to read those boring gossip magazines all the time, let's come to Texas Hold'em together! ”

Durant replied casually without raising his head:

"Scarlett is going to be single again, and many reporters are reporting that she is currently in a state of separation and may be able to regain her freedom by the end of the year!"

"Oh! My God! You haven't even forgotten that woman! ”

Durant didn't care about everyone's exclamations, and then spoke;

"Maybe I should interact with her on Twitter first, contact the relationship in advance, and then we can date!"

Li Ze suddenly thought that Durant, who signed two big contracts, should be regarded as a person with 100 million yuan, and after these two big contracts, maybe he can really hook up with each other, for the sake of the face of the American knife, maybe Scarlett will really date Durant.

Everyone on the Thunder team also thought of this, and when they looked at Durant again, they felt that the other party was exuding the color of a beautiful knife, and he was indeed a little handsome...

Auburn Hills Palace Stadium tonight's attendance is average, the team's results are poor, many fans will not want to buy tickets to support, after all, no one wants to watch the home team lose, accustomed to the frenetic home atmosphere of the Russian City, and it is slightly uncomfortable to play away from home.

The turtle was also a little uninterested, the Pistons fans should be lying flat, the audience didn't care about winning or losing the game, everyone probably regarded tonight's game as a large-scale entertainment.

After more than 7 minutes in the first quarter, the Pistons only scored 12 points, and if you want to talk about the specific reason, it is definitely Li Ze who completely froze Richard Hamilton on the defensive end.

The opponent's off-ball running position has never been able to shake off Li Ze's pursuit, and the bonus of [off-ball running killer] + [marking master] allows Li Ze to faintly predict the opponent's running, and at the expense of physical fitness, Li Ze frantically defended Hamilton after the opening.

His keen perception makes Li Ze feel like a fish in water on the field, and the bonus of the [Defensive Core] badge also allows him to make full use of the team's defensive system.

Ronald Starkey saw that the team's big brother was no longer good, so he had to carry the offensive banner, but unfortunately he didn't feel good after the opening, causing the Pistons' offense to become more and more constipated.

Austin Daye received Ronald Starkey's breakthrough ball under the basket, dribbled a step, played high, and forced the inside, the Thunder's defense retracted again at this time, and Austin Daye hooked the basket and knocked out the basket.

After Kostic received the rebound, a pass to the turtle, the Thunder team launched a conversion offense again, everyone rushed through the half court, at this time the Pistons' defense had not had time to align, Li Ze, who got an empty opportunity outside the three-point line, received the pass and jumped directly.

"Huh...", converted three points and hit steadily.

The Pistons fans at the scene didn't react much, and everyone would exclaim a few times after the opening, but the Thunder's conversion offense came in waves, and the score difference was huge, so no one cared about these problems.

The Thunder was defending and converting offense in the first quarter, the Pistons pulled across the outside, and were overwhelmed by the Thunder's offense in less than half a quarter, and by the end of the first quarter, 33:21, the Thunder led by 12 points in the first quarter.

At the intermission, everyone on the Thunder's bench looked relaxed, and Daquien Cook looked at Coach Brooks with blank eyes, he only got more than 8 minutes of game time in the last game, and seeing that the team was downwind again, Cook also wanted to go up and perform.

It's just that Soflosa's defense is crucial to the team, and in the second quarter of the lineup, Coach Brooks still chose to use Li Ze and Sofrosa to partner in the backcourt, and Jeff Green, Ibaka, and Collison also rotated on the court.

Before the game, the host Yu Jia and the guest Zhang Weiping analyzed all kinds of things, and after the game started, the performance was completely different, and the two were also a little embarrassed at this time.

In the second quarter of the game, the Thunder took the lead in attacking, and as soon as Li Ze passed the half, he found that Jason Markhill came directly to the defense, which made Li Ze a little speechless, the opponent's low post defense was good, but the agility was much worse, obviously this was not a good defensive choice.

Li Ze didn't need his teammates to block and dismantle, seeing the opponent sticking to the defense, outside the three-point line, the center of gravity of his body was lower, and his right hand was quickly in

and

out, then quickly changed direction under the crotch, accelerated the breakthrough with the ball in his left hand, and Jason Markhill hurriedly slid backwards.

Just dribbled past the three-point line, at this time, Li Ze suddenly dribbled twice vigorously on the spot with his left hand, instantly changing the rhythm of the offense, and then quickly dribbling behind his back, and retreating outside the three-point line to shoot a jumper.

The three-point shot hollowed into the net.

"Hey! Pregnant! That's what we often call aggressive, that is, to play aggressively! ”

Li Ze only scored 6 points in the first quarter, and Coach Zhang was not very active, which saw the shooting of three-pointers, and suddenly began to blow again.

"Nonsense! Gotta give it to Li Ze! To be lost, to be lost... Ooh! It's really in, Soflosa is acting okay..."

"The Thunder are just chasing ass and beating, good shot! Li Ze is really powerful, Bang Bang burst in twice and made an easy layup! ”

"Although this goal didn't score, Li Ze has to play like this!"

"Haha, look at Li Ze's calling, how to fight! The Pistons' defense is not good! ”

The host Yu Jia was completely speechless at this time, good guy, Director Zhang was completely free of himself, blowing wildly at Li Ze, coupled with the fast pace of the Thunder team's attack, Yu Jia was completely unable to interject at this time.

And Li Ze started in the second quarter, and scored another 10-point personal wave to lay the foundation for the Thunder to win the game, and the Pistons head coach John Kuster on the sidelines could only sigh helplessly in his heart, he had a hunch that the season was over, the results were not good, and he was about to leave class.

After the start of the second half, the Pistons were unable to organize an effective counterattack, but the atmosphere in the arena was not bad, after all, the Thunder played really good, plus a variety of interactive activities, the audience was very happy to watch...

In the end, at 114:92, the Thunder team playing away easily defeated the opponent and won two consecutive victories in the opening game.

Li Ze played 40 minutes, got 28 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals, including 4 of 5 three-pointers, and generally didn't sweat, Durant was forced to work in garbage time, and also scored 26 points, plus Turtle's 22 points, the trio contributed 70+ steadily.

"The Pistons are really not good, I feel like they will be difficult to make the playoffs this season, and the Auburn Hills Palace Arena will not have the atmosphere of the year."

After the game, Turtle Turtle couldn't help but miss the former Pistons team, the Bad Boy Army and the Pistons Five Tigers were gone.

When Li Ze heard the turtle's words, his future memories of the Thunder team suddenly appeared in his mind, and he sighed silently in his heart:

"The Pistons have been brilliant and won championships, but as for the Thunder, they will not be as good as the other party in the future..."

On October 31, the Thunder will host the Utah Jazz, who lost to the Nuggets and Suns at the beginning of the season, and are currently on a two-game losing streak and in dire need of a soft persimmon.

The Jazz have also made a big change this season, with two new signings in this game, Raja Bell and Al Jefferson, both in the starting lineup, plus Deron Williams, Andrei Kirilenko, and Paul Millsap, forming the starting lineup for this game.

The Thunder started with two consecutive wins, were in good shape, and had the blessing of the home court, and after the opening, the old coach Sloan frowned on the sidelines.

The veteran Laga Bell is completely unable to limit Li Ze, the Laga Bell who once followed the Suns to play 7 seconds of offense is no longer here, and the years have taken away the veteran's explosiveness...

After playing for more than three minutes in the first quarter, Li Ze began to signal his teammates to play more cross-cut tactics of double cover, Millsap and Jefferson are not very good at defensive blocking and dismantling, and after double covering on both sides, once they switch to Li Ze, these two will have numb scalps.

Noticing that the Thunder team played the same tactic again, Millsap hardened his head and quickly switched Li Ze to the front of him, noticing that the opponent was strictly guarding his left hand, after Li Ze received the ball, he directly exerted force under his feet, held the ball in his right hand, and broke through in steps.

Millsap noticed that Li Ze's body center of gravity was rapidly decreasing, and he sensed that this was wrong, and just wanted to slide to defend, but Li Ze passed it in one step and killed the penalty area.

Al Jefferson, who ignored the defense, just entered the paint area, jumped directly with his feet, bent his body into a big bow, and a powerful one-armed tomahawk buckle!

"Bang..."Breakthrough dunk success.

"Ahh

The audience at the Ford Center Arena began to cheer for Li Ze's dunk, and the Russian City fans found out that as long as they were at home, Li Ze would increase his dunks, which made the fans who spent money to buy tickets very happy and made money!

The Jazz quickly sent a baseline ball, and after Deron Williams and Al Jefferson played a pick-and-roll, they immediately hit the ground and passed to Jefferson, who just received the ball, and Li Ze's help defense quickly rotated into place, and Jefferson hurriedly threw the ball into the hands of Raja Bell on the outside.

The latter received the ball and made a quick jumper from beyond the three-point line.

"Huh..."Three-point shot hollow net.

The Thunder were not affected by the Jazz's offense at all, and continued the double-cover tactic, Durant failed to successfully receive the ball on the right side of the three-point line, and the turtle immediately made a gesture and played another cross-cut tactic for Li Ze.

Through the double cover of the two elbows at the free throw line, Li Ze successfully received the ball one step away from the left three-point line, and without waiting for Millsap, who came over to switch, Li Ze made a long-distance three-point jumper.

"Huh..."The three-pointer hit steadily.

Millsap had only one thought in mind at this time:

"It's so painful to play with you..."

Gordon Hayward on the Jazz bench watched Li Ze play at close range, and his scalp was a little numb, he was afraid that Coach Sloan would suddenly let him play against Li Ze, but the good was not working, the bad spirit, the old coach Sloan suddenly greeted at this time:

"Gordon, get ready, change Raga Bell, your task after you get on the court is to chase down Lee, and when you encounter cover, you have to squeeze through quickly and don't give the opponent a chance to shoot easily!"

“... Okay, Coach..."

After the official timeout came back, Li Ze noticed that his opponent had become fair-skinned, blonde-haired, and looked like Hayward, who had a weak temperament, and felt that the other party was a little nervous, Li Ze smiled and teased:

"Relax, man, I'm a rookie too, we can simply play the ball!"

“......”

Hayward didn't speak, still staring at Li Ze, seeing that Li Ze suddenly started with the help of Kostic's cover, and quickly bombed, Hayward hurriedly followed.

When Li Ze received the ball outside the left three-point line, he noticed that Hayward's defense was very close, and after his body shook, he suddenly quickly lowered his center of gravity, exerted force under his feet, and crossed steps to break through with the ball in his left hand.

This step was fast and fierce, and when Hayward slid back to defend, he was directly hit by Li Ze with his shoulder, and then without waiting for him to foul, after two strong dribbles, Li Ze jumped with both feet again, and the one-arm buckle of his left hand!

"Bang..."Breakthrough dunk success.

"Whew!!"

The fans of the Russian city screamed excitedly, and they saw such a passionate dunk after the opening, and the game was so cool to watch!

"Oh!! Looking at Hayward's helpless expression, he must have forgotten the pre-game coach's explanation, Kayce successfully taught the rookie a lesson! Rookie! Welcome to the NBA! ”

Twin, the home commentator on the sidelines, ignored that and directly mocked Hayward.

Fortunately, in the rest of the first quarter, Li Ze did not attack frequently, but actively ran to cover, opened up offensive space for the turtle and Durant, and at the same time, successfully fed Kostic and Jeff Green.

When it came to the break, Hayward also breathed a sigh of relief, as a rookie player, what he was most afraid of was being blown up by opposing players on the defensive end, rookies had to start from defense, if he didn't perform well on the defensive end, the old coach Sloan wouldn't give him too much playing time.

It's just that after the start of the second quarter of the game, Hayward felt like he had fallen into a nightmare, the Thunder attacked, Li Ze passed half court, quickly handed the ball to Soflosa, and then directly began to ask for the ball in the waist position.

Hayward subconsciously put his forearm on Li Ze, and before he could feel the offensive movement, he was slapped twice by Li Ze with his back, and then without waiting for him to react, Li Ze had already quickly closed the ball and threw a backward jumper...

"Whew...", a steady hit from mid-range.

The front row of Russian City fans saw Hayward standing stunned, and they all began to laugh and taunt the rookie rookie.

"Go down, kid! You're not ready! Kayce is really going to destroy you! ”

When the Jazz attacked, Hayward began to feel Li Ze's defensive aggression again, he didn't dare to make a change of direction in front of Li Ze, he vaguely felt that as long as he exposed the ball, he would lose the ball.

The Jazz went around on the outside, and finally CJ Myers hit a jumper from beyond the three-point line, Collison took the rebound and immediately passed the ball to Li Ze, the Thunder quickly launched a transition offense, and the audience at Ford Center began to cheer loudly for the home team:

“OKC！ OKC！ OKC！ ”

Just after half the court, the Thunder quickly passed the ball on the outside, Jeff Green failed to get an open three-point opportunity, and the ball returned to Li Ze's hands again, at this time Ibaka came over to feign blocking and dismantling, Hayward noticed Ibaka's movements, and subconsciously defended Li Ze.

But just as Hayward's feet moved, Li Ze's right hand quickly went in

and

out, feigned a breakthrough on the right side, and then a large change of direction in front of the body, accelerated the breakthrough with the ball in his left hand, and Hayward's defense was broken through instantly.

Seeing Andrei Kirilenko retract to assist in the defense, Li Ze, who was on the move, shook his left wrist and hit the ground and passed to Ibaka, who received the ball and easily dunked it with both hands!

"Roar!!"

Ibaka, who won the dunk, screamed, and the fans in the city also shouted happily, and the difference had reached 10 points, a double-digit lead, making fans realize that victory was already beckoning to them.

In the next game, the Jazz's defense couldn't limit the Thunder's offense at all, and when the main team replayed in the third quarter, Durant scored two three-pointers in a row and completely opened the score.

And the new Hayward sat on the bench at this time, without saying a word, looking down, originally he was still holding a fluke mentality, everyone is a rookie player, the gap is not big, but after the hand, I found that there was a world of difference.

Thinking that he was a few months older than Li Ze, Hayward was autistic...

At 94:110, the Thunder won comfortably at home against the Jazz.

Defeated by the opponent's three-pointer from the outside for the second game in a row, Deron William looked very ugly, and he thought that the team's tactics were wrong.

The old handsome Sloan naturally saw the dissatisfaction in Delong's heart, but the old man didn't particularly care, it was just a loss, it was no big deal.

Li Ze got 24 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 turnover and 1 steal in this game, and after the Jazz team lost Boozer, the tactical play is still being adjusted.

After the game, noticing that rookie Hayward was a little depressed, Li Ze immediately stepped forward and comforted:

"Man! Don't care about the outcome of the game, the most important thing for a rookie is to learn to grow in the game, and losing is the best nourishment! ”

Hayward was even more depressed when he heard Li Ze's words, the Thunder won last season, but you told me that losing was nourishment? Squeezed out a smile and reluctantly said:

"I feel so much better... I will continue to work hard! ”

Li Ze patted the other party's shoulder, and said with a sigh:

"Actually, I also want to lose more and find my shortcomings, but... Ay... Let's do it together! ”

“......”

Back in the locker room, everyone on the Thunder team was smiling, three consecutive wins in the new season, a wonderful start, Coach Brooks was also in a good mood, but thinking that there would be consecutive back-to-back games away from home the day after tomorrow, he still reminded:

"We're going back tonight and getting some rest, and we're going to fly to Los Angeles the day after tomorrow, and then we're going to Portland for the first back-to-back game of the season, so you've got to get fit."

Li Ze also realized at this time that the day after tomorrow was a game with the Clippers, and he didn't see his surface brother Griffin in the offseason, and he didn't know how this guy recovered.

"This guy can't already be dating Jenner, right? Beasts, even the underage of A..."

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