Seventy-Eight: Making Money Like Flowing Water

Jeff Austin arrived in Memphis at noon the day after he called Link for Link's shoe contract.

After calling Link yesterday, Link was obviously bewildered. After all, it happened without warning. Moreover, there are free sneakers to wear and money to take. This kind of thing is a bit dreamy for Link, who was an ordinary person in his previous life.

In the NBA, sneaker contracts are practically one per person. According to Jeff Austin's statistics, only 1 out of 15 players in the NBA does not have a shoe contract. Therefore, as long as you are a solid rotation of a team, you can basically get a shoe contract. It's just that it depends on whether the amount of the shoe contract is small or large.

Superstars like Kobe and James have their own exclusive series of signature shoes. And most NBA players, basically signed equipment contracts. That is, the shoe company provides the full set of gear players need to play and train, but otherwise don't get paid. And those gears are all basic, so you can't pick a good one.

Therefore, not all players who sign a shoe contract can make a lot of money.

Jeff Austin had long expected that after Link officially signed the contract, he would attract the attention of sneaker manufacturers, but he did not expect to attract all the offers from the three majors at one time.

From this point of view, Link's commercial value may be greater than Jeff Austin imagined.

In order not to disturb Link's training, Jeff Austin went directly to the FedEx Arena. He met Link in the arena office area, and soon had to go elsewhere for other business.

"Training is serious, huh?" Jeff Austin, who was sitting on the sofa, smiled when he saw the sweaty Link appear in front of him.

"No way, where is the 2 million so easy to get. Oh, by the way, more than 1.2 million to be exact." Link smiled and casually complained about the terrible tax rate of NBA players.

"Have you thought about what happened last night? All three of them are waiting for my reply. As long as you say a word, the equipment will be delivered immediately."

"Well...you said yesterday that the contracts offered to me by these three companies are almost indistinguishable?"

"Yes, in the big market, everyone's first sneaker contract is this price. Adidas, Nike, and Jordan are all willing to give you a two-year, $2 million cash contract. That is to say, in addition to being able to use In addition to their equipment, you have $1 million a year in your account. A rookie shoe contract is about $200,000 to $700,000. So, the price they gave is actually not too low. It's half your annual salary."

As a seasoned manager, Jeff Austin knows these procedures all too well. He didn't even need to count, to know whether a quotation was sincere or not.

And Austin also knows that the first contract is just a stepping stone. As long as Link continues to perform like this, his sneaker contract will get bigger and bigger. Maybe even a signature shoe.

After listening to the quotation of the sneaker contract, Link lowered his head and smiled, to be honest, it was not as high as he thought. To put it bluntly, I still don't have 100% trust from everyone. But it is also true. Before crossing over, Link knew that Nike had terminated the contract with Chinese player Zhou Qi, because Zhou Qi did not perform as expected in the NBA.

Although these three companies are not bad money, but the money is not flooded. They have to make sure that every effort they make is worth it. At that time, if there is news of the termination of the contract, both parties will be very embarrassed. So in the beginning, there is nothing wrong with it. After all, that's what most rookies do.

"Well, go for Nike. They have more variety in their gear and maybe find a shoe that fits really well."

After Link made a decision, Jeff Austin nodded, and then made a phone call. After hanging up the phone, Austin made an "OK" gesture to Link,

"When you go home at night, you should be able to receive the equipment from Nike. Of course, tomorrow or the day after, the payment will be credited to your account."

Link smiled with relief, playing in the NBA, money really seems to be rushing in.

※※※

As always, Link gave himself an extra half hour after his regular training session. Now, Link's extra training is mainly based on three-point shooting and confrontational layups. For him, these are the two most cost-effective offensive options.

As long as the three-point shooting rate is stable, there is no need to worry about finding a job in the NBA. And the guaranteed hit rate in the confrontation and layup can also make Link's offensive methods less single.

Seeing that the little white bars were gradually filled up and his current strength improved, Link didn't feel tired at all.

In fact, now with hundreds of thousands of dollars in hand, Link can live very casually. Although Memphis is not an international metropolis, as long as you have money, you can still play anything.

However, Lin Keqiang held back his curiosity and desire, and still worked hard every day. Because he knows that he is not only responsible for himself.

After training, Link dragged his tired body home. Although he lives close to the arena, Link still habitually takes taxis. It's not that he has money to spend at will, but the law and order in Memphis at night is really not reassuring.

It was fine with Randolph and Tony Allen, but alone, as a yellow-skinned man, Link still didn't dare to wander around the streets at night.

Sitting in the taxi, Link flipped through his phone boredly. Instead, he found an unread text message, which he thought was from a Nike employee. But when I opened it, the sender was Rachel.

When a girl sent a message to him, Link immediately regained his spirits. As a young man who is in a restless age, he is surrounded by men every day, and life must occasionally need a woman to adjust it.

"What are you doing?" The message was sent half an hour ago, when Link was still showering.

"Just finished training." Link went back immediately. Speaking of which, Americans didn't seem to like using chat software very much, which made Link a little uncomfortable.

"I heard that you signed a contract with Nike?" Within seconds, Rachel returned the message. Link really didn't expect that the girl would return to herself so quickly.

"how do you know?"

"Hahaha, it seems that you underestimated the speed of your news. Thank you, Link."

"Thank me? Why?"

"You gave me the courage to pick up my dreams again, I decided, I'm going to pick up basketball again."

"Do you want to play the NCAA?" Link asked curiously. Could he change Rachel's life trajectory?

"No, I decided to embrace basketball in a different way. I want to be a basketball reporter, Link. Maybe I can interview you on the court in the future?"

Link pouted, he didn't know how in the original history, Rachel thought of becoming a basketball reporter and basketball show host. But in this history, I seem to have become one of the reasons why the basketball goddess was born.

The two then exchanged two more greetings, and then said good night to each other. After getting off the taxi, Link was still thinking about it. Maybe in this history, Andre Robertson, who has just entered the NCAA, will never meet a girlfriend who shoots better than him.

"Damn, what are you thinking about!?" Link shook his head, how could such a serious person think about so many messy things.

Approaching the door, Link found a large box in the yard. The huge hook logo on the box is very conspicuous, presumably this must be the equipment sent by Nike.

Link wanted to drag the box home first, but found that it was unexpectedly heavy. So, he simply opened the box directly in the yard. Then, Link's mouth widened.

The equipment sent by Nike can be described in four words - it's a lot!