Chapter 95: Raymond

The name of the Denver Nuggets' home arena is: Pepsi Center.

When Fan Xi and his teammates entered this arena by bus, Fan Xi's agent representative was sitting in an office rented in Los Angeles, negotiating an endorsement contract with Pepsi representatives.

Fan Xi's crazy achievements in the All-Star Game pushed Fan Xi's reputation to an incredible level. He was the first player in history to complete a Grand Slam on All-Star Weekend, and he was a rookie player. Moreover, his identity as an All-Star was in the form of "extra attachment."

At that time, everyone thought he was going to mix a familiar face, and might even be frozen by the angry Chris Paul. But unexpectedly, Fan Xi was not frozen by Paul, nor was he targeted and torn apart by the Eastern superstars.

On the contrary, he appeared out of nowhere, showed his heroic spirit at a critical moment, and directed the counter-kill at the critical moment with Nowitzki. Finally, he won the All-Star MVP.

Although there were some voices after the game saying that Nowitzki had made great contributions and should have won the MVP. But the German Tank's stats couldn't compare to Fan Xi's, and the final assassination was completed by Fan Xi.

Therefore, Fan Xi's reputation was pushed to an unprecedented height.

If before the All-Star Weekend, the discussion about rookies was mainly concentrated on which of the two top picks should be the Rookie of the Year. After the All-Star Weekend, people were more concerned about: Will Fan Xi become the strongest rookie of the 2010 class?

Although Fan Xi was "lowly" born, an undrafted player, the miracles he created had already surpassed the surprises brought to people by the two top picks.

Therefore, Lu Yuan naturally said to the person in charge of Pepsi: "It's not too much for us to get 5 million US dollars from you every year."

Pepsi's person in charge, Tony, was simply stunned. He looked at this yellow-skinned agent who opened his mouth like a lion with incredible eyes. He originally thought he could handle this deal very easily. After all, Pepsi's advertising investment globally was very astonishing, and they could help spokespersons gain higher influence. He originally thought this would be a resource exchange transaction, and at most pay Fan Xi 700,000 to 800,000 US dollars in endorsement fees every year.

"Do you know? Even the endorsement fee LeBron James gets from Coca-Cola will not exceed 5 million US dollars." Tony suppressed the fire in his heart and said to Lu Yuan: "Jack is just a rookie who has just emerged."

Lu Yuan shrugged his shoulders and said in an unquestionable tone: "Then you can go find LeBron James. Coca-Cola is also actively contacting us now, and their ambition for the Asian market is far beyond your imagination. I have read your report, no matter from which dimension, you have a certain distance from Coca-Cola."

"I originally thought you were here to request us, request us to help you defeat Coca-Cola, and exceed Coca-Cola in popularity and market share in the Asia-Pacific market. However, your approach makes me frustrated. Mr. Tony, you don't have the sincerity to negotiate."

Lu Yuan stood up, spread his palms, and put on a posture of seeing off guests: "I'm sorry, I have to meet the marketing director of the Ferrari brand next, they have more important things to discuss with us than you."

Tony was caught off guard. He didn't expect that he just had a shocked expression, and didn't even press the price, Lu Yuan strongly announced the suspension of contact.

Are they always this strong?

Tony Starks felt unprecedented difficulty. He only had to nod and walk out.

When walking out, Lu Yuan also offered his little suggestion: "By the way, forgot to tell you, Mr. Starks. Coca-Cola's price is very competitive. Also, there is one point you must remember. Since Jack joined the NBA, he has won both duels with LeBron James, and he was the best-performing player in the whole game."

Lu Yuan's aggressive and condescending negotiation style made Tony want to lose his temper.

But now, he was indeed in a weak position. The initiative was on Lu Yuan's side.

Tony Starks felt unprecedented difficulty; he only needed to nod and walk out.

While walking out, Lu Yuan offered a small piece of advice: "By the way, I forgot to tell you, Mr. Starks. The price Coca-Cola is offering is very competitive. Also, there is one thing you must remember. Since Jack joined the NBA, he has won both of his duels against Lebron James, and he was the best player on the court in both."

Lu Yuan's aggressive and condescending negotiation style made Tony want to lose his temper.

But right now, he was indeed in a weak position. The initiative was on Lu Yuan's side.

He had no choice but to smile and nod, politely walking out the door. As he stepped out and reached the window to call the CEO, he discovered the receptionist ushering the Ferrari representative into Lu Yuan's office.

Just as Lu Yuan had demonstrated, Jack was not lacking in potential partners at all.

His market value was astonishing.

Although there might still be some gap compared to top league superstars like Lebron James, his reach was wider; he could deeply cultivate the Asian market, especially the Chinese market.

Pepsi still had reservations about Fan Xi; they worried that Fan Xi had not been tempered by several seasons and that his playstyle and other aspects were not yet mature. If he were to fade into the crowd, their huge investment would go down the drain.

The CEO on the other end said to Tony Starks: "We will wait until we finish watching this game before making a decision. Tonight, Jack Fan will face two elite-level point guards from the Denver Nuggets."

"Although Ty Lawson and Raymond Felton are not as famous as Paul or Deron, they are both in their prime and are very physically strong. If Jack Fan can survive this, the possibility of him being a bust in the future will be greatly reduced. In that case, we can offer him some constructive bids. However, it absolutely cannot exceed five million dollars," the CEO said from the other side.

Then, he asked Tony: "The game has started. Can you hold on for three hours?"

Tony on the other end raised his head and watched the receptionist continuously queuing up clients who had come for appointments. He said: "It shouldn't be a problem. His office is bustling; many sponsors are visiting. The Ferrari representative just went in."

Uh...

The other end of the phone was stunned for a moment. Then he said, fine, you wait there for the final result of the game.

Half an hour before the game started, Kobe Bryant was still asking Fan Xi, who was suffering from altitude sickness: "Jack, are you sure you can play tonight?"

Fan Xi nodded. It wasn't a big problem; although he felt a bit dizzy and short of breath, the symptoms were fading rapidly. He had strong confidence in his body's adaptability.

Lamar Odom and Barnes on the side kept trying to persuade Fan Xi not to play tonight at all. They had heard Raymond Felton's clamoring against Fan Xi in the VIP lounge and were afraid that Fan Xi would be crushed by Felton's formidable physique. After all, that guy Felton could even knock over a football player; how could Fan Xi's small frame handle it?

They thought Fan Xi didn't know about Felton's provocation.

It was also out of good intentions.

But Fan Xi was a tough nut to crack; the more others provoked him, the more tenacious he became.

Raymond Felton pushed open the door to the home team's locker room an hour before the game started. He told his Nuggets teammates: "Guys, tonight I'm going to perform a 'Hamburger Meat Sauce MVP' for you. That arrogant rookie Jack Fan has walked right into my trap."

His statement brought laughter to the locker room. Before this, the Nuggets' young guys had already been discussing how to make the rookie who shined at the All-Star Weekend suffer.

Among them, guards JR Smith and Ty Lawson were the most active. After all, they were young; who wouldn't want to show off?

Now, the whole league knew that taking down Fan Xi was the best way to show off.

"I ran into him at the airport just now. I talked trash to his face. Faced with my heavy-handed attack, he was timid and didn't dare to make a sound. He's a total softie."

Raymond Felton said heroically: "Tonight, I've got him. Even Jesus can't save him."

"I'm going to make him suffer in front of my dad."

"Brothers, please cooperate with me."

Saying this, Raymond Felton took out the carefully prepared gifts from his bag. They were 11 gold bracelets. Black people love gold and diamonds the most; they have no resistance to shiny things.

Raymond Felton had spent a fortune this time; he was giving away at least twenty thousand dollars in this wave. Although it couldn't compare to Kobe or Durant, who would casually give away Ferraris or luxury watches.

Raymond believed this was a high-yield investment. He firmly believed his efforts would reap rich rewards.

When his teammates patted their chests one after another, promising to cooperate fully to snipe Fan Xi tonight.

The corners of his mouth curled into a happy dimension, and his pupils had long reflected the glory and success that would follow.

Take down Fan Xi, become famous in one fell swoop, surpass the peerless duo of the '05 class, and become the league's hottest, late-blooming super point guard.

In that way, wouldn't big contracts and fame come rolling in?

What was this little expenditure now?

Those who achieve great things do not fuss over small details.

Raymond Felton was already dreaming.

Head coach George Karl was also very cooperative, giving him great tactical freedom. Originally, he and Ty Lawson were the dual-point guard, dual-core perimeter partners in George Karl's main tactics.

Now, under his money-based offensive, Ty Lawson voluntarily gave up some privileges.

It could be said that money makes the world go round.

The game started quickly. The attendance at the Denver Nuggets' home court, the Pepsi Center, was very high tonight, the highest since Carmelo Anthony was traded.

Because the Lakers had come.

The Lakers had always had the ability to boost ticket sales for other teams.

They had also always been a key target for television broadcasts.