Champions Creed

Chapter 27 027: Penny will be unhappy? Then make him even more unhappy!

“Who is the next MJ?”

Looking at the cover of this issue of Sports Illustrated, Stackhouse felt like crying but had no tears.

He originally thought that after Roger played in the NBA for two or three years, he would be forgotten.

It turns out that things haven't come to that point yet.

Roger hasn't even started playing in the NBA yet, and Stackhouse is almost forgotten!
Now, Roger is compared with Penny and Jordan.

Stackhouse? Who the hell?

Stackhouse was speechless. What the hell is Roger the next MJ? He hasn't even played a college game!

There's nothing you can do. If the director says you are the next MJ, then you are it.

However, the director's mood has hit rock bottom recently, because the summer of 1993 was unusually cold for him.

The Nets' star guard, the European king "Mozart of basketball" Drazen Petrovic, who was only 28 years old, died in a car accident. Just a year ago, he scored 24 points in the Olympic final against the Dream Team. A season ago, he led the Nets into the playoffs with a career-best 22.3 points.

When fans in the future were talking about Paul's fake pass that made Gobert spin in circles, Petrovic had already used this trick in the 90s to make the great Olajuwon sleepwalk on the spot.

It is hard for people to accept that such a basketball wizard fell in this way.

A few days later, in another car accident, Heat guard Brian Shaw lost both his parents.

The nightmare is not over yet. Reggie Lewis, who was regarded as the hope of revival by the Celtics, suffered a heart attack and fell into a coma again while practicing shooting at Brandeis University in Boston. In the first game of the playoffs last season, he fainted on the court due to arrhythmia. This time, he never woke up again.

A few days later, bad news came from the basketball world again.

James Jordan, the father of Michael Jordan who had just completed three consecutive championships, was shot and killed.

Ironically, the two perpetrators were both Jordan fans, but when they pulled the trigger, they did not recognize that the man under the gun was the father of their idol.

The entire NBA league seemed to be cursed, with bad news coming one after another.

This bad news changed a lot of things.

If people wanted to see European guards perform freely on the NBA court again, they had to wait until 2001 when Popovich brought back the incredibly fast Frenchman.

The Celtics never recovered until the deal that shocked the world was made.

However, the last incident had the most profound impact on the NBA.

Before, even Michael Jordan himself hadn't decided whether to continue playing basketball. But his father's death became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

He made that decision.

Jordan wasn't ready to announce his decision to the world, but he went to see the Zen Master in the summer and said, "Phil, give me a reason to keep playing."

The Zen master, of course, tried his best to keep him: "When everything is in chaos, hide in your 'sanctuary'. It can be an image in your mind, or a memory, or a place. In short, it should be something that can bring you peace, happiness and peace. Michael, where is your 'sanctuary'?"

The Zen Master thought Jordan's "sanctuary" would be the basketball court. He thought Jordan, who was crazy about winning, would answer: "I want to comfort my father with victory and championships."

Jordan thought for a while and then calmly replied: "You are right, Phil, I should go to my 'sanctuary' and leave the basketball court."

After hearing Jordan's answer, the old Zen master was stunned.

With a brilliant reverse persuasion, he made Jordan give up basketball.

Of course, the whole world doesn’t know about this yet.

Now, in addition to the death of Jordan, the topic of conversation among Chicagoans after dinner is Roger's 7-year, $4200 million rookie contract.

Scott Pippen read the reports in the newspaper and felt incredible.

So, a rookie who hadn't even played a college game was getting paid twice as much as me?

Damn "Breadcrumbs" Jerry, you are really a crumb!

They were hesitant when offering me 7 million for 2000 years, but now they offer 7 million for 4000 years to a high school student without blinking an eye.

Haha, men just like to spend money on new tea!
Pippen was furious, he felt that the contract was a severe humiliation to him.

But what Pippen couldn't imagine was that this was just one of the huge contracts Roger signed this summer.

At this time, Roger was sitting in a luxury car, admiring the beautiful scenery of the Miami coast and enjoying the sunshine of Florida, feeling extremely comfortable.

The beach stretches endlessly like a carefully laid golden carpet. The palm trees sway gracefully, and their green leaves sparkle in the sun. The breeze blows, bringing coolness and a faint smell of sea salt, which is refreshing.

But while enjoying the beautiful scenery, Roger was also a little nervous.

After all, Florida doesn't keep idle people, and he was very afraid that a five-star good citizen wearing a dark blue shirt with a palm tree pattern would suddenly appear.

The limousine drove to the famous One South Beach Hotel, and the waiter opened the door for Roger and took the luggage from the trunk.

The Nike representative immediately got out of the passenger seat and checked Roger in.

The uncle walked into the lobby of the luxury hotel wearing sunglasses and flip-flops: "Xiao Jie, this hotel is not cheap, right? Although you are making a lot of money now, we can't squander it."

"This hotel is not cheap." Roger laughed, "But don't worry, Nike will pay for all our expenses."

This time, Roger was invited by Nike to come to Miami to vacation and discuss sneaker contracts.

Nike must have also heard the news and knew that their supreme god might be leaving.

So this summer they launched a crazy offensive, trying to grab some high-potential newcomers. Stern is not the only one who is looking for Jordan's successor.

A day earlier, Nike had just snatched Penny Hardaway from Converse.

Converse offered Penny a $700 million contract, hoping to use the long string of zeros behind the check to make young people like Hardaway lose their minds.

But Penny flatly rejected Converse because Nike offered Penny more than twice the price - 5 million for 1500 years.

Last year, Nike let Reebok snatch the Shark away, which made many brands think that Nike had become timid.

But in reality, the sharks don’t matter to Nike. After all, everyone knows that defenders sell shoes.

As it turns out, Nike will show no mercy when it comes to competing for defenders.

Roger, who was used to hearing that the goat signed a 18-year, 7 million sneaker contract at the age of 9000, was not shocked by this number at first.

But the contract with Goat took place 10 years later after all, so you can't just compare it across eras.

Ten years ago, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's shoe contract was only $10 a year. Ten years ago, Jordan signed a five-year, $10 million shoe contract with Nike, which made people call Nike crazy.

At this point in time in 1993, a $300 million a year sneaker contract was considered a sky-high price, as many NBA stars earned less than $300 million a year.

While signing Hardaway, Nike also pursued Roger. They all knew that Roger and Hardaway were the two best guards in this draft and the two successors to Jordan who were being hyped.

Nike, which is wealthy and powerful, does not intend to choose between the two. The safest approach is to catch them both in one fell swoop.

After staying in a luxury hotel for one night, the Nike representative invited Roger to the hotel's conference room at noon the next day.

The representative in charge of the negotiations was very kind: "Did you sleep well last night in Miami?"

"It's very nice. I rarely have the opportunity to see the sea before." Roger responded kindly.

"You are happy and the most important thing is, in fact, our goal is to make your career as good as last night."

Over the next period of time, Nike representatives explained in detail to Roger and Eric the personal brand plan they had prepared for Roger, and how they would help Roger increase his visibility and commercial value.

Finally, as expected, Jordan was brought up: "We can replicate Michael's success on you. We have the ability to do it!"

When most people heard this, they couldn't control themselves and wanted to sign the contract quickly.

But Roger and Eric remained unmoved.

What the Nike representative just said is certainly tempting, but all of them can be classified as empty talk.

The contract amount is the most real thing.

Before talking about money, it's best not to believe a word the other party says.

Eric was willing to come because the Nike representative promised to give Roger a big contract.

In Eric's understanding, "big money" means at least being on par with pennies.

But when the Nike representative handed over the contract, Eric was dumbfounded.

"5 million for 1000 years, what's going on?" Eric put down the contract angrily.

"This" Nike representative did not expect such a thing to happen. A high school student earns 5 million in 1000 years. Is this too little?
"This is already the most expensive endorsement contract for a high school player in history," the Nike representative laughed.

Eric nodded in agreement. "You're right. This is the most expensive endorsement contract for a high school player in history. But Roger, he's an NBA player. I thought our price would be at least comparable to Anfernee's. You and I both know that Roger is no worse than him."

Eric absolutely cannot accept this contract because it will create a "Penny Over Roger" vibe.

Once this impression is formed, it is difficult to change it.

"You mean, at least 5 million for 1500 years?" the Nike representative asked cautiously.

"Yes, at least!"

"Sorry sir, I'll make a call right away."

5 million for 1500 years, this is obviously beyond the authority of the negotiating representative.

About five minutes later, he came back with a smile on his face: "The German headquarters is willing to raise the price to 5 million."

Eric was so angry that he laughed: "To save 200 million, you give up a rising star?"

"That's not the case, hahahaha."

"What's going on? There's not much difference between 1300 million and 1500 million, so let's not make it a difference, OK?"

The Nike representative said awkwardly: "Headquarters said that if you sign a contract with Penny at the same price, Penny will be unhappy."

Good guy, Roger on the side exclaimed. Good guy.

He really didn't expect that he would be the one to hear these words in history.

Eric and Roger both felt that there was no need to continue the negotiations. They did not come to Nike to serve as a background for Hardaway.

The next day, Scott Pippen once again saw a series of news that gave him heart pain.

Roger actually joined the Reebok family for 5 million for 2000 years!

Since Penny is unhappy, then don't be happy!

However, now Pippen is even happier than Penny.

He couldn't believe his eyes and his jealousy was about to explode.

Pippen was afraid of being poor when he was a child, but he didn't expect that after playing in the NBA, he would still have this feeling of being poor.

In fact, of the 2000 million signed by Roger and Reebok, only 1500 million was guaranteed.

The remaining 500 million requires Roger to be selected as an All-Star starter three times in five years, or be selected to the All-NBA Team twice, or win an MVP once. Only if any one of these three conditions is met can the bonus clause be triggered.

It is understandable that Reebok signed him this way. After all, Roger is a high school student with a higher risk, and they cannot put everything on Roger.

But even if you exclude the 500 million bonus clause, the price of this shoe contract is still astonishing enough.

After the signing was completed, Reebok deliberately released a promotional poster and placed it in major stores overnight.

The poster shows Roger wearing a Reebok suit and carrying a bag of money, with the words: "Whether you are happy or not, I will easily pack up all the pennies and take them away!"

Stern was very happy to see the two people who had already started competing.

He will continue to increase his strength and push hard from behind!
And so, in the summer of 1993, fans were sad, excited and expectant.

The headlines in the newspapers change every day, outlining the overall picture of this summer.

Michael Jordan is seriously considering retirement! ——The New York Times

Brian Hill becomes the new head coach of the Magic. Are the Orlando twin towers ready? - Orlando Sentinel

German tanks Schrempf and Kendall Gill join Seattle, and Rude Karl is heading for the finals. - Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

5 years and $2000 million, Roger is ahead of Penny for now in this offseason, let's see what happens in the new season! - Sports Illustrated

However, the report Roger was reading was the following:

Listen, I don't want to discuss that high school kid anymore. I've seen his playing videos, he knocked down his opponents, he scored like crazy, he did whatever he wanted, so what? His opponents were just high school kids too! I don't want to be hypocritical and I won't get along with him so quickly. If he can't stand it, he'd better go back to school, because a coward doesn't deserve to share the spoils of the championship. We are a championship-contending team, so we will naturally hold him to the standards of a championship-contending team. -- Scott Pippen on Roger in ESPN Magazine

Roger put down the ESPN magazine in his hand and didn't pay much attention to what Pippen said.

Entering the NBA is just the beginning, he still has to gain a foothold in it.

After confirming that Jordan would retire as planned, Roger knew that his chance to gain a foothold was right in front of him.

No one can stop Roger from seizing his opportunity, including Scott Pippen!

(End of this chapter)