I fell in love with Toutiao and became the GOAT.

It was past 3 p.m. when Mark Jackson returned to the training ground looking exhausted.

As soon as he arrived, he called Lin Bei over and told him, "Andrew's injury report is out. He has extensive facial fractures and will need at least six months of rest."

Hearing this result, Lin Bei was very satisfied; it was worth all the trouble he had gone to.

Mark Jackson looked at Lin Bei's slightly upturned lips with a helpless expression: "As for your punishment, the team has tentatively decided on a fine of $5."

Lin Bei immediately pressed, "No suspension?"

Mark Jackson first shook his head, then looked Lin Bei up and down with interest: "What, you really want to be suspended?"

Lin Bei immediately shook his head. Who the hell would want to be suspended?

Although the NBA does not currently have a "65-game award rule," playing too few games in the regular season will still exclude you from some regular season honors.

This season is already a shortened season with only 66 games in total. Now that 10 games have been played, he has already missed 3 and cannot afford to miss any more.

Mark Jackson laughed and said, "You little rascal, your performance improved dramatically after your last suspension. I'd really like to suspend you for a few more games and see if your performance can improve even further."

Lin Bei was speechless for a moment, his lips twitched, but in his heart he shouted: I, Lin Bei, really didn't cheat!

Mark Jackson immediately shook his head: "The team still needs you as a starter, so forget about the suspension."

Lin Bei breathed a sigh of relief and immediately assured them, "I'll do my best, boss."

Mark didn't respond to him, rolled his eyes, and changed the subject: "Don't rush to express your determination. Go to Bob's office; he wants to talk to you about something."

……

Lin Bei then left the training ground and went to the Warriors' general manager's office.

On the way, he wondered what Bob Myers wanted with him. Was he going to announce the team's punishment to him in person?

Suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind: it's about renewing the contract!

He realized that Bob Myers probably wanted to talk to him about renewing his contract.

Before the season, Lin Bei joined the Warriors through a tryout and signed a minimum salary contract with a one-and-a-half-year guarantee.

To date, he has played a total of 7 games, averaging 10.7 points, 14.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 0.4 blocks per game, with a field goal percentage of 57.7%, a three-point percentage of 46.3%, and a free throw percentage of 58.4%...

Based on his overall performance on the field, Lin Bei has already proven his worth.

In this "fight" incident between him and Bodog, the team ultimately sided with him because he was still able to play, while Bodog was out for the season.

However, the team's choice at this point is not the final one.

In short, he only signed a one-year contract, and after that, he wasn't even a restricted free agent.

In other words, if another new team makes an offer to Lin Bei, even if the Warriors match the offer, Lin Bei can still reject the Warriors and choose the new team.

Considering this, in the long run, Lin Bei's value to the Warriors is actually less than Bodog's.

Unless Lin Bei is willing to renew his contract early.

With this in mind, Lin Bei began to ponder whether to decide to stay directly or not to consider it for the time being.

After thinking about it, he felt that deciding to stay was not a bad idea.

After all, the Warriors have great potential for the future. Given their current growth rate, which is not slow but will likely take a long time to fully evolve into superstars, keeping them would at least not be a wrong decision.

Moreover, the team atmosphere within this Warriors team is not bad.

David Lee, the nominal leader, is kind and unassuming, while Stephen Curry, the potential leader, is a good catch for him.

Actually, just from the fact that he's a rookie who's been here for so long and hasn't been messed with by the veterans, you can tell that there are no bad guys on this Warriors team.

Apart from the newly arrived Bodog.

But now, as long as Lin Bei decides to stay, Bodog is doomed.

With this in mind, Lin Bei made a decision.

As long as Bob Myers' contract extension was within a reasonable range, he would not hesitate and would decide to stay.

Upon arriving at the general manager's office, Bob Myers greeted him with a smile and then got straight to the point.

"I'd like to talk to you about renewing your contract early."

As Lin Bei had predicted.

"Sure, let's talk."

Bob was quite surprised by Lin Bei's quick agreement, and a hint of approval flashed in his eyes.

This kid has clearly grasped the intricacies of the situation, even more so than I expected.

"Okay, how about 900 million over three years?"

Three years, 900 million, the starting salary is about 200 million US dollars, and the annual average is 300 million US dollars.

Lin Bei immediately saw through Bob Myers's thoughts; this contract was most likely based on the contracts of most first-round rookies these days.

For example, Klay Thompson's contract is a four-year, nearly $10 million deal.

Lin Bei's three-year, $9 million contract extension, plus his base salary this year, would amount to nearly $10 million over four years, wouldn't it?

Considering that Lin Bei has only had 7 highlight games so far, this is actually a reasonable contract renewal offer.

But Lin Bei believes he is not a restricted rookie for the Warriors.

Once his contract expires and he enters the free market, given his current performance, he will undoubtedly be able to secure a much higher contract offer.

Therefore, he should not be lumped together with Clay.

"Too low."

Lin Bei shook his head and refused outright.

Bob Myers clearly wasn't planning to convince Lin Bei with just one offer, so he immediately presented his second offer: "How about $12 million for three years?"

Lin Bei was still not satisfied, and he pondered for a moment.

His contract extension actually has a cap, with a strictly limited starting salary that can only be up to the current league's full mid-level exception amount, which is $500 million.

The salary increase in the second year cannot exceed 4.5%, but in the third year, it can directly jump to the maximum salary that Lin Bei can get based on his years of playing experience.

At that time, Lin Bei will be in his fourth year in the NBA, and the maximum salary he can get is 25% of the salary cap, which is about $1550 million.

Therefore, the maximum contract Lin Bei can sign should be around 2600 million US dollars over three years.

But he knew very well that the Warriors would never offer him such a contract.

Jumping straight to the top salary in the third year is a bit too much of a poison pill.

In later years, the contract that the Rockets gave Jeremy Lin was just like this.

With this poison pill contract, the Rockets directly shunned all their competitors at the time and successfully signed the Asian star they wanted.

From Bob Myers' perspective, the Warriors' contract extension with Lin Bei must at least secure Lin Bei's Bird rights.

To qualify for Bird rights, a player must play for the Warriors for three consecutive years. In other words, including this season, Lin Bei needs to re-sign with the Warriors for at least two more years.

Therefore, it becomes clear what kind of contract Lin Bei can get, which is also the maximum contract the Warriors are willing to offer.

He casually declined Bob Myers's offer: "It's still too low."

Bob Myers could only frown and offer another price: "$1400 million for 3 years, that's the highest I can go."

So Lin Bei smoothly proposed, "Okay, but I want to change it to a player option for the third year!"

Bob Myers immediately shook his head in refusal, saying, "Absolutely not."

Lin Bei replied, "Then let's talk again at the end of the season..."

Bob Myers was instantly stumped.

To put it bluntly, Lin Bei was the one who took the initiative.

If Lin Bei refuses to renew his contract, the Warriors will have no choice but to make a trade to get rid of him.

For Lin Bei, it's simply a matter of switching teams and starting over.

But for the Warriors, the operations they need to make are much more complicated.

First, they need to find a team willing to take on Lin Bei. After all, Lin Bei is not a restricted free agent, so the team that takes him on will have to consider whether Lin Bei will renew his contract.

Next, the Warriors will have to negotiate with the team that will take over Lin Bei. Since Lin Bei only signed a one-year contract, his trade value will be greatly reduced.

Seeing that Lin Bei had already performed like a top-tier blue-collar center in his limited appearances, the Warriors wanted to trade him away for a discounted price, which was unacceptable to Bob Myers no matter what.

After hesitating for a moment, Bob Myers finally nodded: "Let's skip the player option and just extend for two years, $9 million for two years, how about that?"

Lin Bei stopped pulling and nodded in agreement.