I fell in love with Toutiao and became the GOAT.

Lin Bei compared himself to Irving, and based on the current trend, he could play until the end of the season.

Of the five basic statistics, Kyrie Irving probably only surpasses him in points and assists.

Moreover, since Lin Bei "developed" the two new skills of finishing plays and passing, Irving may not actually be able to surpass him in these two areas.

Or even if it is high, it won't be that high.

In the other three categories, Lin Bei's rebounds are definitely much higher. He predicts that by the end of the season, his rebounds could even compete for the top spot in the league.

Currently, his average rebounds per game are only 0.4 fewer than those of Dwight Howard, who is ranked number one.

With the [Talent: Wall], it's not impossible for him to surpass Howard.

In terms of steals, he and Irving are evenly matched, but in terms of blocks, Lin Bei has absolute confidence in crushing the competition.

Without specialized shot-blocking ability, Lin Bei relies solely on his defensive awareness and long arms to average around 1.7 or 8 blocks per game, which would put him in the top ten in the league.

In summary, based on the current trend, by the end of the season, Lin Bei's five statistics will either be significantly ahead of Irving's or not much different from Irving's.

Irving will have no advantage against him. If he weren't the biggest favorite for Rookie of the Year, he would really cause trouble.

Curry naturally didn't believe it, mainly because, for the time being, Lin Bei was just a blue-collar worker.

The only quality Lin Bei possesses that doesn't belong to a blue-collar worker is his passing ability.

Can a blue-collar center with a good passing ability win Rookie of the Year?

Curry shook his head. He wasn't a blue-collar player back then, and he still lost to Tyreke Evans. So how could Lin Bei possibly beat Kyrie Irving, who has a huge fan base right now?

……

As the Warriors arrived in San Antonio, Lin Bei received a call from his agent, Dan Fegan, the moment the plane landed.

Dan Fegan hadn't contacted Lin Bei for a while; the last time was with Reddick regarding that racial discrimination incident.

This guy is shrewd; he knows very well that he only has a one-year contract with Lin Bei.

It seems certain that Lin Bei will not renew his contract after it expires in one year.

Therefore, Dan Fagan really didn't care much about Lin Bei.

The call was mainly about two things.

The first thing he did was question Lin Bei: "I heard you renewed your contract with the Warriors?"

Lin Bei replied frankly, "Yes, it's continued."

"Why won't you let me negotiate?"

Dan Fagan's voice rose several decibels instantly, filled with offended anger.

Lin Bei chuckled lightly: "We're discussing the contract for the last two years. What's it to you?"

Dan Fegan was speechless after being confronted. Indeed, his contract with Lin Bei's agent expired in June, but Lin Bei's next player contract would start on July 1st. What did that have to do with him?

It was precisely for this reason that Lin Bei excluded Dan Fagan.

If we bring Dan Fagan in, that guy might even take a cut.

Moreover, even without Dan Fegan, Lin Bei's contract negotiations with Bob Myers were very successful, resulting in a two-year, $9 million deal, which was only a little over $1 million short of the maximum contract he could get.

If Dan Fagan were to negotiate, we probably could only reach this point.

On the other end of the phone, Dan Fegan took two deep breaths to calm his anger and softened his tone slightly: "There's progress on the sneaker contract."

The sneaker contract was the last bit of money Dan Fegan could earn from Lin Bei.

This was something the two agreed upon when they signed the contract. Although it wasn't a promise Lin Bei made now, he still decided to keep it.

The reason is that he is genuinely short of money right now.

The team fined him $50,000, which he just paid yesterday. After paying, he only had a little over $20,000 left in his bank account.

Lin Bei never imagined that even after being reborn, he would still be so poor in Biyang...

A sneaker contract could turn his life around.

"Under Armour approached us and offered us a four-year, $20 million contract."

Lin Bei immediately did some calculations, or more accurately, he compared them.

Kyrie Irving, the biggest favorite in this draft, signed a four-year, $32 million rookie shoe contract.

The average annual salary is $800 million, while Under Armour's contract with Lin Bei is $500 million per year.

The fact that he earns $300 million less per year is understandable, considering that Lin Bei is a center.

It's common knowledge that only guards or dunkers sell shoes.

Although Kyrie Irving isn't the type of guard who dunks, his flashy ball-handling skills are highly entertaining and still sell well in the shoe market.

Although Lin Bei is not a traditional center, he can dunk.

However, his dunks are generally few and not particularly spectacular, so it's normal for Under Armour to offer a lower price.

If we're going to make another comparison, we have to mention another person – Blake Griffin.

Griffin's shoe contract during his rookie season was only $40 a year. However, after entering the NBA, he used one spectacular dunk after another to get a $600 million annual contract extension from AJ.

But that contract was only obtained after Griffin had thoroughly proven himself.

For Lin Bei, who has yet to fully prove himself, this shoe contract worth an average of $500 million per year is already quite substantial.

In other words, if you were to trade Under Armour for Nike, Adidas, or Air Jordan, they simply wouldn't offer such a high price.

"By the way, didn't Nike offer prices for those mainstream brands?"

Lin Bei asked the question as soon as he thought of it, but Dan Fagan on the other end of the phone was speechless again.

"Under Armour is already offering a very high price; Nike would never offer that much."

After stammering for a while, he finally managed to utter this sentence.

Lin Bei keenly sensed something was amiss: "Tell me, what's Nike's offer?"

Dan Fegan hesitated for a long time before telling Lin Bei, "One million US dollars a year is only one-fifth of Under Armour's offer."

Lin Bei laughed: "But he can sign for only one year."

To put it bluntly, Lin Bei is very clear about his own commercial value, without mentioning the market across the ocean.

With the system at his fingertips and a height of just over 2.05 meters including shoes, it's not impossible for him to become a top-tier dunker in the future.

Under Armour's four-year contract is still too long.

Nike's one-year contract is just right.

On the other end of the phone, Dan Fagan instantly lost his composure, yelling fiercely, "Don't you fucking forget what we agreed on!"

Lin Bei gently shook his head, his tone still calm, yet carrying an undeniable firmness:

"We just agreed that I would be responsible for my performance on the court, and you would be responsible for negotiating a shoe contract for me."

Under Armour's shoe contract is a shoe contract, and so is Nike's. The choice is mine, and it's none of your business.

"This is a self-defeating act that harms others."

Dan Fegan's voice was full of anger. He knew very well that if Lin Bei signed a one-year short-term contract with Nike, the commission he would receive would be pitifully small.

However, if he signs a four-year contract with Under Armour, he can receive a substantial commission in one lump sum.

Lin Bei: "That's not necessarily true..."

After a pause, he made his decision: "I'll give you a chance. Go talk to Under Armour and try to shorten the contract to two years. The annual amount can be lower. You can handle the specifics. If you can't reach an agreement, my decision is to stick with Nike's one-year, $1 million contract."

Dan Fagan angrily hung up the phone, leaving only the words, "Fine, you fucking wait!"