I fell in love with Toutiao and became the GOAT.

Publicly competing with Kyrie Irving for Rookie of the Year this season is essentially about each of them showcasing their respective strengths.

This topic will remain relevant as the season progresses.

If you happen to stumble upon a viral moment, you might even be able to generate a valid headline.

But Lin Bei's main goal is still this Rookie of the Year award.

Bob Myers compared his rivalry with Kyrie Irving to the 2003 rivalry between LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, but Lin Bei disagrees.

Lin Bei believes that Irving's current lead in the rookie rankings is not due to his greater popularity.

Speaking of popularity, Lin Bei's popularity is also quite high.

However, Lin Bei's popularity has mostly nothing to do with basketball itself, but rather with his dunk over LeBron James and his beating up Bogdanovic.

In terms of pure basketball skills and on-court performance, the outside world's impression of him is still stuck on the stereotypical label of a "pure blue-collar worker".

In the league's past selection practices, the Rookie of the Year award has rarely favored blue-collar players.

Thinking of this, Lin Bei immediately came up with a more appropriate reference in his mind, but not the past, but the future.

In 2023, Paul Bencello will face off against Walker Kessler. Bencello is the number one draft pick with better stats on paper, but Kessler is the player who can make a team better.

Ultimately, the 2023 Rookie of the Year award went to Ben Carter.

从数据看，场均20.0分6.9个篮板3.7个助攻的班凯罗击败9.2分8.4个篮板2.3个盖帽的凯斯勒，似乎是顺理成章的结果。

But Lin Bei clearly remembers that after Ben Kelow won the Rookie of the Year award that year, the doubts never stopped.

Although Benchello himself has many problems, Kessler, who doesn't even have double-digit stats, can still compete with Benchello.

Lin Bei, who is currently averaging a double-double, has a better chance of taking the Rookie of the Year award from Kyrie Irving.

But Lin Bei also understood that the experts involved in the Rookie of the Year selection had deep-rooted prejudices against blue-collar players like him, which were difficult to change easily.

The more this was the case, the more certain he became that he needed an open competition.

Only after a fair and square contest, a debate that breaks down prejudices, will he be fully confident of winning the trophy that rightfully belongs to him.

Otherwise, Irving could easily shut him out of the award with a simple statement like "blue-collar workers don't deserve to be in the Rookie of the Year voting."

Open competition is imperative, but the key is to find a reasonable justification.

"We can't just open fire like some superhero, can we?"

……

In early February, Lin Bei was waiting for the right time to start the competition for Rookie of the Year.

Meanwhile, Dan Fegan, a relatively unknown agent, appeared in the Bay Area and brought Lin Bei's sneaker contract.

Under Armour's final offer was $6 million for two years, plus an option to renew.

Lin Bei silently calculated the time. From the moment Dan Fagan presented Under Armour's initial offer to the moment this guy put this final offer in front of him, a whole month had passed.

"You've been arguing with Under Armour for a whole month? That must have been tough."

Lin Bei shook his head. Although he was just expressing his feelings, he thought that his words would provoke Dan Fagan, causing the already dissatisfied latter to explode.

He looked at Dan Fagan, only to find Dan Fagan grinning and shaking his head repeatedly, saying, "It's not hard work, it's nothing."

Lin Bei raised an eyebrow, his heart filled with surprise.

He knew perfectly well that Dan Fegan had dragged his feet for a month, and that the two-year contract actually covered his third NBA season.

If he were to ask Dan Fagan to change the contract to one year now, given Fagan's personality, he would most likely choose to fight to the death.

After weighing the pros and cons, Lin Bei didn't hesitate any longer, picked up the pen, and signed his name on the sneaker contract.

Immediately, Lin Bei understood why Dan Fagan had changed to a sycophantic attitude.

"Hey Best, Coca-Cola and KFC recently contacted me. They want to invite you to be their spokesperson..."

It turns out that a new endorsement had come knocking.

Here we must mention that the original owner had already foreseen this when he collaborated with Dan Fagan—

Although the original owner's skill level would make it difficult to get playing time in the NBA, his Chinese identity made it easy to get a sneaker contract.

Take Yi Jianlian for example. Although he is a tall player and only a fringe player in the NBA, Nike still gave him a shoe contract worth about $100 million a year.

Even if Yi Jianlian stops playing in the NBA and returns to the CBA, this contract worth around $100 million per year will still be with him.

For this shoe contract worth around $100 million, Lian Ge even caused a huge scene in the CBA.

Therefore, at the time, Dan Fagan and the original owner were both convinced that Lin Bei could scam a sneaker contract.

But endorsements outside of shoe contracts require performance on the court to back them up.

Considering that Lin Bei would have difficulty getting regular playing time in the NBA, they did not consider endorsements beyond shoe contracts at the time.

But now, Lin Bei is racking up double-doubles in consecutive games and is even competing with Kyrie Irving for Rookie of the Year.

Brands like Coca-Cola, KFC, Spalding basketball, and Gatorade sports drinks all came knocking on their door for endorsements.

After all, Linbei has the vast market across the ocean to its back.

Even Yi Jianlian, who only gets playing time during garbage time, can secure endorsements from Amway, Coca-Cola, and Wrigley's through the market across the ocean, let alone Lin Bei now.

Dan Fegan originally thought he could only earn five or six hundred thousand US dollars from Lin Bei at most, but these brands took the initiative to come to him, which gave Dan Fegan a great surprise.

Coca-Cola offered an $8 million one-year endorsement deal with an option to renew.

KFC, on the other hand, offers $5 million per year, with a priority renewal clause.

From these two companies alone, Dan Fagan could pocket more than $200 million.

This was the endorsement contract offered by Coca-Cola and KFC, even though Lin Bei's competition sample size was too small and his commercial value was still unclear.

Take Yao Ming as an example; his endorsement fees for several brands, including McDonald's and Coca-Cola, amount to $2500 million a year.

Of course, that was Yao Ming, whose commercial value had already been greatly exploited.

In terms of commercial value, Lin Bei is far behind Yao Ming.

Dan Fegan saw Lin Bei's commercial value and realized that Lin Bei was now essentially a money-printing machine, so his attitude naturally underwent a 180-degree change.

The previous perfunctory attitude and indifference have turned into the current fawning and attentiveness.

Lin Bei looked at the two endorsement offers sent by Dan Fegan. These two offers were the result of several rounds of negotiation by Dan Fegan.

The one-year contract is likely a requirement from the brand, as they also need to assess Linbei's commercial value.

Although Lin Bei disliked Dan Fagan, he still planned to replace Dan Fagan after his contract expired.

However, he still signed his name on both endorsement contracts.

"Don't get me wrong, Dan. I only signed it to make money; it doesn't mean my opinion of you has changed."

Lin Bei still remembers Dan Fegan's cold and indifferent face when he was fired by the Heat.

The other party's change of attitude is simply because they value his commercial worth. Lin Bei doesn't want to give them any illusions, so he's being upfront to avoid unnecessary trouble later.

Renewal is out of the question, but it would be foolish not to make money. Lin Bei looked up at Dan Fagan:

"We only have five months left in our cooperation. If there are any contracts like this in these five months, you can take them..."

I'll make money, and so will you. Let's support each other for these last five months.