God of NBA point guards

Chapter 484 Announcement of Retirement

The next day, the 12th, when Zhou Quan was still sleeping soundly on the hotel bed, countless media around the world were full of news about him.

“One battle will make Zhou Quan the Iron Fist King.” Los Angeles Times.

"Iron Fist King Zhou Quan used his dominant performance to make Air Jordan the turkey on his dinner plate!" New York Times.

“Fall of the Flying Man!” Washington Post.

"With 26 points in a single quarter and 62 points in a single game, the King of NBA played a mythical performance and became a god in one battle." Xiangcheng Wenhui Po.

"To dominate the NBA, the Iron Fist King is the only one who dominates." Tokyo Daily News.

"Defeating Michael Jordan in the finals three times in a row, the King of Iron Fist stepped on the flying man to create a prosperous dynasty." Germany's Bild newspaper.

"The King of Iron Fist, I have to admit that he is the greatest basketball player on the planet and the yellow man with the most athletic talent." British BBC.

On this day, all listed companies related to Zhou Quan rose. The biggest rise was Skechers, which rose by 15% on heavy volume, and Amazon also rose by 3%.

Jeff Bezos called Roger Philippe and offered Zhou Quan a five-year, $5 million endorsement contract, which was then rejected by Philippe.

"Mr. Bezos, Iron Fist is the second largest shareholder of your company. I will give you a discount, at least 1000 million a year." Philip said firmly.

Bezos felt helpless for a while and regretted not taking action immediately after the listing. In less than a month, his net worth had skyrocketed.

He also wanted Zhou Quan to endorse him before, but the company couldn't afford the endorsement fee at all.

Fortunately, the company now has money and has raised several hundred million by going public. He then offered a new contract of US$4 million over four years, and Philip agreed.

This morning, Philip received a lot of calls. A large number of first-line and top brands around the world wanted Zhou Quan to become their spokesperson.

The 11 brands that had unilaterally canceled their endorsements also contacted him again, hoping to get back together and repair old relationships, but he hung up the phone directly.

Zhou Quan didn't return to the hotel until after six in the morning. After sleeping for four hours, he was woken up again and returned to Seattle with the team.

"Dididi..."

When the bus came out of the airport, there were fans' cars on both sides of the road. All the way to the city center, horns were blaring continuously.

Next, there was the grandest celebration in the streets. For three consecutive days, everyone from the players to the fans celebrated until they were exhausted.

Zhou Jun and Zeng Yu returned to China the day after they returned to Seattle, accompanied by ten staff from Exquisite Coffee assigned to Jazz Coffee.

On the 16th, Zhou Quan didn't get up until noon.

The family had lunch and Roger Philippe was there.

After lunch, Zhou Jun and Zeng Yu took the yacht to swim on the lake. Zhou Quan and the other two drank coffee at the dock while discussing things.

Philip took out a large stack of contracts, introduced them to Zhou Quan, and said: "It turns out there are 38 brands left, and there are 29 brands here, which I carefully selected."

"Let's sign it in a few days. There's no rush." ​​Zhou Quan nodded.

"Roger, have the 11 companies that unilaterally canceled endorsement contracts sued?" Zeng Li asked.

Philip said quite confidently: "Not yet, they wanted to come back, but I refused. Zeng, even if they sue, we are not afraid of them.

I received data from the survey company. During this period, the sales volume of their 11 brands increased instead of falling, indicating that they did not suffer any losses.Even if we lose the lawsuit, we won't be able to lose much money. If we cancel the endorsement, they will lose. "

"That's good." Zeng Li smiled.

"Zhou, have you decided?"

After taking a few sips of coffee, Phillip couldn't help but ask.

Zhou Quan glanced at Phillip and did not answer immediately. Instead, he drank the coffee in the cup in one gulp and then said after putting the cup down: "It's decided."

"Then I'll announce it to the public right away?" Philip said excitedly.

"You should communicate with the team first. In addition, after I retire, I will cancel the remaining two years of my contract with the SuperSonics." Zhou Quan warned.

"Ok."

"Skechers and those brand companies also need to notify in advance."

"of course."

Phillip nodded quickly, stood up and said, "Then I'll take my leave first."

"Honey, how long will we stay in the country? Has the date for your boxing match with Tyson been set?" Zeng Li asked after seeing Phillip off.

"It was originally scheduled for September 9st, but later it was changed to October 1st. Let's go back to China and rest for a month this time. There is still time." Zhou Quan said.

……

"Hey, Mr. Philip?"

"Mr. Whitsitt, I hope to see you as soon as possible."

"Now?"

"Yes."

"OK, I'm at the headquarters. You can come over at any time."

At SuperSonics headquarters, General Manager Whithit received a call from Roger Philippe.

Putting down the phone, he was a little confused. Why did Iron Fist want his agent to see him so urgently?After much deliberation, it’s nothing important!

If it's a normal matter, Iron Fist would contact him directly and come forward through his agent. I'm afraid this matter?
Thinking of this, he felt a little uneasy.

Half an hour later, Whitsitt saw Philip in the office.

After the pleasantries, Philip got straight to the point and said: "Mr. General Manager, since the beginning of the season, especially some time ago, Iron Fist has been under too much pressure from public opinion.

According to my information, even some of the NBA's top executives are targeting him, including Mr. David Stern's special assistant Adam Silver. "

The uneasiness in Whitshit's heart suddenly rose. When he heard the next sentence, he was very surprised and asked: "Are you sure that some of the league's top leaders, including Adam Silver, are targeting Iron Fist?"

"Yes, I am sure that a total of eight senior executives forced Mr. Stern to impose a lifetime ban on Iron Fist." Philip said seriously.

"These bastards, damn it!"

Whithit cursed through gritted teeth with hatred.

Philip continued: "So, he hopes to retire from the NBA temporarily."

"..."

Whithit felt a muffled thunder hit his head, causing his brain to become confused.Phillip did not continue, but asked the other party to calm down.

A minute later, Whitsitt calmed down, stared at Philip and said, "Mr. Philip, is this the final decision of Iron Fist?"

Philip nodded, and Whitsitt sighed and said: "It's a pity that he is yellow. If he were black, he would be the God of NBA now. If he were white, he would now be hailed as the God of Basketball by all American media. .”

Having said this, he asked again: "Mr. Philip, Iron Fist, will he come back?"

"He didn't say anything about this. I heard he was temporarily retiring, so I didn't ask him."

Philip said this and added: "But if the public opinion environment against him does not change, especially if the league executives against him still exist, he has won so many honors and achievements in the NBA, I don't think he will come back at all. Reason, he has too many choices.”

Whithit stayed for another minute and said with a wry smile: "Okay, I understand."

Philip added: "Iron Fist has already said that the remaining two years of the contract are cancelled, and he will not occupy the team's space."

Whitsitt thought for a while and said: "Tekken has won a dynasty for the team. I think the team and the owner, Mr. Ballmer, will carefully consider his remaining contract. In addition, Mr. Philip, is Tekken officially entering the professional boxing world?" ?”

Philip nodded and said: "The media and the NBA executives who targeted him contributed to his decision. He had no intention of doing so before. I had previously suggested that he temporarily retire from the NBA, but he refused."

"Damn racial discrimination!" Whitsitt couldn't help but cursed.

Next, he informed the team executives and owner Ballmer. The news of Zhou Quan's retirement shocked everyone.

After receiving the news, Ballmer rushed from Microsoft headquarters to Zhou Quan's villa, talked with Zhou Quan alone for more than 4100 minutes, agreed with his decision, and decided to let the team pay Zhou Quan's remaining two years of salary as usual. A total of $[-] million.

At 04:30 in the afternoon, the SuperSonics team announced that it would hold a press conference tomorrow and invited hundreds of media.

The finals have been played, and there are no other important things except the draft at this time. The Sonics are No. 2 in the regular season and have little chance in the draft. Therefore, why the Sonics held a press conference has been speculated by many media, and some reporters have contacted them. An acquaintance in the Sonics, trying to get inside information.

However, this news was only known to a few senior executives, so no media found out about it in advance.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, Rodman, Schrempf, Hawkins, and Drexler came to Zhou Quan's villa. They were invited by Zhou Quan to treat them to dinner.

"Iron Fist, is there anything important to announce at the management development conference?" Schrempf arrived first and asked when they met.

"We'll wait until Dennis and the others arrive. This will save me a few times and they'll be here." Zhou Quan said with a smile.

Schrempf shrugged and said with a smile: "I will return home in a few days. Iron Fist, what about you?"

"I still have a few days to go, and I have some endorsement contracts to sign. By the way, didn't you sign the endorsement contract? Is this impossible?" Zhou Quan asked.

Schrempf said excitedly: "I have signed contracts with several companies in Seattle and have been shooting commercials for them in the past few days. However, there are still several companies in Germany looking for me, including Mercedes."

"Congratulations." Zhou Quan smiled.

At this time, Rodman's car arrived. After getting out of the car, he shouted to Zhou Quan: "Iron Fist, did you know that several big brands have asked me to endorse them? I will start shooting commercials for them tomorrow, haha!"

"This is the charm of the dynasty." Zhou Quan said with a smile.

Then Hawkins and Drexler arrived, and Zhou Quan took them to the dock. The workers brought coffee and a glass of water to Zhou Quan.

"Boss, the team will hold a press conference tomorrow. Are you asking us to come over for dinner at this time? Is it related to the press conference?" Hawkins asked doubtfully.

Zhou Quan nodded, put down the water glass, looked at a few people, and said with a smile: "I'll tell you in advance, I'm ready to retire."

"what?"

This sentence made Rodman and others confused.

Zhou Quan lay leisurely on the S-shaped chair, looking through the glass roof at the still very bright sky, and said: "This season, the attitude of most of the American media towards me is actually quite disgusting. Some top executives in the NBA also They don't like me because my skin color is irritating to them.

Now that I have won the dynasty, I feel that there is not much challenge in the NBA. Jordan is not my opponent, and no one on the outside is my opponent, so it is better to leave and challenge other sports. "

Rodman scolded: "Those bullshit media are so bad, and the league executives, they are targeting you, are they all thinking shit?
Tekken, just retire when you retire. You can make more money by playing boxing or golf than playing in the NBA.Without you, I think the ratings for next season will plummet. I cry to them to death. "

Schrempf smiled bitterly and said: "You were suspended in the G3 game. The ratings of that game plummeted, 1% lower than the G[-] game. If you retire now, Iron Fist, your impact on the NBA will be too great."

Hawkins also said: "The league is negotiating a television broadcast contract with NBC, which is really troublesome now."

"All players will suffer huge losses. If the next broadcast contract is negotiated well, the team's salary cap will also be significantly increased, and the player's salary will also skyrocket. This time it is gone." Schrempf said.

Rodman cursed again: "To hell with them, a lot of guys stood up against Iron Fist last time."

Hawkins said: "I think they are just jealous of the boss. The boss has made so much money by crossing borders. They are jealous that the boss can make money."

After Drexler came to his senses, he said: "If you retire, Iron Fist, then I will retire too. After all, after winning the championship, I feel like I have nothing to pursue."

"I will retire after finishing this contract." Rodman said nonsense.

Hawkins said: "My contract is over, and the team has contacted me to renew it. Originally, I planned to sign a one-year short contract, and then sign a long-term contract after the salary cap increased significantly in 98. That's not possible now. Well, let’s just ask the team for a long-term contract this time.”

Zhou Quan felt a little embarrassed because his retirement affected Hawkins' contract renewal.

……

At 17 a.m. on the 9th, a press conference was held in the press hall of the Supersonics headquarters.

Zhou Quan, Ballmer, Whitsitt and several team executives appeared at the press conference.

Zhou Quan looked very handsome in a suit and sunglasses.

"I bet the press conference must be related to King of Iron Fist."

"Nonsense, of course it has something to do with him, otherwise why would he attend the press conference?"

"Ballmer rarely attends the team's press conferences. What's so important?"

"My God, the King of Iron Fist is attending the press conference at this time. He, isn't he going to retire?"

"How is it possible? Is he crazy?"

"What's impossible? With so many media attacking him, who can bear it?"

"Stop talking, let's start."

The appearance of Zhou Quan and Ballmer immediately triggered speculation among reporters.

At this time, Whithit patted the microphone, coughed and said: "Hello, gentlemen, now we have a big news to announce."

The conference hall quickly fell silent, leaving only Whithit's voice.

"As you know, even many of you have participated in the targeting of Iron Fist this season. Countless American media have wantonly targeted him, smeared him, discriminated against him, and hoped to expel him from the NBA... This campaign lasted for one month The public opinion of the season has exhausted him.”

Whithit's voice became increasingly angry, which confused hundreds of reporters. They all had a bad feeling.

(End of this chapter)