Legendary star

Chapter 10 Signing
"Popovich is crazy. Even if there are not many good rookies this year, the draft picks can't be wasted like this. Mr. 0 was selected in the first round, and an Argentine was selected in the second round." If If the Spurs chose Meng Xu in the first round, they were only surprised by the managers in the audience. In this round, they were shocked by the selection of Ginobili. There are still relatively few successful examples of international players in the NBA. If Meng Xu has played in the NCAA, so he can barely be regarded as a half-American player, then Ginobili is a complete international player.

"Perhaps this year's championship made him dazzled. He thought he could just pick any player and he would be able to play. This year's Spurs have suffered."

This year's draft, as in previous years, once again ended amid controversy. The end of the draft does not mean the end, it is just the beginning of a good show.On the second day after the draft ended, the Los Angeles Clippers offered to trade Baron Davis to the New Orleans Hornets, but the Hornets directly rejected it.Francis, the second overall pick in this year's draft, made a public statement that he would not go to Vancouver to play, and hoped that the Grizzlies could trade him. As soon as the news came out, the seemingly calm trading market immediately became undercurrents. Those players who were originally interested in Francis The teams began to issue offers to the Grizzlies one after another, hoping to get a share of this transaction.

"Sister Hui, you woke up so early." After being selected by the Spurs, Meng Xu suffered from insomnia due to over-excitement. He didn't fall asleep until 3 in the morning. When he woke up, he found that He Hui had already made breakfast. , I bought the newspaper and waited for myself at the dining table.

"I don't have the habit of sleeping late, so hurry up and brush your teeth, and after breakfast, I'll accompany you to San Antonio." He Hui said casually while flipping through the newspaper, stuffing a small piece of bread into his mouth.

"Are you going with me? Don't you still have to review your homework and take the postgraduate entrance examination? Didn't you hear last time that you have applied for Harvard's graduate business degree?" Looking at He Hui's serious look, Meng Xu asked in surprise.

"After much deliberation last night, I decided not to take the postgraduate entrance examination, and I will be your agent." He Hui put down the newspaper and said seriously: "I have already called my uncle, and he completely agreed to let me do it. As your agent, didn't you say that the Spurs prepared a million-dollar annual salary contract for you? I will manage it, and there is a contract I have drawn up on the table, you can take a look at it first, if there is no problem, you can sign it."

"Cough, cough, cough." Meng Xu, who had just taken a sip of milk, almost choked, picked up the contract on the table, and signed his name without looking at it: "It's all right, I just don't know Hui Does my sister have the qualifications of a player agent? I heard that the NBA also has relevant regulations on player agents."

"That's not what you're thinking about." He Hui took out a player agent notice, shook it in front of Meng Xu's face, and said with a smile, "I've signed up for the agent exam at the end of the month on the NBA's official website." You signed the contract without looking carefully at the content, and you are not afraid that it is a contract of sale."

"Even if it's a deed of sale, I'll accept it. Besides, I won't suffer if I can sell it to Sister Hui, right?" Meng Xu said with a playful smile.

"Xiao Xu, you've made the headlines of the New York Times. Take a look, it's very interesting." Just as Meng Xu was still joking, He Hui took out a newspaper from a large pile of newspapers and handed it to Meng Xu .

"Stupid or Arrogant" first caught Meng Xu's eyes with a big black and bold headline. Originally, Meng Xu thought that the New York Times would praise him as a legacy in this draft. The 29 rookies did not match his strength at all. I didn't expect to know when I saw the title that this was obviously trying to blackmail myself.Fortunately, Meng Xu's name appeared once from the beginning to the end, and the rest of the story is all about smearing Popovich. It seems that New Yorkers still have a lot of resentment for this year's loss in the finals.

"The New York Times is really blind. If you don't believe in my strength, forget it, and even suspect that I am Popovich's illegitimate son." When I read the last paragraph of the report, "If it weren't for the fact that this player named Meng is Chinese, we There is really reason to suspect that he is Popovich's illegitimate son, and Popovich is using this method to compensate his son millions of dollars." Meng Xu also shook his head helplessly: "These unscrupulous newspapers."

"Haha, I can't do it anymore, I'll go laugh." Seeing Meng Xu's embarrassing look, He Hui covered his mouth and ran to his bedroom. Hearing He Hui's weird laughter, Meng Xu had a resentful expression on his face. Looking out the window: "New York, you wait for me."

The contract between Meng Xu and the Spurs did not take long. The day after Meng Xu and He Hui arrived in San Antonio, on July 1999, 7, as Meng Xu's agent, He Hui was in the Spurs' chairman's office. On behalf of Meng Xu and Popovich signed a 2-year contract worth 2 million US dollars. The two parties have already reached a consensus on the amount of the contract and the content of the contract. Xu is the last in the first round, but the contract offered by the Spurs is still quite generous. The annual salary of 300 million US dollars in the first year and 140 million US dollars in the second year are basically the same as the contract of the No. 160 player in the first round. It can also be seen that Popovich treats Meng Xu very kindly. Even this year's No. 15 pick Elton Brand's rookie contract is only 3 years and 1100 million US dollars. One-third of the salary of the No. 3 pick of the year is also quite frightening. You must know that last year’s No. 29 rookie Nazr Mohammed’s first-year contract amount was only 60 US dollars, even half of Meng Xu’s. None.After the signing of the contract between the two parties, the Spurs also invited local TV stations and several newspapers to hold a small joining ceremony for Meng Xu. Popovich and Meng Xu smiled brightly and held up the No. 5 jersey to accept reporters. This moment will be permanently recorded in the annals of NBA history, and this relatively special contract is destined to set off a turbulent storm the next day.

"Sister Hui, tell me, what do you want, let's buy it." After the contract was signed, Meng Xu chose to directly receive all the salary for this season. After layers of peeling, only a little more than half of the salary of 140 million US dollars is left, but looking at the large string of 0s in the bank account is also very pleasing to the eye.As for tax evasion, Meng Xu has never thought about it. The main thing is that he dare not. To use a popular saying in later generations, the three major acts of death in the world are being held hostage in Russia, drug trafficking in China, and One is tax evasion in the United States.There used to be a mafia boss who couldn't even deal with the FBI, but in the end he fell into the hands of the US Federal Internal Revenue Service.

"$78 seems like a lot, but it's actually not much. You have to stay here for at least two years. We'd better buy a house closer to the club. In this way, there won't be much money left. There are still expenses for the rest of the year, so save some money." Looking at the excited Meng Xu, He Hui poured cold water on Meng Xu.

(End of this chapter)