Maggette signed a sneaker contract with Anta, worth 20 million over five years.
He previously signed an ordinary cash contract with Nike. He wore Nike shoes to play and Nike paid him a sum of money, but they would not design a signature sneaker specifically for him.
Now, Anta will design Maggette's signature sneakers exclusively for him, which is a higher level.
In the entire league, there are only about a dozen players with signed sneaker contracts.
The rest are cash contracts and commodity contracts. Cash contracts can still make some money, but commodity contracts don't even make money. The brand just provides them with various sports equipment for free.
Most fringe people sign commodity contracts. Only those with some strength and fame can get cash contracts, and most of the contracts are very small.
In short, in terms of endorsements, the NBA is in a pyramid state, with droughts dying and floods dying.
It’s not just the NBA, many industries are in this state.
With Maggette's reputation, he was originally not eligible to receive a signed sneaker contract.
But who made him the Clippers' second-in-command?
Anta is optimistic that his reputation will skyrocket in the future, at least in mainland China. It is not a loss to sign him in advance, and 20 million for five years is not expensive.
For Maggette, this is pie in the sky, almost like picking up 20 million for nothing.
If he hadn't stayed with the Clippers, he would never have gotten this kind of contract in his life.
There are many players like him with 187 in the league.
Among the Clippers players, in addition to Maggette, some others have also benefited to a greater or lesser extent.
Any endorsements Zhang Zhiyuan doesn't want will be given to Clippers players.
For example, the endorsement of condoms is not worthy of Zhang Zhiyuan's celebrity position and damages his image.
But Dragic has no such worries, as long as he can make money.
500,000 US dollars a year, which is higher than his playing salary.
There are also some small brands that cannot hire Zhang Zhiyuan, so they can only focus on Kaman, Livingston, Hayes and others.
These people follow Zhang Zhiyuan, and their exposure rate is much higher than other players of the same level.
Three media outlets in China have purchased the rights to broadcast all Clippers games, and North America's TNT has also purchased 82 games.
Other media such as AB also bought less.
This season, the team with the most live broadcasts in the United States is the Clippers.
Traditionally, the Lakers, Celtics, and Knicks from the Mets are not as good as the Clippers.
The capital is not stupid. They all predict that the Clippers will be talked about more than other teams this season.
On the 5th, the Clippers faced the Kings at home, 108 to 119. The Clippers celebrated their third consecutive victory.
Zhang Zhiyuan once again scored a triple-double, 341,213.
He scored a triple-double in two of the three games. This frequency is too high.
If this trend continues, Zhang Zhiyuan really hopes to achieve a triple-double this season.
Now the only obstacle for Zhang Zhiyuan to achieve this is those games against strong teams. If he can get such data against strong teams, then there will be no problem.
On the 7th, the Clippers will challenge the Nuggets away from home, which is considered a test.
If the Clippers can beat the Nuggets, it means they are a truly top-notch team.
If the Clippers lose, the strength of the Clippers remains to be evaluated. After all, they have only defeated a strong Lakers team so far, which cannot explain the problem.
On November 7, the Clippers arrived in Denver.
Clippers starting lineup, Livingston, Zhang Zhiyuan, Maggette, Al Thornton, Kaman.
After three games, the team felt that Thornton still had some value in training, so they replaced him in the starting lineup.
The Nuggets' starting lineup is Billups, Dengta Jones, Anthony, Kenyon Martin, and Nenela Sirio.
Compared to last season, the Nuggets' lineup has changed quite a bit.
The two star players, Iverson and Camby, are gone, replaced by Billups.
In terms of fame, Iverson is definitely bigger than Billups. In terms of strength, they are both players of the same type, so it is not easy to compare.
However, when it comes to the degree of compatibility with Anthony, Billups is definitely more suitable.
Last season the Nuggets barely made it to the playoffs, but this season they started with three consecutive wins, defeating the Spurs, Jazz and Suns.
With the Nuggets, many people have realized that famous players may not necessarily win.
The two teams jumped the ball, and Nene gave the ball to her own team.
The Nuggets attack first.
Anthony is very active in running. He attaches great importance to this game and really wants to beat Zhang Zhiyuan once.
Now the Nuggets have upgraded their lineup, which is an opportunity.
Anthony reached for the ball, but Billups passed the ball to Martin, who was rushing to the basket.
Elsoton was not experienced enough and did not take a good position in advance, giving Martin a chance.
After Martin rushed up, he completed an alley-oop with Billups and dunked the ball into the basket.
A good point guard can really change a team.
"Who can tell me why the Pistons traded Billups for Iverson? Last season the Pistons were still the strongest player in the Eastern Conference. After losing Billups this season, they have 1 win and 3 losses. On the other hand, they got Billups.
The Nuggets are on their way to winning four games in a row."
Barkley complained that he didn't understand the Pistons' management.
"Don't get excited Charles, the season has just begun and it's too early to draw conclusions."
Smith said.
"It's getting late. You can see the changes in both teams from just a few games."
Buckley said.
Iverson's fans were not very happy to hear this, but they were not happy at all. Unless Iverson performed well and led the team to win, they fans would not be able to speak forcefully.
On the court, the Clippers attack.
After halftime, the ball was in Zhang Zhiyuan's hands.
Zhang Zhiyuan looked at Deng Tai Jones and complained: "Your coach asked you to guard me. Isn't it too cruel?"
Deng Tai Jones is mediocre in strength. The reason why Zhang Zhiyuan is impressed by him is because this guy has stepped on Kobe Bryant and is a relatively dirty player.
"You can continue to push, and then you will know whether it is cruel or not."
Deng Tai Jones snorted coldly.
They say barking dogs don't bite, but there are exceptions to everything, and Zhang Zhiyuan wasn't sure if the guy in front of him would go crazy.
So, he chose to be careful.
After the breakthrough, Zhang Zhiyuan encountered a double-team and then passed the ball to Maggette.
Maggette wanted to hit the basket, but with Anthony standing in front of him, it was difficult to break out.
Maggette shot a long two-pointer, but the ball missed.
Martin picked off the rebound and the Nuggets counterattacked.
Billups carried the ball steadily across half court and then passed the ball to Nene.
Nene turned and hooked, scoring.
0 to 4.
The Clippers attack, but Zhang Zhiyuan is not in a hurry.
After dribbling the ball past half-court, Zhang Zhiyuan pretended to break through, then jumped up on the spot and threw the ball.
Duntay Jones followed and jumped, but the height was not high enough.
The ball goes in.
At this point, Zhang Zhiyuan has an absolute advantage.
The Nuggets attacked, and Billups made a sudden three-point shot and scored.
3 to 7.
This guy's scoring has increased a lot since he came to the Nuggets, and he seems to be getting better as he gets older.
"His shot can't be missed."
Zhang Zhiyuan reminded Livingston, who nodded quickly.
The boss has spoken, why don't you listen?
The Clippers attacked and Zhang Zhiyuan was double-teamed. Then Zhang Zhiyuan passed the ball to Maggette and rushed to the basket.
Maggette passed the ball again, Zhang Zhiyuan caught the ball under the basket, bumped into Martin, and then threw the ball towards the basket.
The ball goes in.
5 to 7.
This ball is very difficult, all due to his excellent touch.
The two sides fought for several more rounds, and the Nuggets maintained their lead.
Barkley commented: "The Nuggets' strategy today seems to be to guard against the rest of the Clippers, cut off the connection between Zhang Zhiyuan and his teammates, and let Zhang Zhiyuan score."
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"At present, the Nuggets are doing pretty well, but they need to pray that Zhang Zhiyuan will not explode, otherwise this strategy will just help Zhang Zhiyuan create news."
Smith said.
The Clippers attack, Zhang Zhiyuan runs without the ball, tearing apart the Nuggets' defense.
Billups harassed Livingston, preventing him from passing the ball comfortably.
Others on the Clippers were also moving, Thornton went to the weak side, and Livingston passed.
Just as Thornton was about to take action, Martin ran in front of him again.
The man had already taken off, and Thornton had no choice but to keep throwing.
The ball didn't go in.
The Nuggets attacked, Billups and Anthony played a pick-and-roll, and after the Clippers were forced to switch defenses, Anthony directly squeezed Livingston away, received the ball and rushed to the basket.
There were many people under the basket, so Anthony stopped, took off and shot.
There was no interference with the ball and it went in.
12 to 18, the Nuggets led by 6 points.
"The Nuggets are really strong this year."
Zhang Lili sighed with emotion.
"It's not particularly strong. The main reason is that Zhang Zhiyuan's current teammates are a little weaker. If he is given another Kobe Bryant, they can still beat the Nuggets."
Sun Zhengping said.
"The Lakers' lineup last season will probably be hard to come by in the future. Don't even think about the record of 74 wins."
Zhang Lili said.
On the court, the Clippers attack.
Zhang Zhiyuan changed to holding the ball again, and then played Deng Tai Jones in singles.
The Nuggets were not double-teamed, and Zhang Zhiyuan was a little unhappy with this contemptuous attitude.
Then he shot a three-pointer, trying to make the opponent pay a price.
Unfortunately, his touch seemed to be relatively average today, so he hit the iron again.
Every star has his moments, but relatively speaking, there are actually very few games where Zhang Zhiyuan performs abnormally.
And today, he obviously met it.
It was just an ordinary regular season game. Zhang Zhiyuan was not willing to use the props and was ready to play again.
If you can survive to the end, then buy a small prop to explode.
If he falls too behind early, he will give up the game. He has no intention of breaking the record this season.
The Nuggets attacked, Anthony caught the ball and made a jump shot from the basket, scoring.
Without Iverson, the Nuggets' offense doesn't seem to be getting worse, but rather more sophisticated.
From the basket to the mid-range, there are shooting points from the outside, everything is covered.
The Clippers attacked. Zhang Zhiyuan broke through and caused a foul on Martin. He went to the free throw line and made one of two free throws.
"Damn it, are you destined to lose today on difficulty?"
Zhang Zhiyuan couldn't help but complain.
He didn't even make a free throw, and he didn't know what went wrong. He could only attribute it to luck and probability.
Zhang Zhiyuan cannot open up this point, and the Clippers' other points will also be misfired.
Except for Maggette and Livingston, who can hit the basket from time to time, the other two have no ability to score independently.
Livingston's breakthrough is average, and his scoring efficiency is naturally average.
Maggette's efficiency is relatively good, and relying on his scoring, the Clippers will not collapse.
After the first quarter, 22 to 36, the Clippers were 14 points behind.
22 points in a single quarter, this is a serious abnormal performance for the Clippers.
In the second quarter, Zhang Zhiyuan came on early.
The Clippers attacked, Zhang Zhiyuan's breakthrough attracted a lot of people, and then he passed the ball to the bottom corner. Dragic made a three-pointer from the bottom corner, but the ball missed.
In the next round, Zhang Zhiyuan threw the ball above the basket after a breakthrough. Jordan immediately jumped up to make an alley-oop and dunk the basketball into the basket.
In the next round, Zhang Zhiyuan was running without the ball. Dragic saw that Zhang Zhiyuan was entangled and unable to catch the ball, so he could only pass it to Powell. Powell took off and shot a mid-range shot.
The ball didn't go in.
The bench lineup relies more on Li Yongguan. If Zhang Zhiyuan doesn't help them create good shooting opportunities, they can't guarantee efficiency.
Zhang Zhiyuan had no time to lament, the Nuggets had already launched a counterattack.
Zhang Zhiyuan retreated quickly and was very active.
Unfortunately, it didn't work, Jr. Smith still hit a three-pointer.
24 to 41, the Nuggets led by 17 points.
"Without your good teammates, you still become arrogant?"
jr smith mocked.
Zhang Zhiyuan smiled. He didn't expect that Smith was so crazy that he didn't learn the lessons from last season.
"You'd better not provoke me, otherwise I'll explode and no one can stop me."
Zhang Zhiyuan warned.
He doesn't want to waste his hatred points in an ordinary regular season, but if Jr. Smith dares to keep provoking and making Zhang Zhiyuan lose face, then he can't be blamed for the luxury.
Jr. Smith wanted to talk back, but Billups shouted: "Jr. Shut up and retreat."
Upon hearing this, Smith held back and retreated to his own position to defend.
When the Clippers attacked, Zhang Zhiyuan still broke through and passed the ball to the open Powell.
Powell continued to take shots and the ball finally went in.
26 to 41.
Unfortunately, Powell's shooting was not stable and he hit the ball again in the next round.
"People like the Clippers really can't get enough of them."
Zhang Lili sighed with emotion.
How could you not take advantage of such a good opportunity?
"I think the Clippers should add another strong player. The current lineup is too overwhelming."
Sun Zhengping said.
The two sides continued for several rounds, and the Clippers replaced their main force.
However, the Nuggets have also replaced their main players. The Clippers cannot take advantage and can only bite the bullet and compete with the opponent's strength.
Under normal circumstances, the Clippers actually have a fighting chance.
But Zhang Zhiyuan happened to be out of form today and felt bad, so the Clippers fell into a disadvantage.
Zhang Zhiyuan's inability to start the game had a huge impact on the team. Others were used to scoring easily in the past, but today they lost those comfortable shooting opportunities, their shooting percentage dropped significantly, and they continued to hit the ground running.
Fortunately, there is also an advantage to playing iron, that is, Zhang Zhiyuan can grab more rebounds.
Although the team was lagging behind by a huge margin, Zhang Zhiyuan's statistics soared.
After halftime, the score between the two teams was 48 to 66, with the Nuggets leading by 18 points.
Zhang Zhiyuan personally scored 20 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, and was on his way to a triple-double again.
