New Endorsement

In the next round, Iverson of the Eastern All-Stars made a jump shot from under the basket.

Then, Kobe raised his hand and asked Francis for the ball.

Francis thought for a moment, and finally passed the ball to Kobe.

Kobe immediately drove inside from the three-point line. McGrady stood in front of Kobe, his eyelids drooping, and listlessly raised his arm.

Kobe faced McGrady and shot a fadeaway jumper. Kobe's shooting was truly accurate, hitting the rim precisely.

Ben Wallace of the East grabbed the rebound.

Kobe frowned and immediately retreated on defense.

At the end of the first quarter, Kobe had 6 points, which gave him a bad feeling. He wondered if he would be embarrassed today.

He then subconsciously looked for Li Chen. When Kobe saw Li Chen chatting and laughing with a young lady, he felt a bit sour.

I paid you to come watch me steal the show and win MVP, not to flirt with female celebrities.

The second quarter began. Kobe didn't play, and he watched Garnett score continuously, his heart bleeding!

Garnett already had 12 points, while he only had six.

Kobe inwardly cursed Garnett to miss his shots, but Kobe's curse was particularly effective today, stronger than any great blessing. Garnett was playing like a fish in water.

In the latter half of the second quarter, Kobe finally got a chance to play.

But it seemed Kobe had put on the wrong jersey, wearing his "brick-making" special jersey. By the end of the first half, he only had 10 points, while Garnett had 20.

Kobe felt panicked. His face felt a bit hot.

He regretted being too impulsive and shouldn't have called Li Chen.

However, when the game reached the latter half of the fourth quarter, Li Chen was somewhat surprised.

Because Kobe's score was different from the original history.

He remembered Kobe only scoring around twenty-one or twenty-two points back then, but now this guy actually had 25 points, while Garnett had 28 points.

Garnett's score was normal, but Kobe's score was a bit unusual.

Li Chen rubbed his chin, thinking, Could it be because of me?

He hadn't expected to have the ability to motivate people. Damn, could the little blacksmith be making a comeback? Thinking of this, Li Chen felt a bit disgusted. He didn't want to see Kobe showing off.

After that, this All-Star Game was similar to the historical one.

Jordan hit a near-game-winner, and Kobe still forced overtime with a two-of-three shooting performance.

Although Garnett eventually won the All-Star MVP.

Kobe, however, performed much better than in history, scoring 31 points.

If his luck had been a little better, it wouldn't have been impossible to snatch the MVP from Garnett.

After the game, Li Chen returned to the hotel.

The next day, Li Chen boarded the plane back to Los Angeles with a dark expression.

Because Kobe wanted to stay in Atlanta for a day with Vanessa, Li Chen had to dejectedly pay for his own ticket back to Los Angeles.

At the same time, seeing Li Chen leave with a dark face and looking displeased, Kobe felt as refreshed as drinking a mouthful of ice-cold water on a scorching summer day.

At this moment, Vanessa asked, "Is this bastard the one who harassed us early this morning?"

Kobe nodded heavily, "Yes, it's this bastard."

Meanwhile.

As soon as Li Chen got off the plane and opened his phone, Bill Duffy called him shortly after.

Li Chen answered the phone and said, "Good morning, Bill."

"Haha! Good morning, Chen."

"Are there other companies looking for me for endorsements?" Li Chen asked expectantly.

"Yes."

"How much is the endorsement fee?"

"Pepsi Cola, four million for three years. However, I think we should only sign for one year at one million."

"Your country's Anta offered seven million for three years. I think this offer is good, so I think we can sign it."

Hearing this, Li Chen was slightly stunned, then he understood Bill Duffy's intention.

So he smiled and said, "Bill, are you that confident in me?"

Bill Duffy nodded, "Chen, I've seen your performance. Next year, you'll definitely be able to show your true value."

Li Chen thought for a moment and nodded, "Alright, I don't understand these things. You handle it!"

Hearing this, Bill Duffy rolled his eyes in amusement, muttering to himself, When negotiating with Robert Greenberg of Sketchers, you spoke so eloquently, even better than me.

Bill Duffy had already prepared everything before notifying Li Chen. Li Chen only needed to attend the signing ceremony.

Half an hour later, Bill Duffy drove Li Chen to the signing.

After the signing was complete.

A system prompt immediately sounded in Li Chen's mind.

[Prompt: Host has received 8.5 million exclusive skill coins.]

Hearing this information, Li Chen was slightly stunned. After studying it for a while, he understood what these exclusive skill coins were for.

They were experience points for upgrading skills.

But a question arose: why was there no prompt for signing with Sketchers, nor for signing with the Clippers?

After Li Chen carefully examined the situation, he discovered a common characteristic between the two.

That is, their contracts were very special, both having additional conditions. The system wouldn't issue exclusive skill coins until those conditions were met.

At this point, he felt a sense of relief. He shuddered to think how he would feel if he had used real money to upgrade his skills; just the thought made him ache. Fortunately, he hadn't had the money back then, or he would have been in trouble.

After Bill Duffy drove him home, he excitedly began to research upgrading his skills.

Upgrading a D-rank skill to C-rank cost 1 million, to B-rank cost 3 million, and to A-rank cost 10 million.

A-rank skills were out of the question; he didn't have enough.

After some thought, he spent 4 million coins to upgrade "Miracle Shot" to B-rank.

With the B-rank "Miracle Shot" skill, he had a 30% chance of making the shot.

Then, he also upgraded "Clutch Shot" to B-rank. After upgrading the "Clutch Shot" skill to B-rank, it also increased his hit rate by 20%.

With these two skills upgraded to B-rank, he wouldn't find himself in dire straits like when he went cold during crucial moments against the New York Knicks.

Thursday, February 12, 2003.

At the America West Arena, the home court of the Phoenix Suns, today was a revenge match.

This could be seen from the thunderous roar of the fans.

The Clippers' starting lineup for this game was:

Andre Miller (Point Guard)

Li Chen (Shooting Guard)

Corey Maggette (Small Forward)

Elton Brand (Power Forward)

Wang Zhizhi (Center)

The Phoenix Suns' starting lineup:

Marbury (Point Guard)

Joe Johnson (Shooting Guard)

Shawn Marion (Small Forward)

Stoudemire (Center)

Outlaw (Power Forward)

The referee's whistle blew, and the players from both teams took the court.

At the same time, Li Chen's randomly assigned S-rank skill for this game was officially revealed.

[Eagle Eye: Increases host's vision by 50%, improves help defense speed by 10%, and increases passing accuracy by 10%.]

Li Chen was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected to randomly get such a support skill.

He knew his original vision was already good, but with a 50% increase, what level would his vision reach? Li Chen couldn't help but feel excited just thinking about it.

A moment later, Stoudemire tipped the ball.

Joe Johnson grabbed the ball.

The Clippers retreated rapidly on defense.

For this game, the Clippers were still using a 2-3 zone defense.