Finalizing the Agent

Westbrook generously declared, "Your troubles on the road are all covered by your daddy!"

"This Humble One has drifted half a life without meeting a worthy lord. If you, sir, do not abandon me..."

"Your language is really hard to understand. Maybe you could teach me sometime?" Hearing Chen Xi spout off another few lines of completely incomprehensible language, Turtle Turtle knew this guy was pulling out Chinese again.

"No problem! I'll teach you another day. You'll find out that Chinese is the most awesome language in the world!!"

Little Sunflower Chinese Class is now in session! Kid's Chinese always bad? Probably a lost cause~~

November 6th

The Thunder hosted the Minnesota Timberwolves at home, a team led by the new Wolf King, Karl-Anthony Towns.

With the old Wolf King KG just retired and the new Wolf King not yet risen, Timberwolves fans still held high hopes for this team. Just look at this talent-packed starting lineup—how many teams in the league can compare?

Towns, Wiggins, Zach LaVine, Gorgui Dieng, and this year's fifth overall pick, Kris Dunn.

Two First Overall Picks, a 13th-round Slam Dunk Champion Shooting Guard, plus a fifth overall pick. The Timberwolves' years of tanking had built up quite a hefty stash.

But obviously, these potential-filled rookies couldn't easily unleash their talent.

Since the season started, they were one win and three losses, only beating the equally struggling Grizzlies by one.

And their struggles continued.

They got blown out from the opening tip. The Timberwolves, unexpectedly yet predictably, were crushed by the Thunder.

Inside, Towns couldn't push past Aquaman; outside, Dunn and LaVine couldn't keep up with Westbrook and Odie. The only matchup advantage happened to be Andrew Wiggins, the player with the lowest Offensive Desire on the court.

Down 27-15 from the start, the Timberwolves had their farm-owner coach Thibodeau roaring on the sidelines, his dissatisfaction with the team and players extremely intense.

As a classic traditionalist, old-school high-intensity defense held an important place in Thibodeau's heart, and obviously, not a single Timberwolf currently met his standards.

Wiggins was lazy and lackadaisical, Towns had zero desire to help defend, and LaVine and Dunn simply lacked the ability. Long accustomed to Thibodeau's black face, they went back on the court and did their own thing. If the farm owner's health wasn't decent, he might have gotten sick from anger.

Thanks to the Timberwolves' terrible defense, Chen Xi, who subbed in early, found it rare in the First Quarter to easily score relying solely on his Catch and Shoot badge. This made him sigh—the Timberwolves' awful defensive discipline was a total waste of Thibodeau as a defensive coach.

The game ended without suspense. The Thunder easily took down the Timberwolves 120-96 with a 24-point Score Difference.

Westbrook played only 26 minutes but put up a double-double of 28 points, 6 rebounds, and 10 assists, getting subbed out early.

Even Chen Xi only played 18 minutes, shooting 7 of 13, 5 of 9 from three, for 19 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists. Then he sat down on the bench with Turtle Turtle and Odie, watching Donovan constantly try out third-string players like Payne, Kyle Singler, and Nick Collison, trying to dig up another gem like Chen Xi to deepen the Bench depth.

But obviously, the commoners without systems couldn't seize the opportunity. None met Donovan's expectations—either their defense was lacking, their vision was too poor, or their offensive choices were terrible.

"Maybe I'm being too greedy. This is what normal rookies look like."

Donovan sighed, watching Payne on the court Strong drive into the paint to challenge the 2.11-meter Towns, only to get a volleyball-style block. He shook his head, then looked at Chen Xi laughing and chatting with Westbrook and Adams on the bench.

"Chris's maturity isn't in his technique, but his mentality and basketball IQ. That's probably what a rookie needs most."

The next day, Chen Xi woke up early (meaning 1:30 PM), drove the Porsche Cayenne he'd swiped from Turtle Turtle's garage, and headed to the Sam's Club downtown.

"Friends, today is Tuesday. Let's experience some authentic Mexican Tacos~~~"

After parking, Chen Xi didn't enter the mall but went to a Mexican restaurant next door. After ordering, he pulled out his phone, opened Douyin, and started recording his wonderful life.

"What day is today? Taco~~~ Tuesday~~~~~!!!!! Gigigigigigiggigigigigigi~~~~~~"

Buddy was riding that wave of traffic now.

After happily finishing his "breakfast," Chen Xi waited for the person he'd arranged to meet: Darren Moon, the agent who had volunteered himself.

After carefully comparing candidates from several agencies, he was surprised to find that this agent, who had approached him first, was the most sincere. Despite graduating from a prestigious school, he only asked for a 2.5% cut of team contracts and just 10% of commercial endorsements—definitely giving up a lot of profit. (Many big-name agents would ask for 4% and 20%.)

When you don't know anyone's character, you go with the one showing more sincerity. Then you just have to rely on time to reveal their true nature. After all, Chen Xi had no connections in this area. He thought about asking Turtle Turtle but remembered that a few years later, Turtle would also part ways with his current agent. (That guy made Turtle stay with the Lakers to execute the final year of his $48 million contract, when Turtle was already getting death threats!)

"It's a great honor that you ultimately chose me. In just a few days, your value has risen significantly—truly impressive." Darren Moon was very humble, after all, he was facing his first client.

"At the same time, I'm proud of my own judgment. I believe it won't be long before you're eligible for a new player contract negotiation with the Thunder. After all, I doubt they'd be stupid enough to think a second-year, $550k non-guaranteed contract could keep a high-quality shooter with a 57% three-point Shooting Percentage."

Moon, who had just signed the contract, immediately started his career planning.

"Also, I think we should leverage your advantage as a Chinese American. I'm sure quite a few Eastern endorsement companies would be willing to approach you."

"Endorsements are fine to take, but keep the terms short. As for the team contract, let them come to us first. I've only played six games so far—it's still early."

Chen Xi was starting to think about his own financial future.

"Hearing you so confident puts me at ease. I definitely won't accept any contract offer longer than three years! I think three years from now, your value will be absolutely staggering."

After a fairly pleasant conversation, the two parted ways in the parking lot. Chen Xi then drove straight toward the arena.

Looking at the stats from yesterday, his ball handling had already hit 58, meaning his recent training had been quite effective.