The Best Point Guard-Chapter 67 - 2: The Goodwin Brothers

From the moment Su Xi lifted the MOP trophy, his life had shifted into the fast lane.

That night, people he knew and people he didn’t all swarmed him, offering congratulations and expressing interest in working together. Men in sharp suits—powerful figures—invited him to dinner. NBA superstars welcomed him to the league. Hollywood icon Denzel Washington walked up and told him, "You’re going to be a superstar."

It was only a 200-meter straight shot from the court to the locker room. But that path was paved with splendor—adoring crowds, the siren call of capital... This was a glimpse into the world of fame and fortune, and Su Xi had already taken his first step inside.

That night, Su Xi turned down all media interviews and rejected the many parties the ’big shots’ wanted to throw in his honor. He returned early to his hotel room, just as he usually did. The only difference was that he was carrying this year’s NCAA MOP trophy.

At 10:30 PM, Bill Daffy arrived at Su Xi’s room, accompanied by Antonio.

He pitched a potential partnership to Su Xi, highlighting his strengths, including the superstars he represented and the NBA and media resources he possessed.

He also detailed the kinds of sponsorships he could secure for Su Xi.

For instance... he didn’t shy away from telling Su Xi directly: "I’m close to finalizing a shoe sponsorship deal for Cameron. He’s going to get a six-year, $21 million endorsement deal before he even enters the draft. Plus, the brand is giving him a signature shoe. You have to understand, very few players in the entire league have their own signature shoe."

It was indeed a remarkable achievement.

He was telling the truth.

However, when Su Xi heard that number, he started to realize that Bill Daffy’s abilities might be nothing special.

Recently, stories about LeBron James’s rise had been all over the media. Mention his name, and people thought of his incredible mother, his perfect upbringing—the super-genius God himself had created for the game of basketball.

But Antonio?

The NCAA’s top scorer?

And then what? Nothing else.

Su Xi felt that Bill Daffy’s promotion of Antonio paled in comparison to the campaign Huang Xiaoman had run with the Yahoo Website, which included that article in *Sports Illustrated*.

Most importantly, the entire basketball world was buzzing with the narrative that LeBron James was choosing between Adidas and Nike, with Adidas offering a contract worth over a hundred million USD.

Yet Bill Daffy wasn’t using this situation to create hype and drive up the price for Antonio. Instead, he seemed perfectly content with a six-year, $21 million deal.

So, Su Xi didn’t agree right away. Instead, he said, "I’m still considering my options."

Bill Daffy had been politely rebuffed, but he wasn’t discouraged. He planned to ask another one of his clients, Yao Ming, to help him win Su Xi over.

As Antonio was leaving, he said to Su Xi, "Jack, after a couple of days of rest, I’m planning to hire Yidan Lavin as my trainer. You know, we need to get our bodies and skills into peak condition before we try out for NBA teams."

Su Xi thanked Antonio for the offer and said that if he decided to join, he would pay his own way.

Su Xi didn’t want to be financially indebted to a friend.

Although he had lived frugally over the years, he wasn’t short on cash. He still had $260,000 USD left from the compensation payout after his grandfather’s accidental death. This was one of the reasons he could resist the temptations of various agents.

Not long after Bill Daffy left, James arrived with his agent, Allen Goodwin, and Goodwin’s brother, Eric Goodwin.

James congratulated Su Xi on his incredible achievement, then cut straight to the chase and started promoting the Goodwin brothers.

Compared to Bill Daffy’s gentle, refined demeanor, these two looked much more cunning. In fact, their reputation in agent circles wasn’t the best. They were known for their unorthodox methods, but those methods often managed to secure the maximum profit for their players.

They had once been partners with Bill Daffy, but they had since parted ways.

The most famous story about Bill Daffy was how he once cost a player $3 million due to an oversight, a loss he then covered out of his own pocket.

The incident earned him a great deal of praise.

But in the Goodwin brothers’ eyes, something like that should never have happened in the first place.

In the sponsors’ eyes, they were "villains." In hindsight, nearly all of the NBA’s most famous massive shoe contracts were their handiwork: LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant, and Lillard’s huge deal with Adidas.

One key factor was that Allen Goodwin had previously worked for Reebok. Back then, he was on the corporate side, responsible for negotiating a shoe endorsement deal with Shaun Kemp’s team. Because of that, he knew exactly how to push a sponsor’s limits.

At this moment, however, aside from LeBron James, "the Chosen One," the Goodwin brothers only had three clients: Payton, Raheem, and Damon Stoudamire.

They were aggressively marketing themselves.

Upon seeing Su Xi, Allen Goodwin fixed him with an intense gaze. "Jack, choose me. I can get you the absolute best deal. Trust me, I’ve never let any of my players down."

"What do you think my commercial value is right now?" Su Xi asked him.

"Extremely high, Jack! I know you have a brilliant operator behind the scenes who made you famous across the country even before the championship game. Now that you’ve gotten a quadruple-double and the MOP award, your reputation is right on the heels of LeBron’s."

"Plus, you have a huge advantage over LeBron. You have the vast market of China behind you, which is the area with the greatest growth potential and clearest upward trend for global sports brands. They’ve already gotten a taste of the incredible money to be made with Yao Ming. And you’re a Point Guard, which makes your commercial value even higher. Right now, all we need to do is convince the sponsors that you’ll be an elite player, maybe even an All-Star, once you get to the NBA."

"Make them believe it’s a sure thing."

"If we do that, I can get you an eight-million-dollar-a-year contract."

Su Xi’s brow furrowed slightly at the number Goodwin quoted.

It wasn’t that he was shocked by the money, but rather that he noticed the huge difference between Goodwin and Bill Daffy. Daffy was far more conservative and cautious.

The Goodwin brothers, on the other hand, were extremely aggressive.

’To break new ground, you need aggressive people.’

"Am I only worth eight million USD?" Su Xi countered.

His tone was even, his expression confident, and his body language was full of composure.

Allen Goodwin froze, clearly caught off guard.

But his brother, Eric Goodwin, was even more aggressive. He said, "Jack, if you agree to let us negotiate your commercial contracts, then allow us to use you and LeBron to drive up each other’s value."

"We all know you have a mastermind backing you, but trust me, when it comes to handling the details and dealing with those crafty sponsors, no one is more cunning than the two of us!" Eric’s eyes glinted with ambition.

"I will definitely get you both unprecedented, massive contracts."

"But before that, I need you two to show up at a training camp together to do some preliminary groundwork," Eric said.

Su Xi thought for a moment, then exchanged a look with LeBron James. James nodded, and Su Xi nodded as well. "You know I have my own team behind me, so I can’t sign a long-term agreement with you. However, I can entrust my shoe contract negotiation to you. We can establish a long-term, project-based partnership model."

"What’s your commission?" Su Xi asked.

"Ten percent of the total value," Eric Goodwin said. "Until the contract is finalized, we’ll handle some of your publicity and cover your and LeBron’s training expenses."

"That’s too high," Su Xi said.

"That’s already below the market rate," Goodwin said quickly.

"I don’t need your publicity; I have my own promotional team. I also don’t need you to cover my training fees. I’ll pay for my own training, and I don’t need you to spend a dime on my room and board."

Su Xi continued, "I’ll give you a one-million-dollar, pre-tax commission. If the annual salary is over ten million USD, I’ll give you an additional bonus of five hundred thousand USD. But there’s a condition: the contract you negotiate has to satisfy me. If it doesn’t meet my expectations, our agreement is automatically void."

"How about it? All you have to do is talk, and you could make a million dollars."

"You have nothing to lose. Even if you can’t close the deal for me, you can still use my name to drive up the price for LeBron. Isn’t that right?"

Su Xi stared directly into their eyes, as if trying to see right through them.

The Goodwin brothers clearly hadn’t expected Su Xi to be such a tough negotiator.

But just as Su Xi said, they had nothing to lose even if they failed to close a deal.

"Deal. But we’ll have to maintain this long-term, project-based partnership model going forward," Allen Goodwin agreed, even while his brother was still thinking it over.

He understood the core of the model.

If Su Xi didn’t have enough commercial value, he was just leverage to drive up James’s price.

If Su Xi really did manage to impress the sponsors, then he’d be piggybacking on James’s influence to get a premium contract.

Either way, the Goodwin brothers couldn’t lose.

So, after agreeing, he made a point of asking James, "What do you think of this partnership model?"

LeBron James nodded. "It works. Neither of you is taking advantage of the other, and even if it doesn’t work out, neither side loses anything."

Then, James said to Su Xi, "Jack, from today on, we’re in the same boat. I told you before, we’re a natural fit."

He was all smiles.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

Su Xi walked over and asked, "Who is it?"

"Larry Bird!"

At the mention of the name, Su Xi opened the door, revealing a stunned James and the Goodwin brothers inside.

’Jack even has a connection to Larry Bird?’

’The mastermind backing him is no joke.’

...