Chapter 220 Media Frenzy

The next day, the media reported the post-game interview, sparking considerable discussion among fans.

With All-Star Weekend fast approaching, teams were wrapping up their games, and this kind of sensational news was exactly what they loved.

Walker's dribbling is most like mine?

Considering Tang Tian and Walker were teammates in college, it was possible that Walker imitated Tang Tian at that time.

After realizing this, they couldn't help but marvel at how good Tang Tian's ball-handling skills were even back in college.

As for why he hadn't used it in previous games?

Isn't this basic operation for Tang Tian?

Always revealing his abilities when they're most needed.

Or perhaps it was just that when he got to the NBA, this technique wasn't up to par for formal games, so he temporarily didn't use it!

The media coverage, coupled with fan analysis...

Walker couldn't help but laugh when he saw the reports.

Tang Tian has high popularity now, but they can't bully him like that!

However, Walker also knew that Tang Tian was joking, and may even have been trying to bring him some attention.

After all, he wasn't selected for this year's All-Star Game, which was a pretty big blow.

Tang Tian's post-game interview generated plenty of buzz before All-Star Weekend.

Durant silently watched on his phone, occasionally logging in with a burner account to troll people.

He had learned to stay calm now, and didn't smash his phone anymore.

Just wait, during All-Star Weekend, the spotlight would be on him.

And in the first game after the All-Star Game, the two teams would face off again, and he would give Tang Tian a real lesson in a head-on confrontation.

Thinking this, his mouth turned up, and he logged in with another burner account.

"Tang and Love, just a duel between two stat-padding players!"

"Is that Durant's burner account? You're just jealous!"

"Does Durant need to be jealous of their scoring? Bro, you're a real NBA loser."

…

All-Star Weekend was fast approaching, and New Orleans fans were getting increasingly excited.

This was the second time they were hosting the All-Star Game.

The last time they hosted was in 2008, only three years after the hurricane had passed, and the arena had just been repaired.

The league put the All-Star Game there to revitalize the New Orleans market and improve the league's image.

And this time, it was related to Benson's acquisition of the Hornets.

At that time, the Hornets' former owner, George Shinn, was selling the team, and there were many buyers, but none except Benson were in New Orleans.

Stern didn't want the Hornets to leave New Orleans, so he took over the management of the team.

The Hornets became a hot potato, and there was even the major incident of Paul's transfer to the Lakers being rejected by the league.

After that, the league reached an agreement with Benson that as long as he bought the team, the 2014 All-Star Game would be held in New Orleans.

Benson eventually succeeded in buying the Hornets, and the league fulfilled its initial promise.

Because of these reasons, the league did a lot of promotion for this All-Star Game.

Of course, there was also the fact that this was Silver's first All-Star Game after taking office, and the league committee was also supervising him, so it had to be done perfectly.

As the leader of the Pelicans, Tang Tian took the spotlight in the league's promotions, basically sharing the C position with James and Durant.

Even if Silver had prejudices against Tang Tian, he wouldn't stir up trouble at this time.

Because of this promotion, this All-Star Game was receiving unprecedented attention in China and Asia.

After Yao Ming, an even more popular Asian star was right in front of them.

Many Chinese and Asian fans even traveled thousands of miles to New Orleans.

The essence of All-Star Weekend is a show.

And this show, like other sporting events such as the Olympics, aims to enhance the league's image and boost the local economy along the way.

In the days leading up to the All-Star Game, Tang Tian could see many familiar Chinese faces on the streets.

Some stores even switched to Chinese staff.

The economy of New Orleans was really starting to pick up.

Olsen was probably the happiest at this time.

She had been here for more than three months, and had already tried all the local delicacies.

Now that new Chinese delicacies were appearing, she dragged Tang Tian to the streets every day.

Tang Tian also encountered many fans on the street.

Olsen would buy food, and he would sign autographs for fans on the side, making for a heartwarming scene.

However, these stores were still only a minority after all.

After wandering around, Tang Tian suddenly thought it would be a great idea to take the lead in building a Chinatown here.

Houston had created the largest Chinatown in the United States because of Yao Ming.

Now his popularity was even higher than Yao Ming's back then, so not building a Chinatown would be a waste.

And as long as he stayed in New Orleans, Chinatown would definitely develop.

Well, it seemed he had to talk to Benson about this matter later.

Anyway, his money was just gathering dust in the bank, so this kind of investment would be really good.

Of course, there was also a very important point: Olsen liked to eat, and nothing would make her happier than having another Chinatown.

Of course, this idea was just a seed, and he would have to discuss it carefully with Carl later.

As the All-Star Game approached, players from various teams who were participating in the All-Star Game also arrived in New Orleans one after another.

A slight difference from the previous two years was that Butler, Walker, and Thompson didn't come to New Orleans because they weren't participating in the All-Star Game.

Of the five hardship brothers, only Irving came.

Moreover, Irving came two days early because he was going to participate in Nike's promotional activities in New Orleans with Tang Tian.

Tang Tian's popularity was now exploding, and he was also the All-Star vote leader, so Nike would definitely take advantage of him to do a good job of promotion locally.

The content of the event was similar to ordinary promotional activities.

Basically, they would call a few black rappers to come up and sing a few songs, and then hold a few live drawings, giving away some signed sneakers and the like.

But it was also during this signed sneaker giveaway that Tang Tian unexpectedly saw a familiar figure.

Lin Yi.

This kid who was still in a mountain primary school had actually come to New Orleans.

And he was lucky enough to be drawn by Tang Tian.

It seemed this kid had a real connection with him.

After the event ended, Tang Tian chatted with Lin Yi for a while, and learned that the latter had been discovered by domestic scouts and had already embarked on the path of professional basketball.

Tang Tian had only had a casual thought back then, but now, he really felt that this kid would appear on the NCAA and even NBA courts in the future.

After the event ended, Tang Tian called Lin Yi and prepared to have him come to his house for a meal.

It was also at this time that Nike people communicated with Tang Tian for a few words, explaining that they were going to pick a time tomorrow to let both parties sit down and talk about the matter of releasing signature sneakers.

Releasing signature sneakers and signing sneakers to give away were completely two different concepts.

This was also the most valuable contract that Fegan had told Tang Tian about.

However, the difference between Tang Tian and James, Iverson, and others was that he had previously signed a four-year endorsement contract with Nike.

So what they needed to discuss was signing a supplementary agreement on the basis of this contract.

Nike hadn't expected Tang Tian's popularity to soar so quickly, so they wanted to launch Tang Tian's personal signature shoe series as soon as possible.

And this would be of great benefit to Tang Tian, ​​because it meant that he would receive a contract split from Nike for signature sneakers.

This split completely depended on sneaker sales, and wasn't a fixed salary like before, so it could be foreseen that it would be a considerable income.