Basketball Terminal

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The filming crew specially prepared a trailer for Li Wei, which was parked in the parking lot next to the Hunter College gymnasium. Inside the trailer were complete costumes, props, and equipment, as well as a professional makeup artist who had Li Wei sit down for a simple makeup treatment to make him look more three-dimensional and stylish in front of the camera.

Li Wei has five lines to memorize. He practiced them many times with Zhenli last night, and Zhenli confirmed that there were no problems. Today, he came to the gymnasium of his alma mater in Flushing to shoot an advertisement for a Chinese sports brand called Luyou.

Even though he only had five lines, a teleprompter was prepared on set in case he forgot his lines. Inside the stadium, several staff members were busy setting up the filming location, adjusting the lighting, and arranging equipment. After finishing his makeup, the makeup artist sprayed some water on Li Wei's face to simulate sweat.

"Is all that sweat fake?"

"If you want it to be real, you can go run a few laps first." The professional makeup artist was Kim Mi-won, and her skills were quite good. Li Wei looked in the mirror and found that he looked more angular and handsome than usual.

"Wow, your makeup skills are amazing. Next time we go on a date, could you do my makeup first? Wouldn't that make the experience even better?"

Kim Mi-won nudged Li Wei with her knee, which was clad in black stockings, with a hint of reproach on her face. Li Wei took the opportunity to touch her a couple of times; it was smooth and comfortable, and he considered it a special entertainment experience for an advertising star.

The two hadn't gone on a date in a while, and Kim Mi-won had no idea which woman he was messing around with. Or perhaps, as he himself said, the pressure of the competition had been too much lately, and he was too busy with work. The coach was inhuman, doing the work of 50 million on a 500 salary, and he simply didn't have the energy.

The Nets did play poorly this week. Li Wei was right; losing two key players and still managing a big win is just a coincidence. In the long run, the team's strength will definitely be greatly diminished. On April 3rd, they suffered a crushing defeat against the Bulls on the road. Vucevic is a nemesis for the Nets. He dominated the Nets' interior defense with the Magic, and after being traded to the Bulls, he performed exceptionally well, helping the Bulls to a big win over the Nets.

Li Wei has playmaking skills, but he's not Harden. Without exceptional individual offensive ability to back him up, his playmaking is more of a pipe dream. If people ignore you, they can do whatever they want. They won't invest much attention in you. Just being a simple playmaker isn't enough to be effective.

Li Wei's three-point shooting is decent, but he can't carry the team's volume. He needs a very good opportunity and rhythm before cautiously taking the shot, so he can only be a supplement, not a core offensive weapon. Next, in a back-to-back game against the Knicks, the Nets lost their city derby, a game in which Irving scored 40 points.

The original plan was to bring Harden back, but in the end, he was rested. After the loss, Nash faced some criticism, including questions about whether Levi could shoulder the responsibility of playmaking on offense. That's how the NBA is; when you start losing, doubts arise, and the more you lose, the more doubts arise.

Nash suppressed all opposition and doubt, stating his firm belief that Victor would be an excellent playmaker, no less capable than Draymond Green of the Warriors. He hoped Harden would recover fully and focus on the playoffs. Nash's words and actions garnered support from the Nets players; regardless of external commentary, internal unity was paramount.

To quell external criticism by disrupting internal balance and causing players to distrust the coach is the most foolish thing to do. Because those who have the loudest voices often don't have to take responsibility for the results.

Although Nash made Li Wei do the most work for the least amount of money, he didn't mistreat him off the court. He not only had Lao Cai help pay the fines, but also secured an advertising endorsement opportunity for Li Wei. This company, Luyou Sports, is a Fujian-based sporting goods company that Nash partnered with online in 2011. The two parties signed a cooperation agreement, and the company later even produced a shoe for Nash.

However, Nash was already nearing the end of his career at that time. After joining the Lakers, he experienced the failed reunion of the "F4" and hastily retired, ending his professional career. Therefore, Luyou Sports didn't benefit much from Nash's fame. In addition, their product quality was indeed average, and they only gained some exposure by relying on Nash's name. In the past two years, they have struggled to operate, focusing on some affordable running shoes and basketball shoes, and have been left far behind by several other sports brands from Fujian.

This is why, thanks to Nash's connections, the fans were willing to spend their limited marketing budget to sign a one-time contract with Li Wei, allowing him to film several commercials for them in the United States, including a video ad and promotional posters, for a total of 1 million RMB. For basketball stars today, this price isn't high; let alone the NBA, some CBA star players earn tens of millions of RMB in endorsement fees annually. However, for Li Wei, 1 million RMB is a significant sum; his contract with the Nets only netted him a little over 1 million RMB.

Shooting an advertisement for half a day and earning half a season's salary is definitely a good deal. Li Wei chose a community college as the filming location to save on venue fees. The makeup artist was his lover, and the filming team was outsourced by Luo Ping, mostly graduates of Hunter College. The director was more experienced; the main focus was on cost-effectiveness.

Luo Ping had everything arranged. He hadn't hired too many people; this guy had worked odd jobs on film sets when he was younger, so he was familiar with many of the work processes and could do a little bit of everything. Li Wei, after getting his makeup done, arrived at the gymnasium. The windows were closed, the lights were dimmed, and under the director's instructions, he said his lines in front of the camera, dribbled the ball, dunked, said his lines again, and that was it.

The whole process took less than half an hour. The script was very simple: "I came, I conquered, leaving no trace but a legend. Luyou Sports." Then, under a large backlight, they filmed a shot of someone holding sneakers, edited and spliced ​​it together, and without any post-production effects, a short advertisement of about ten seconds was finished.

In the early days, many domestic sports advertisements were like this: find a dark stadium, invite a star player to hit the ball a couple of times, recite some lines, and finally show off the shoes, jersey, basketball, or chewing gum.

Everything was settled, and with 100 million RMB in hand, Li Wei thought to himself, "Being a celebrity and making money as a lowly player are completely different." Back when he was a professional player, he had no fame and could only earn a fixed salary. Even working himself to the bone, the meager earnings wouldn't cover his medical expenses in his old age. Now, although he's still a lowly player, this is the NBA, and he's of Chinese descent. With fame, the ways to make money are different.

No more shooting commercials for Flushing fried chicken and roast duck restaurants; at least this time they've landed a legitimate sports brand endorsement. While it's not an endorsement, and Li Wei won't be wearing Luyou's shoes in matches, it's simply leveraging his fame to increase Luyou's brand awareness. Luyou simply can't afford to sign Li Wei as a brand ambassador; among a bunch of Chinese brands wanting to sign him, Luyou's name wasn't on the list.

They never expected that their collaboration with Nash, 10 years ago, would still have after-sales service! And even a buy-one-get-one-free bonus service. Given Li Wei's current popularity in the Chinese basketball scene, spending 100 million is absolutely worthwhile. Many basketball self-media outlets can't even post videos without Li Wei anymore; no one else can generate as much buzz as him, and besides, Li Wei can also create entertaining content.

That evening at a Korean restaurant in Flushing, Li Wei treated Luo Ping, Jin Meiyuan, and several members of the crew to a meal to thank them for their cooperation in making the work go smoothly. Li Wei was most grateful to Luo Ping, who had been a great help; otherwise, the filming wouldn't have gone so smoothly. His communication skills, his ability to organize gatherings, and his incredibly thick skin were all essential for the job.

Li Wei deliberately gave Luo Ping an extra sum of money, otherwise the 8000 yuan contract agency fee would have been too low. Luo Ping, however, wasn't too concerned about the immediate gains. He kept saying, "Victor will definitely be a superstar in the future, and I, Paris Luo Ping, will be the second Rodney Parker!"

Regardless of what others say—that Rodney Parker was a figure abandoned by the times, or that they simply don't know who he is—Ropin firmly stated that his goal and dream was to become him. Just like a modern-day center insisting on becoming Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ropin persisted in going to the streets, to the slums, to discover talented but underprivileged players, dreaming of sending them to the NBA.

Gradually, Li Wei couldn't help but feel a bit of admiration for Luo Ping. People who stick to their own beliefs are always touching.

On April 7th, the Nets finally received some long-awaited good news: Kevin Durant will return to play tonight against the New Orleans Pelicans. He has missed 23 consecutive games, more than two months. Durant is eager to return to the court; he realizes that if he continues playing like this, his position as the team's leader is in jeopardy.

(End of this chapter)