Chapter Eleven: Signing the Base Salary Contract

  Even before signing, Ye Feng had already become familiar with his teammates. As a reporter, he was good at observing people's words and expressions, and knew how to say things that others liked to hear. He was very clear about the preferences of several main players.

  Fisher is a family man, he returned to Los Angeles from the Jazz to treat his daughter's illness. When chatting with Ye Feng, he likes to talk about family topics and treats him like an older brother. Fisher's ball skills are average, but he is the leader of the Lakers' locker room. In addition, Fisher is also the chairman of the players' union, and all league players must give him face.

  When chatting with Odom, he mostly talks about movies and Hollywood stars. Odom would occasionally practice one-on-one with him, teaching some offensive moves that benefited him greatly.

  Radmanovic's hobby is skiing, and Yi Jianlian has also skied. The two had a great conversation about this and made an appointment to go skiing together when they have time, but it will definitely not be during the All-Star weekend of the new season. Yi Jianlian remembered that in his previous life, Radmanovic was injured while skiing and was subsequently banned by the team, losing over $500,000, earning him the nickname "Skiing Man".

  NBA rookies have a glorious tradition of helping veteran teammates with chores and services. Ye Feng is a rookie, a marginal player, and the youngest person on the team, he wouldn't dare to break this unwritten rule. Without being reminded by others, he takes the initiative to show his diligence. He often volunteers to help Fisher and Odom, two veteran teammates, pass towels, pour water, and do some flattering small things. Fisher and others also like him very much, treating him as a younger brother.

  These things, the uniform group also saw. Other newcomers are more shy than Ye Feng, they respect old team members but don't know how to curry favor and fall behind compared to Ye Feng.

  With the addition of Bynum, who has already mixed well with him, four of the Lakers' starting players have a good relationship with Ye Feng. If these people are willing to speak up for him, Ye Feng believes that his chances of getting a contract will increase greatly, and he doesn't want to go back to UCLA anymore.

  The only person Ye Feng didn't get along with was Kobe. Kobe's temper wasn't as bad as the media said, he was just a bit introverted and not good at talking. He didn't talk much to his teammates, liked to do massage after practice while listening to music, very quiet. Ye Feng wanted to say a few more words to Kobe, but couldn't think of any topics.

  Kobe's mind is always on basketball, he won't show a hypocritical smile when interacting with people, and he won't respond to topics that don't interest him. Maybe only when asked questions will he make a sound.

  However, speaking less doesn't mean Kobe dislikes Ye Feng. One day after training ended, he stayed behind to practice shooting for a while. As he was about to leave, he said to Ye Feng: "You can't make mid-range shots from every position, so just practice the high post first. If you can make mid-range shots from the high post, then after blocking and stealing, you'll have one more attacking method."

  This sentence awakened Ye Feng. From that day on, he changed from practicing shooting at various positions to only practicing high-position shots and free throws. This targeted practice method finally allowed him to make some progress.

  The pre-season match is about to start tomorrow. Lafleur informed Ye Feng to meet with General Manager Kupchak, telling him it's a good news.

  Kupchak smiled and said, "Yao, you don't have an agent, so I'm talking to you directly. Our coaches have evaluated your performance. You're not very good on offense, but you're better on defense and have a lot of energy. You stay after practice for at least two hours every day, which shows us your determination to enter the league. We want to sign you now, but you don't have much game experience, so it's hard to help the team immediately. I'm thinking of offering you a one-year, $440,000 non-guaranteed contract, and after the season ends, you'll become a restricted free agent. This way, the team will have priority signing rights next season. Can you accept that?"

  The annual salary is not guaranteed, as long as it is not cut in January, it can automatically become a guaranteed contract. Once cut, the future is uncertain and the risk is great. But from another perspective, if you can play out beautiful data, you can sign a relatively large contract next season. Ye Feng's idea was very optimistic, he didn't believe that he couldn't adapt to the game rhythm in three months. As for the restriction on free agents, he could also accept it, and he still wanted to win the championship with the Lakers, how could he say goodbye so easily? He looked at the draft contract in the office and completed the signing with a smile.

  Leaving the arena, Ye Feng didn't want to practice anymore. He had a sense of extraordinary achievement, entering the NBA so easily. Even if he couldn't become a superstar, he would still write a brilliant page in basketball history.

  Unfortunately, he cannot represent the Chinese national team. Ye Feng had known that he had a green card, but having a green card does not mean joining American nationality, it is just a permanent residence certificate, proving that a foreigner has the right to live and work in the United States for a long time. So, he still thinks of himself as Chinese. Later, when he went online to check the news, he found out that the Chinese media had exposed the fact that he was an American-born Chinese, although his parents were both Chinese, but he was born in the United States.

  The nationality laws of various countries are different. Some countries adopt the principle of territoriality, where a child born in a country obtains that country's nationality; others adopt the principle of bloodline, where a child obtains nationality based on their parents' ancestry. Most countries use both principles, allowing children to choose their own nationality when they come of age. The United States, however, follows a policy of birthplace citizenship. For example, if two international students without US nationality have a child in the US, that child is automatically an American citizen - this was the situation Ye Feng encountered. Some countries allow dual nationality, but China does not permit it.

  So, if he wants to represent the Chinese national team in the Olympics and World Championships, unless he joins Chinese nationality. Very few people do this. Applying for Chinese nationality is very troublesome. At least you have to meet the following conditions: one is having close relatives of Chinese people, and two is settling in China. Since Ye Feng plays in the NBA, how can he settle in China?

  Because he didn't have practice, Ye Feng went home at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. As soon as he opened the door, he found Gabriella laying out a mat and sitting on the floor practicing yoga. She was only wearing a sports vest and tight pants, looking very sexy.

  What the...? It turns out her figure is so good! Ye Feng swallowed his saliva, usually Gabriella always wore loose T-shirts, giving people a fresh and innocent feeling, but unexpectedly wearing tight clothes, her figure was also curvy and slender. Ye Feng suddenly thought of a question, Coach always said that he had stiff movements when playing ball, poor flexibility, which made it easy to get injured. If practicing yoga exercises, can it improve flexibility?

  He stared blankly at Gabriella with his eyes wide open, startling the beauty, who quickly got up and wrapped herself in a blanket. Ye Feng realized his own loss of composure and felt a little embarrassed.

  Gabriella's face turned red as she asked: "Why did you come back so early today?"

  Ye Feng took out a bottle of iced water from the refrigerator and drank a few mouthfuls, smiling: "There's a game tomorrow, in order to conserve my strength, I didn't practice shooting. So you usually practice yoga? Just now I saw you doing some high-difficulty moves."

  Gabriella said lightly: "Mm, I've been practicing for several years."

  Ye Feng smiled and said, "Your body is very flexible. The coach always says that my flexibility is poor and I get injured easily when playing ball. When I bend down, both hands can't touch the ground. Can you teach me some yoga methods? Or tell me what video to watch, I can practice by myself, and you just give me some guidance occasionally."

  Gabriella was taken aback, could it be that he had been staring at her earlier because of this reason and not because she looked pretty? Was this guy an idiot? Girls love beauty, beautiful girls are usually extremely fond of beauty. When living in a small town in England, she was the star of the town with many suitors and was very confident. After living with Ye Feng, she felt that her confidence had been somewhat undermined. Ye Feng would leave early every day and only return after 9 pm, generally just greeting her before going to take a bath, then quietly reading a book before sleeping. They hadn't had a good conversation in the time they'd lived together.

  Gabriella felt curious about Ye Feng. Doesn't he find me attractive at all? He can't even be bothered to talk to me? He asked, "I can teach you, when do you want to learn? You come back too late every day."

  Ye Feng thought for a moment and said, "The season is about to start, I won't be late at night to practice again, I can come back in the afternoon. Research says that exercising between 5-7 pm is best, are you usually free during this time? I can come back and practice with you."

  Gabriela nodded and said: "Okay, I usually practice for an hour and then eat. Have you joined the Lakers?"

  When it comes to this, Ye Feng's face is flushed with excitement. "Yeah, today I officially signed a contract with the team, just a one-year base salary, but I haven't played basketball for long, and being able to join the Lakers is already very satisfying for me. I can only defend, my offense is too bad, they won't sign a big contract with me either."

  Gabriella was even more curious about Ye Feng. Gabriella admired her brother Neil, thinking he was the strongest person. But Neil himself admitted that he couldn't compare to Ye Feng and had even been injured by him, so just how terrifying was Ye Feng? She had heard her brother Neil mention some things about Ye Feng before, knowing that he was very powerful on the football field. After switching to play basketball, most fans thought he would be abandoned by the Lakers after the preseason ended, but he actually signed a contract before the preseason even started, which was unbelievable.

  "If I wanted to go watch a game, could you get tickets?" Gabriela asked out of the blue, suddenly curious about what this man was capable of?

  "I'm not sure about that, let me ask and I'll tell you later." Yefeng thought that since the beauty was willing to teach him yoga, it was only right to show his gratitude. If he couldn't get the basketball tickets, he would buy a set himself and give them to Gabriella. However, he didn't know that Gabriella didn't understand basketball at all, she just wanted to see the excitement. He smiled: "I'm going to take a shower, are you continuing to practice? I came back early today, let's have dinner together? We've been living together for so long, but we haven't had a good chat yet."

  "Oh, okay."

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