Chapter 1 Pelicans versus Bucks

October 4th, US time. The Pelicans were at home, welcoming their first preseason game against the Bucks.

Although it was a preseason game, the New Orleans arena, which can accommodate nearly 20,000 people, was packed.

And the fans couldn't hide the excitement on their faces.

Not only could they witness the debut of the Pelicans' "Big Four," but also because it was the preseason, tickets were much cheaper than regular season tickets.

Being able to buy a ticket was exciting enough for them.

Moreover, even the Pelicans' season ticket holders did not include preseason tickets.

So at this time, the people sitting in the front row were not local millionaires, but the most enthusiastic fans.

From a few meters away, you could feel the flames burning on them.

The Pelicans' first preseason game had already made local fans so狂热kuangre (zealous).

Regardless of how miserable other teams might be, the Pelicans' ticket sales would definitely rise to a new level.

The happiest person at this time was Gayle Benson, sitting in the VIP box.

The influence of the "Big Four" Pelicans was not only on the court, but also off the court.

During the offseason, Fox Sports had already contacted her to discuss broadcasting contracts.

American television is paid, and television broadcasting is the NBA's largest source of revenue.

One example is the nine-year, $24 billion contract that Adam Silver had previously negotiated.

However, this contract was for the entire NBA league, that is, all nationally televised games combined.

Moreover, the media signed were not all media, only TNT and ESPN.

A special case here is the Lakers, who, in addition to sharing in the league's television broadcast revenue, also have their own.

In 2011, the Lakers signed a 20-year, $3 billion broadcast contract with Time Warner.

In other words, the Lakers alone can receive $150 million from Time Warner.

Time Warner is a television media targeting fans in the Los Angeles area, and does not conflict with national broadcasts.

The same situation also occurred with the Pelicans.

Fox is the American television media second only to TNT and ESPN. Now that the Pelicans are dazzling with stars, they can't sit still.

Although they have no chance to sign a broadcast contract with the NBA league, this gives them the opportunity to sign with the Pelicans.

Benson was ready to negotiate with Fox in depth.

Of course, given Adam Silver's earlier incident and Fox Sports' role in it, Benson would ask for Tang Tian's opinion when negotiations reached a certain stage.

Although she didn't understand business as well as her husband, she was well aware that everything the Pelicans now had was brought by Tang Tian.

Tang Tian's opinion weighed more than anyone else's.

The game was about to begin, and the players from both teams entered the court to warm up.

At this moment, the fans couldn't help but scream and cheer.

Because they saw all four Pelicans stars wearing training uniforms!

That is to say, they would most likely play in this game!

In preseason games, the core players of many teams play little, or even not at all, so they were quite worried before the game.

But Stevens seemed to understand what the fans wanted!

There was no opening ceremony for the preseason game. After the warm-up, the starting players from both teams took the field one after another.

At this moment, deafening cheers erupted at the scene.

For the Pelicans, it was Walker, Tang Tian, Butler, Davis, plus Dedmon in the starting lineup!

All four giants of the Pelicans started!

"Here they come! Here come the Pelicans!"

"The Pelicans Galaxy team is here! The Bucks are trembling!"

"Bucks: Why am I the first to get hurt?!"

"Bucks fans: Adam Silver, Adam Silver, the evil Adam Silver!"

"My excitement can't be suppressed, I'm about to explode!"

…

A preseason game hadn't even started, and the fans on the online forums were already exploding.

Not only in the United States, but also in China, and on other overseas television broadcasts, fans were exploding one after another.

This didn't seem like a preseason game at all!

The Bucks also sent out their own "Big Three," plus Dellavedova and Greg Monroe.

On paper alone, the Bucks were not much worse.

Kyrie Irving stood in the backcourt, glanced at the Pelicans' starting lineup, and his expression was very complicated.

Except for Dedmon, the other four were all "苦练兄弟ku lian xiong di" (brothers who worked hard together).

Like a group of brothers with deep feelings, but in the end, they didn't take him to play!

Looking at the atmosphere of the fans at the scene, he was really envious.

"Beep!"

The referee's whistle brought Irving back from his thoughts.

Davis tipped the ball back to the Pelicans' half, Butler got the ball and gave it to Walker, and the game officially began!

Walker dribbled the ball to the frontcourt and directly called Davis to pick-and-roll towards the basket.

His speed was very fast.

Many NBA players enter the league with innate talent and dominate everywhere, like James.

But more people improve themselves through continuous efforts and gradually embark on the road to superstardom, like Kobe.

Walker is also a player of Kobe's type. When he first entered the league, his strength was already good, but he continued to improve himself.

After playing the best performance of his career last season, he worked hard with Parker this summer, and his strength was even better.

The Bucks didn't double-team, Walker accelerated to the basket, and threw a lob shot facing Antetokounmpo.

Antetokounmpo's long arms covered the sky, but Walker's shot timing was perfect, and the parabola was very high, the ball barely passing over his fingertips.

"Swish!"

The ball went into the net cleanly.

Walker scored the first point for the Pelicans!

There was a burst of cheers at the scene.

Among the Pelicans' "Big Four," the fans were most worried about Walker, after all, short guards are difficult to succeed, and Walker had always been in the Eastern Conference before.

But this ball just now made them put that worry behind them.

He could score against Antetokounmpo on a mismatch, so what couldn't he do!

On the Bucks' offense, Irving couldn't execute the frontcourt tactics.

Of the five players on the Pelicans' court, except for Walker whose defense was at the league average level, the others were above average, even far above average.

And the Bucks' "Big Three" had just teamed up, and their understanding was obviously insufficient.

Unable to open up, Irving finally chose to single out Walker.

Irving had a size advantage over Walker, but the two were both brothers who worked hard, and they were very familiar with each other. Walker's interference made Irving very uncomfortable.

Irving broke through to the basket and turned to squeeze out Walker's small lob shot.

"Bang!"

Davis helped defend from the weak side, jumped up, and directly delivered a downward, head-on block!

Irving reacted quickly and turned to grab the ball, but Tang Tian was faster than him and had already grabbed the ball in advance.

After grabbing the ball, he turned around and threw the ball forward.

Walker and Butler had already rushed past the three-point line.

The Bucks had no time to retreat.

Antetokounmpo tried his best to chase from the backcourt but couldn't catch up.

Walker fast-breaked to the frontcourt, saw that Antetokounmpo had just passed halftime, didn't go up directly, but glanced at Butler, and directly slammed the ball on the backboard.

Butler understood, took a step and leaped up, grabbed Walker's off-the-backboard pass in the air, and slammed the ball into the basket with both hands!

He even swung around on the hoop after the dunk!

The scene paused for a moment, followed by cheers that directly exploded.

The previous ball by Walker was quite satisfactory, but this ball was telling them that the Pelicans' brotherly basketball was starting!

ps: All five updates are finished~ Asking for recommendation tickets~ Asking for monthly tickets~ Asking for rewards~