Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Although the off-season featured many high-profile players, once the suspense surrounding Kidd was unveiled, the rest seemed somewhat less significant.

Jermaine O'Neal unsurprisingly renewed his contract with the Pacers, followed by Miller. Subsequently, most of the prime-aged stars opted to renew with their home teams.

Gary Payton announced he was joining the Los Angeles Lakers; in pursuit of a championship, the veteran with a bigger mouth than anyone else now didn't care about anything else.

Payton's choice was like a signal, strongly reminding other veterans who desired a championship.

The gathering of veterans is where the hopes for the championship lie.

Thus, Karl Malone also decided to leave the Jazz after nearly 20 years and seek new possibilities toward the end of his career.

The Lakers' desire for Malone was desperate.

Since entering the NBA, Shaquille O'Neal never really had a chance to work with a top power forward. It might have been his retribution. During his time with the Magic, Shaquille O'Neal had the chance to team up with Chris Webber, but he preferred Penny. Thus, the Magic made one of the most impactful trades in NBA history.

The trade completely altered the careers of Webber and Penny and, ever since then, Shaquille O'Neal never again had the chance to play with a top power forward.

To this day, the best power forward he has played with was Horace Grant from the Bulls' first dynasty.

Although 40-year-old Malone was not in his prime, he was strong on both offense and defense and had no distractions, his sights set only on the championship. Such a person, unaffected by other things, was very fit to be beside OK.

The Lakers' fervent pursuit of Malone left one of the elder statesmen of the team dissatisfied.

Robert Horry believed the Lakers should have renewed his contract as soon as the season was over, instead they wanted to conserve space to fish around, and only if all else failed, would they renew Horry.

In fact, it wasn't entirely the Lakers' fault. While it's said once a Laker, always a Laker, the prerequisite is that you have to be exceptional, otherwise you don't deserve to be a Laker for life. Known for coasting through the regular season and going all out in the playoffs, Horry's performance last postseason could be described as atrocious.

Averaging 31 minutes per game, he shot 32% from the field, and Horry, who usually maintained a three-point shooting percentage above 38%, only hit 5% in this year's playoffs... that's right, 5%. During the series against the Spurs that eliminated them, he didn't make a single three-pointer, shooting just 26%, so the Lakers team not pushing him to take the blame was already very kind.

But Horry had his own views. He had made so many key shots for the Lakers before, and because he didn't perform well for just one year, they hastily sought to settle accounts? Fine, if he isn't appreciated here, he'll find a place that does. He was leaving, and he wouldn't just settle with any team to spend his remaining years; he would go to teams that had a chance at the championship. Only then would he have the opportunity to prove that Big Shot Rob wasn't finished, that he simply slept too deeply this year.

Horry chose the Bucks.

Since Horry had no salary demands and even accepted the minimum wage, there was only one problem regarding his joining the Bucks: did Frye want to play with him?

At the time, Yu Fei was negotiating a renewal with Reebok, and he was actually happy about Horry coming over.

Firstly, Horry's play style matched his own, and if in top form, he could be a superior replacement for Ratner. Secondly, a power forward that could shoot threes was never something he'd complain about having too many of. Horry's arrival could alleviate the Bucks' awkwardness of having to put Ratner at center every time they played a 5 OUT lineup, then randomly using a small forward to play the power forward position.

"I am very willing to play with Rob."

Horry's move to the Bucks caused only a small ripple in Los Angeles.

Lakers fans were excited about the prospect of Payton and Malone joining.

But soon, this excitement would be overturned by a nightmare-like scandal.

On June 30th, Kobe arrived at the Cordillera Resort and Spa near Edwards, Colorado, to rest. The following day, he was scheduled to undergo knee surgery.

On July 1st, a 19-year-old hotel receptionist reported to the Eagle County Sheriff's Office, claiming Kobe had forcefully made her his conquest.

On July 2nd, both the woman and Kobe were sent to separate hospitals for examination.

On July 4th, the sheriff of Eagle County officially issued an arrest warrant for Kobe. Kobe chose to surrender and was released on bail.

On July 5th, the news of Kobe's arrest was released.

The media, with its vast reach, dug up the reasons for Kobe's arrest before the police released specifics. Suddenly, Kobe became a top draw for traffic, with every media outlet making him a headline. In less than a day, the previously angelic and flawless Kobe turned into a criminal that everyone sought to punish.

This episode was something Yu Fei witnessed last year with Iverson.

At the time, Iverson faced four serious charges, but eventually, all were dismissed. Yet, when Iverson committed those acts, although people despised his behavior, it still seemed like something Iverson would do.

But Kobe represented another concept.

As one of the global image ambassadors of the NBA from his entry into the league, he behaved differently from the traditional black basketball stars. He lacked the anger and violence of most blacks against the world, expressing "fuck the world," even in disagreements with coaches or fallouts with Shaquille O'Neal due to different philosophies on the court.

But to force someone... ?

The Lakers, who had locked in as favorites for next season's championship and boldly aimed to achieve 75 wins, were suddenly struck hard.

Lakers' owner Jerry Buss refused to believe it, "Kobe? Impossible, he couldn't have done such a thing."

Yes, just as he had once thought Magic Johnson couldn't contract HIV due to promiscuity.

All of a sudden, NBA insiders, like their predecessors, understood how shameful it was to have bad news travel fast. When Kermit Washington's punch spilled Tomjanovich's brain, it was the first time the NBA got major news coverage. But in today's global NBA, Kobe's trouble meant trouble for the entire industry. The whole world would closely watch the incident, and how long would the league take to rebuild its image? Would this affect the next TV broadcast contract?

Terrible consequences cast dark clouds over the League's offices.

David Stern's expression was extremely grim. After Kobe's incident, he didn't make a call to console but instead ordered staff to take down Kobe's image posters from the office building, including his photos on the NBA's official website. The image gap left by Kobe was filled by Fei and McGrady.

"But... Frye was criticized a few days ago for declining the national team's call-up due to injury..."

The staff's question provoked Stern's thunderous rage, "Compared to a motherfucking rapist, what is this? Are you brain-dead?!!!"

The Eagle County incident had landed on Yu Fei's agent, Arne Trem, like a heavy blow.

He knew that Kobe needed him, but Fei needed him here as well.

So, Trem chose to have his confidant, Rob Pelinka, look after Kobe while he would rush over as soon as he was finished here.

Kobe's troubles off the court made Trem's negotiations with Reebok executives aggressively incisive.

This negotiation wasn't just about securing a lucrative deal for Fei but also about seizing a position of power within the company.

With Fei's championship win, Iverson was no longer Reebok's number one player.

Moreover, Reebok had initially offered a hundred million for James, and if James agreed to sign, they were prepared to give him an additional US$10 million signing bonus.

When Big Fei first signed, how long did we grind for that US$12 million endorsement deal, and now that's only enough for James's signing bonus?

Reebok's negotiators were at their wits' end, obviously unable to persuade Trem to look at the big picture, so they could only keep conceding on the numbers.

Eventually, the parties settled on a six-year US$130 million deal, the biggest endorsement contract in basketball, with Fei also getting a 5% sales dividend on the "Chosen" sneaker series. Additionally, Fei would serve as creative director, having direct decision-making power over the development and design of the next generation of sneakers.

When Fei happily signed the new contract with Reebok, Trem headed to the airport with a grim expression on his face.

It was now July 18, and a half month had passed since Kobe was arrested. The local district attorney had presented sexual assault charges against Kobe. And Kobe, hand in hand with his wife, tearfully asserted in front of cameras that there was no coercion but admitted to infidelity.

When Trem joined the storm, Kobe had already suffered enough and been scolded enough—he was now as despised as last year's Iverson, and then his agent shows up?

Kobe naturally asked him, "What are you here for?"

"I..." Trem said, "Frye has already signed."

"Then go back to Frye's side. You're not needed here," Kobe said coldly. "Rob can handle my affairs well."

It was only now that Trem realized he had not only lost Kobe's trust but also suffered betrayal from his confidant—Rob Pelinka must have reached some agreement with Kobe...

It was in this summer that Trem lost Kobe.

Rob Pelinka officially became the agent of Kobe Bryant.

But that's another story.

Yu Fei didn't care about how much losing Kobe meant to Trem.

He was only concerned about one thing.

Did the third generation of the "Chosen" sneakers match up to Nike in sports technology? If not, they needed to be redesigned, and besides, the color scheme and marketing had to be carefully considered as well.

Reebok took this matter seriously, guaranteeing that their product's technological content would not fall short of Nike, although its appearance indeed needed some improvement.

After Fei and the company finalized promotional plans for the new generation of sneakers and the itinerary for his upcoming Asia tour, an old acquaintance finally abandoned his boss and hastened from Washington to Los Angeles to join him.

This person was Michael Jordan's trainer, Tim Grover.

"Arrived?" Fei asked with a smile.

Grover responded softly, "Arrived."

"What did Michael say?"

Grover recalled Jordan's roar, knowing that at that moment he had lost the friendship.

"He wished me well."

Fei, surprised, said, "Not wishing you get hit by a car as soon as you step outside already counts as being cultured, and he even wished you well? When did he start acting like a human being?"

Grover didn't want to discuss Jordan with Fei. His goal was to turn Fei into the next ruler of professional basketball; only then would his reputation reach the summit of the industry once more. And for that, even breaking ties with Jordan was a worthwhile sacrifice.

"When do we start training?"

"Oh, that," Fei said, "actually, I've been training every day, just waiting for you. But the real systematic training? We'll have to wait until I've interviewed the 'Chosen Girl'."

"???"

Grover felt like he was on a sinking ship.

To his new boss, he couldn't help but offer a word of caution, "Fei, you're still young, and you should take a lesson from Kobe."

Fei's expression remained unchanged as he smiled, "I appreciate your concern, but if hear one more time about using a rapist as my role model, I might get angry."

Really, that fool Kobe, riding on a donkey in search of a horse and ending up screwing a snake, is beyond stupid. I, Young Master Yu, wouldn't even dare to acknowledge that I've been a Kobe fan for three days.

PS: The overlay again, when you read the last section with such obvious subjective mental activity, that's Big Fei's inner voice. Big Fei's inner voice isn't the same as my opinion, you know, I'm just a scribe.