Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

The news that Wizards had decided to trade Yu Fei first came to his agent, Arne Trem, who then relayed the information to Yu Fei.

At that time, Yu Fei was undergoing intensive shooting training in a closed environment.

Although there was still plenty of time before the new season—even the current one hadn't ended yet—most NBA players who had finished their seasons would choose to stay away from basketball.

But Yu Fei was destined not to have an easy summer this year.

Come July, Reebok had arranged a tour of Asia, and Yu Fei would travel to China, Japan, and South Korea for promotions, as his popularity was high in East Asia.

Therefore, he needed to make full use of this idle period to practice before the Asian tour began.

Once the tour was over, he might have less than two months left to prepare for the new season.

It would be a bit too late to undergo intensive training by then.

So, what was Yu Fei feeling upon receiving news of his impending trade, starting intensive training right after the season's end?

He wasn't sad at all.

Although his mother was doing well in Washington D.C., and her restaurant business was booming, he hadn't found the joy of playing basketball here due to the ever-present shadow of Jordan.

Now, the team had made its decision.

They would keep 39-year-old Jordan and give up 19-year-old him.

Shouldn't he be happy?

Playing for a management team with questionable judgment seemed like a waste of time; being traded now felt like cutting losses early for Fei.

When Yu Fei expressed his feelings, Trem said, "The Wizards didn't make this trade based on basketball reasons."

Yu Fei guessed the answer, "So, it's a commercial factor?"

"Yes, if your popularity in D.C. was a third of what your national shoe sales are, maybe they would have considered it a bit more seriously..." Trem said helplessly, "After all, this is D.C.; they prefer accomplished figures like MJ. A rookie like you, vigorous and rebellious, causing trouble during the season, that's not to the middle class's taste."

Yu Fei wouldn't accept this without a fight.

"I'm the one who got the Wizards into the playoffs..."

"But in public opinion, the focus is on the three-fourths of the season that MJ played for the Wizards, not on your performance during the last quarter."

"That old man got injured, and we had fallen to ninth in the Eastern Conference!"

"If the media doesn't talk about it, who knows?"

"What about our media?" Yu Fei asked, "Does only the old guy have media attention?"

Trem said with embarrassment, "I tried, but I could only leverage the power of a few media outlets, whereas Michael could employ the entire sports media industry to finalize the whole matter."

"And Reebok? Those bastards just watched as my performance was ignored by public discourse?"

"To Reebok, the opinion of the District of Columbia is irrelevant," said Trem with deep meaning, "It's like political votes; they'll ramp up promotions in your 'voter base' but won't do it in D.C. or the entire District of Columbia."

Yu Fei was overwhelmed, but pursuing the matter further was pointless at this stage.

If Jordan were with the Wizards, he wouldn't want to be. Now that the team wanted to trade him, it was a win-win situation.

"Who's my next team?"

"It's too early to tell; at least until the end of this year's lottery draft, there won't be any results."

"So, can I really stop considering myself a Wizards player now?"

"Yes, they could keep only you or Michael, and they chose Michael, so you will definitely be traded."

"That's just fucking perfect!"

It would be deceiving to say Yu Fei had no trace of reluctance or dissatisfaction about being forced out by a 39-year-old veteran.

But even if he wanted to settle scores with Jordan, it would have to wait until the new season started. For now, he couldn't let himself be disturbed.

If his trade was inevitable, he'd just stop thinking about it and focus on intensive training.

On the eve of the conference finals, the NBA completed the 2002 lottery draft.

Because the Wizards, who in the original timeline were supposed to fall into the lottery, made it into the playoffs this season, there were some minor changes in the order of picks 10-13.

The Bucks, originally drawing the thirteenth pick, got the tenth pick, while Miami Heat, which had the tenth, moved to the eleventh. The pick that belonged to the Wizards, number eleven, was now owned by the Los Angeles Clippers, and the Indiana Pacers, who were not supposed to be in the lottery, got the thirteenth pick.

The order of the top nine picks remained unchanged.

The lottery was over, and it was time for workouts and trades to happen.

Michael, determined to strengthen his team with Yu Fei, first inquired about the number one pick from Houston Rockets.

The Rockets rejected him with an attitude of, "Are you out of your mind?"

It can be said that the Rockets were feeling the same as the San Antonio Spurs after the end of the 2023 lottery; they had secured the biggest prize since 1997—Yao Ming.

Remember when Victor Wembanyama went to the United States to play two warm-up games with the Ignite Team before entering the NBA Draft? Before that, he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

The cover featured him dribbling a basketball, with a headline that read:

Victor Wembanyama: Height 220 cm, Wingspan 244 cm. Potential: Unlimited.

As Victor's senior, Yao Ming received no less publicity. Starting in 2000, months before each NBA draft, draft analysts, basketball writers, and sports pundits would repeatedly mention his name. The monster, awaited for years, had finally qualified for the draft that year, and the Rockets, having won this big prize, had no intention of trading him for Fei.