Atlanta.
Chen Yu took a taxi and checked into a hotel in the city center.
Seattle was too far, so Chen Yu was making a stopover in Atlanta.
Today, the Supersonics were playing an away game against the Hawks. They would arrive in Atlanta in the afternoon, play the game, rest for a night in Atlanta, and then fly back to Seattle the next day.
Ewing was going to make some time to meet with Chen Yu after the game.
Chen Yu booked a room in a hotel not far from Philips Arena.
The game wouldn’t be over until at least ten o’clock at night.
Bored, Chen Yu turned on the TV. The first channel that came up was TNT Television.
It seemed to be broadcasting the Lakers versus Spurs game live.
However, the host in the studio, Ernie Johnson, along with two other famous former NBA players—Jet Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley, who had just retired this year and was known as the "Flying Pig"—were discussing the situation with Hill.
For the past few days, Hill had been the absolute center of attention.
On the television, Barkley slammed the table and shouted passionately, "There’s no need for an investigation! That was absolutely a fixed game. The Magic threw it on purpose! It was so obvious! Just when Tracy was getting his touch back and going on a scoring frenzy, Rivers called a long timeout. Then, in the second half, seeing how well Tracy was playing, he straight up benched him."
"My God, it was the Hawks! I bet Krueger was going crazy, wondering why his team was the one that won."
The day after Chen Yu had publicly torched Billings, the fastest to react was the NBA’s head office, which announced it was launching an investigation into the game between the Magic and the Hawks.
Tanking is tacitly allowed in the NBA. Back during the Duncan draft, teams across the league were tanking like crazy. The Spurs went from being second in the West the previous season all the way down to second-to-last by tanking.
But tacitly allowing it doesn’t mean they support it.
If you tank on the sly, no one will bother you.
But if you intentionally throw a game, get caught red-handed, and have it plastered all over television for millions to see, then Stern has to get involved.
Barkley continued, "The Magic’s management is just rotten. They stupidly let Shaq go, they ruined Penny with a misdiagnosis, and now it’s Hill’s turn. Chen was right. If he hadn’t done anything and just left quietly, Hill’s premature return could have destroyed his entire career."
Across from him, Kenny Smith was even more blunt, saying Gabriel wasn’t fit to be a team’s general manager.
Chen Yu walked to the window and opened it for some fresh air.
It was a clear night with a sky full of stars. As the darkness deepened, the bustling city lit up with brilliant lights.
Diagonally across from the hotel, a black building was covered in all sorts of golden decorative lights, so bright they were uncomfortable to look at. Chen Yu subconsciously glanced at the sign.
It was a club named the Golden Club.
Chen Yu looked away, collected his thoughts, and settled in to wait for Ewing’s arrival.
The Lakers won that game. Kobe went off for 43 points, completely overshadowing Duncan and David Robinson.
It wasn’t until almost eleven o’clock that Ewing, wearing a baseball cap and a trench coat, finally arrived at the hotel.
After coming inside, he took off his cap and muttered for some reason, "Why pick a place here?"
Chen Yu gestured for Ewing to have a seat in the suite’s sitting room.
Ewing looked up and, through the window, happened to see the Golden Club across the street. He frowned, got up, and moved to a seat with his back to the window.
Almost instinctively, Chen Yu activated his Eye of All-Seeing and scanned Ewing’s body.
’Knee injuries. It seems he hurt his knees back in college and has been battling problems with them his entire career.’
’Visually, his knees were a complete mess, just as expected.’
’Then there were the fractured wrist, the torn Achilles tendon, and his shoulders, ribs, and feet... The signs of old injuries were everywhere.’
Even Chen Yu found injuries like these daunting.
’But I have the system. Maybe I can get him into better shape.’
’But he’s already 39 this year. At this age, he should be thinking about retirement. Whether he gets treated or not doesn’t really make a huge difference.’
Chen Yu poured Ewing a drink, and as he sat down, ready to speak, Ewing beat him to it.
"You want me to step up, speak out for Hill, and condemn the Magic’s management for their despicable behavior, right? No problem, I can do that." Ewing picked up his glass and downed it in one go.
’I’m a star player and the president of the Players’ Union. I represent the players’ interests. Hill was deceived by the Magic’s management, so there’s nothing wrong with me speaking out against them.’
After speaking, he broke into a grin.
’Ugh. No wonder his nickname is The Gorilla.’
"Like you said, we need to do the right thing."
If it weren’t for Chen Yu’s speech on television, Ewing would never have made time to meet him.
Chen Yu was taken aback. He had prepared a whole speech to persuade Ewing, but he hadn’t expected it to be this easy.
"Thank you," Chen Yu said, raising his glass. "But I wanted to talk to you about more than just this matter."
Ewing paused, then gestured for Chen Yu to continue.
Chen Yu organized his thoughts and said, "Mr. Patrick, what happened to Hill isn’t a one-time thing in this league. Look at someone from a while back, like Bill Walton. Maybe he was hit with some deadly curse from the Pioneers, but without those recurring injuries, his career definitely wouldn’t have been as short as just 10 years."
"Or more recently, Hardaway. He’s already suffered enough at the hands of the Magic’s management, and just last month, he got injured again."
Ewing frowned. "Chen, what are you getting at?"
Chen Yu said, "What I’m trying to say is, after players get injured, they might be misdiagnosed or pressured by their teams to return too early. So, as the Players’ Union, shouldn’t you be doing something to protect the players’ health?"
Ewing raised an eyebrow, his expression turning serious.
He crossed his arms and thought for a moment. "But we already have insurance. What else can we do?"
Chen Yu said, "Of course you can do a lot more. For example, establish a special department to oversee players’ diagnoses and recovery processes after an injury."
"Although every team has a team doctor, those doctors are responsible to the team. They get their paychecks from the team. Just look at the Magic this time. The very doctor who should have been protecting the player’s health became an accomplice to the management’s despicable actions."
"In the end, it’s the players’ interests that suffer. What if the Players’ Union created its own separate department? It could supervise all the team doctors and provide medical services for the rank-and-file players who don’t have access to top-tier medical care. Wouldn’t that prevent similar incidents from happening again?"
Ewing’s eyes widened. He clearly hadn’t expected Chen Yu to propose such an idea.
’But listening to it... it actually made a lot of sense.’
’The players pay their dues, so the union should protect their interests. It’s perfectly reasonable to help them avoid misdiagnoses from their teams that could affect their careers after an injury.’
However, Ewing frowned again. ’This won’t be easy to implement. The owners won’t necessarily agree.’
’And the money to hire doctors, the cost of oversight... that’s another extra expense.’
Across from him, seeing that Ewing hadn’t immediately refuted the idea, Chen Yu decided to add more fuel to the fire.
"Mr. Patrick, I saw in the news that you’re planning to step down as president of the Players’ Union. Before you resign, shouldn’t you do something meaningful and right to make up for past regrets?"
Ewing’s expression changed slightly.
He understood. Chen Yu was talking about the lockout from the year before last, and the mistake he’d made by running his mouth.
That was truly a permanent stain on his career.
’Now, I’m about to retire. If I could do one good thing before I leave, maybe I could really turn my image around.’
For a moment, Ewing was tempted.

Comments

Loading...