That evening, back at the training camp.
The set for the show was ready, modeled after the actual NBA Draft stage.
Backstage, Chen Yu was chatting with Jordan and the others, waiting for the recording to begin.
"Chen, if this show really does produce twenty, or even just ten NBA players like you hope, then it’ll be a true success," Earvin Johnson said with a smile.
For a single show to produce that many NBA stars would be incredible.
"It shouldn’t be a problem," Owen chimed in with a grin. "Before the open tryouts, the 282 players we selected had already proven themselves in middle school, high school, or the AUU League. Then we held another round of preliminary selections and a draft, narrowing it down to 90."
"Selecting 90 players from all over the country means we’ve already gathered the geniuses of their age group."
ESPN’s national high school rankings list 100 players, after all.
"And after they receive professional, NBA-level training and gain a ton of game experience, the few who ultimately stand out will be the undisputed superstars of their generation."
As he spoke, Owen glanced at Chen Yu.
No one had ever really done this before. Chen Yu had taken advantage of this gap to screen for talent ahead of time, which would undoubtedly help the show achieve its goal.
A show called *How to Get into the NBA* ends up sending twenty or thirty players to the league. Years from now, countless people will probably remember this show.
Realization dawned on Jordan. "Chen, no wonder you ended up canceling the junior division and decided to film one season every two to three years."
The initial plan had included a junior division for 10 to 14-year-olds, but Chen Yu later scrapped it.
Just a moment ago during their chat, Jordan had said that if the show was a success, they could do it again next year, and he’d come back to satisfy his craving of being a team owner.
But now it seemed that filming one season every two to three years was the right call. They had cherry-picked ninety-nine percent of the potential new talent for the next two or three years all at once.
If they filmed again next year, there wouldn’t be any formidable players left. The show would just be worse, so it was better to wait.
As for whether other production teams would try to copy the format during the two-to-three-year gap, there was no need to worry at all.
Because no one had Chen Yu’s resources. No one had enough pull to invite Jordan and his crew, nor the connections to get help from the NBA.
After a pause, Jordan added, "Chen, your tournament format is quite interesting, though. A bunch of kids playing won’t naturally draw an audience, but what if it were a bunch of NBA stars?"
"Huh?"
Chen Yu froze for a second, looking at Jordan with a strange expression.
’How did this old rogue come up with the same idea as me?’
During the show’s development phase, the producer from ABC had been against setting up so many teams and so many games.
Thirty teams, with each team playing 58 games, came out to a total of 1,740 games.
They could have easily halved the number of teams and games.
But Chen Yu had insisted on it.
At the time, Chen Yu had two reasons for his insistence.
First, it was to help these young players accumulate game experience. No matter how hard they trained, they still needed experience from actual games.
This was especially true when facing equally outstanding peers, as the experience gained would be even more helpful.
Second, Chen Yu also wanted to use the show to promote this 3v3 game format.
He had his own sports company, employed a bunch of trainers, and had many retired players or those who had been cut from the NBA.
With those resources, he could totally launch a small 3v3 league.
Just as Jordan said, he could gather a bunch of stars—not active ones, retired ones would be fine. They might not be able to handle the intensity of a regular game anymore, but 3v3 had lower intensity, tested a player’s one-on-one skills more, and combined with the stars’ own influence, it might actually succeed and attract an audience.
And for the players, it would also have plenty of appeal.
Retired stars who weren’t playing competitively anymore could use this kind of competition to maintain their public profile.
Those who didn’t make it as stars in the NBA and were cut had limited income; they could also use this league to earn more money.
Seeing Chen Yu’s reaction, Jordan was taken aback as well. He asked tentatively, "Chen, don’t tell me you had this planned from the beginning."
Chen Yu snapped out of it and smiled. "Why? Are you interested?"
A 42-year-old Stockton had just won a championship. The 41-year-old Jordan might not be able to handle high-intensity official games anymore, but playing some casual 3v3 should be no problem.
And it wasn’t out of the question for the guys standing right here to play a little.
Owen could still dunk, after all.
Jordan raised an eyebrow. Whether he himself was interested was another matter, but the more he thought about the concept, the more viable it seemed.
They could hold it in the summer.
The only thing happening in the offseason was the Summer League, so it was basically a dead period.
And to be honest, a bunch of rookies playing had very limited viewership.
But a group of former star veterans was a different story. Take himself, for example. If he were to play in the league Chen Yu was talking about, it would absolutely draw a crowd.
For many fans, just being able to see Jordan back on the court would be satisfying enough.
If there was attention, there was money to be made.
And when it came to making money, Jordan was always interested.
"Chen, we can definitely discuss this in more detail later," Jordan said with a grin.
Chen Yu nodded. Jordan had influence and money. If he could get involved, it would absolutely be a good thing.
In Chen Yu’s original plan, he had intended to bring in a few famous NBA stars to build it with him.
As he finished speaking, he looked up and noticed the five men in front of him all staring at him with bright eyes.
"Chen, that’s a very interesting idea," Earvin Johnson said, a genuine smile spreading across his face.
Beside him, Owen nodded in agreement.
’I think I just heard a money-making opportunity.’
Chen Yu chuckled. "We can talk about whether it’s interesting later. Let’s record the show first."
The men exchanged glances and nodded.
Even if they were to do it, it was too late for this year. They could discuss it slowly later on.
It was about time. The group gave their outfits one last check and headed to the set.
By now, all 126 players from the preliminary selection had arrived.
And the 30 team captains got to enjoy the rare "Green Room" treatment, waiting in a special designated room.
Ryan Seacrest resumed his role as the host.
The first order of business was to determine the draft order.
"Chen, David should be charging you royalties," Owen joked.
The draft order was being determined by drawing ping-pong balls, just like in the NBA.
Thirty ping-pong balls represented the 30 teams, and they were drawn from a lottery machine in front of everyone.
The last ball remaining would be the number one pick.
In the Green Room, Durant sat quietly while the people around him discussed who would have the best luck.
He was introverted and hadn’t made any friends during their time together, so he didn’t have anyone to talk to.
Soon, under everyone’s nervous gaze, the first ping-pong ball popped out.
"Fuck!"
Not far to Durant’s right, one of the captains, Johnny Flynn, cursed before reluctantly accepting condolences from those around him.
His luck was terrible; he had drawn the worst pick.
Durant couldn’t help but feel nervous himself.
The higher the pick, the more choices you had.
Just as he was thinking this, someone gently tapped him on the back.
He turned his head and saw it was DeRozan.
He hadn’t really noticed before, but now he saw that DeRozan was sitting behind him.
"Kevin, James is actually pretty good," DeRozan said quietly, offering a smile.
Durant frowned slightly.
In fact, before coming to the taping, Harden had approached him again.
His value was only 3 million, his weight was a bit high, and he hadn’t shown any outstanding offensive talent in the daily scrimmages at the "retirement home," so there was a real chance he could be eliminated.
"I know." Durant gave a polite smile and didn’t say anything more.
DeRozan sighed. He wasn’t the type to be particularly outgoing or proactive either, so he just nodded and dropped the subject.
The ping-pong balls came out quickly.
There was probably no cheating; it was all down to luck.
At the 21st pick, Curry’s team was determined.
And right after that, at the 17th pick, the ping-pong ball representing Durant’s team popped out.
A mid-round pick. Not good, not bad.
As for Oden, his luck didn’t seem to be much better; he drew the 11th pick.
As the last two ping-pong balls bounced around frantically, one of them popped out, and the final draft order was set.
The dark-skinned and powerfully built Derek Kerycott couldn’t contain his excitement.
Meanwhile, the slightly unlucky Evan Turner’s face was a mask of frustration.
Durant took it all in, but he didn’t feel overly envious.
According to Presti’s strategy, he didn’t actually need to pick the powerful, high-value players. Just choosing two suitable, decent ones would be enough.
With high-value, highly skilled players, he’d also have to worry about whether he could keep them in check and make them willingly help him.
Presti’s strategy was to pick one 6-million and one 4-million player, ideally.
Or, he could pick an even lower-value player, preferably one he had a good relationship with. That way, after forming the team, the two of them could team up and keep the third player in line.
This kind of competitive tactic made Durant feel a bit awkward and disdainful.
On his school team, everyone was a brother, a good friend, all working together to win games. While some of these dynamics existed here, it wasn’t the same.
But thinking about the ultimate goal, Durant was eventually persuaded.
So now, the draft order wasn’t that important. The main concern was that the players he wanted might get picked by someone else first.
Once the draft order was set, everyone left the Green Room to meet up with their team managers and finalize their picks.
"Your luck wasn’t bad," Presti said, consoling Durant, then immediately looked over at the other teams on either side of them.
Thirty spots were arranged around the semi-circular stage, like booths in a restaurant.
One thing Presti was very curious about now was whether the other teams had seen through the production team’s methods.
He didn’t believe he was the only smart one in the room.
But no matter what, the key was still the captain.
Only if the captain was strong could they get more attention, and only then would the team have a hope of making it to the end.
And as for Durant, Presti truly felt that randomly drawing him as captain was a stroke of incredible luck.
The kid looked skinny, but his mismatch advantage was huge, and he was a great shooter. As long as the lineup was right and his teammates were willing to cooperate, he could definitely become a ruthless scoring machine.
Chen Yu, acting as the announcer, walked to the center of the stage.
Just like in the NBA, Derek Kerycott and his team’s general manager, an international scout from the Eagles named Collins, had five minutes to make their choice.
Soon, they made their choice.
They selected Cole Aldrich from Minnesota.
"A twin towers lineup?"
Presti and the other professional scouts turned to look at Collins in the front row.
What ideas could a bunch of young kids have? All the decisions were likely being made with the help of scouts like them.
Born in ’88, Derek Kerycott was from New Jersey, a famous prodigy from the state. At 14, he was the first middle schooler in history to participate in the Nike All-American Elite Training Camp.
In last year’s high school rankings from major national media outlets, he was even ranked above Oden at one point.
However, he had some personality issues and was always accompanied by trouble off the court.
He was 6’8" and 247 pounds, an absolute giant in the paint.
And Cole Aldrich was also a center from Minnesota, a famous super-talent in the state.
His value was in the highest bracket, a full 8 million.
Now that they had picked another center, it was obvious they wanted to run a twin towers lineup.

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