In Safford, at the house Durant, Little Jordan, and Harden shared.
Even though he had already been through it once, watching it again on TV still made Little Jordan furious.
He felt like his kindness had been completely thrown back in his face.
But it was over now, so Little Jordan didn’t say anything more. After a moment of thought, he asked curiously, "Kevin, have you contacted him at all since then?"
He pointed at the TV, too embarrassed to even say Beasley’s name.
Durant shook his head, a bitter expression on his face.
He didn’t want to contact Beasley. Beasley had tried to get in touch, had even called him, but he hadn’t picked up.
After that, Beasley never tried to contact him again.
With a personality like that, so quick to turn on people... Thinking back on all those years, Durant couldn’t even understand how he had put up with him long enough for them to become good friends.
"It’s better not to be in touch. We’ll always be your friends," Harden said at just the right moment.
For a bunch of kids, if an irreconcilable conflict truly broke out, then simply not being in contact anymore wasn’t such a big deal.
Beside them, Little Jordan nodded vigorously.
Durant managed a smile, but it was still a bit forced.
After all, they had been friends for several years.
Right now, Durant was the one who felt awkward, but soon, Little Jordan would take his place.
The TV began to play a lot of footage that Durant hadn’t seen before.
For example, a clip of Little Jordan angrily ranting to the camera, saying he would never forgive Durant, that he was a shameless bastard.
"I... I was just so angry at the time."
Little Jordan was mortified.
Durant chuckled. If he were in Little Jordan’s shoes, he probably would have exploded with anger too.
Just then, Harden suddenly said, "Hey, do you think what I said in the locker room earlier will be edited into the show? By the way, did you guys notice if the camera was on back then?"
Thinking back on that moment, Harden felt a wave of shame.
"Probably not, right?" Little Jordan shot upright. Harden had chewed him out like a child. How humiliating.
Durant looked up and sighed heavily. "Forget it. They definitely edited it in. This time, the three of us have truly made fools of ourselves."
The three brothers in misery, every single one of them, had been utterly embarrassed.
And in front of the entire United States, no less.
「ABC Headquarters.」
Sterling had predicted the hotlines would be blown up after the show aired, but he had still underestimated the audience’s fury.
The moment Beasley cursed out the production team and backstabbed Durant, countless calls had already flooded in, asking what the hell the show was doing and how this could have been the outcome.
Then there was Beasley. A whole lot of people were calling to curse him out.
They had never seen such a bastard!
Of course, Durant wasn’t spared either.
If Durant had just chosen Little Jordan, none of this would have happened.
Many people called the hotline just to mock Durant and tell him he got what he deserved.
From the audience’s perspective, Durant had brought this on himself. He completely deserved it.
But as the show continued, this perception was forcefully turned on its head.
"Greg, he’s just so pitiful." In the Popovich home, Erin, sitting in front of the TV, was already starting to wipe away tears.
Popovich sighed again and again.
’Young people always have to pay the price for their choices.’
On the screen, Durant had locked himself in his room. When his mother and godfather rushed to Safford, he refused to see them.
And finally, of course, there was the scene of Durant breaking down in tears after Chen Yu talked with him.
The moment he started crying, Erin started crying too.
After witnessing Beasley’s betrayal, Erin tried to see things from Durant’s perspective and even felt that there was nothing wrong with the choice he had made.
Beasley was his good friend of many years!
And during the previous regular season games, Little Jordan and Durant didn’t have very good chemistry, and Little Jordan had been the first to give up on a game.
’You already gave up, so what’s wrong with me giving up on you?’
Then came the scenes of Little Jordan isolating Durant in practice, and during games, a pitiful Durant not daring to shoot, constantly passing the ball to Little Jordan and Harden while the team kept losing. This made Erin feel infinite pity for the 16-year-old kid.
He made a mistake. But having been born in such a terrible environment, growing up relying on Beasley, he had only made a mistake that anyone could have made.
He knew he was wrong, and he was trying hard to fix it, to make it up to Little Jordan.
If Durant were her own child, Erin would feel that this was already enough.
’Can’t he even be given a chance to make things right?’
Popovich watched the television with a deep gaze, unable to stop his heart from aching for Durant.
When a player, on the court he loves, is afraid to take a shot, desperately passing to his teammates and setting them up... he could only imagine the guilt and self-blame weighing on the boy’s mind.
He was reminded of his own son, Mitch.
His son had caused him no shortage of worry during his teenage years, always making mistakes.
But when you make a mistake, you just have to correct it.
For Little Jordan to treat Durant this way, Popovich really felt it was going too far.
The atmosphere in the room was heavy and oppressive. The two of them said nothing, sitting close as they watched the team keep losing, Little Jordan keep complaining, and Durant remain perpetually silent, enduring the harsh criticism and always murmuring, "I’m sorry."
Even Popovich couldn’t help but wipe the corner of his eye.
Then, just as Popovich was wondering how this whole thing would ever be resolved, Harden exploded.
In the locker room, Harden was furiously kicking the metal lockers, venting his pent-up frustration and berating both Little Jordan and Durant.
This scene left both Popovich and his wife speechless.
Especially when Harden screamed himself hoarse at the two of them, "You guys might not want to win, but I still do!" Popovich had to blink hard to hold back the tears that threatened to spill.
He deeply etched the name James Harden into his memory.
"Trade me. To a team that can win!"
When Harden calmly finished speaking, slung his bag over his shoulder, and walked out of the locker room, the oppressive feeling seemed to seep through the television and envelop the couple.
Wiping her tears, Erin said, "Greg, it shouldn’t be like this for them."
She couldn’t forget how in Los Angeles, Durant and Harden had fought tooth and nail to complete the challenge, and how thrilled and joyful Harden had been when he contacted Little Jordan, personally running to Houston to bring him back to Safford.
After going through so much to finally get the three of them back on track, it had all ended up like this.
Popovich didn’t speak. He was overcome with a powerful feeling; he didn’t want to see the three of them split up.
On the television, after a long, desperate silence, Durant was the first to get up and walk over to Little Jordan.
When Durant said that he had had enough too, Popovich’s heart couldn’t help but tremble.
He could just imagine how much Durant must have suffered these past few days.
But then, like a ray of sunshine piercing through dark clouds, Little Jordan’s grudging retort, "I never said I wanted you traded," suddenly gave Popovich a glimpse of a turnaround.
’There’s still hope!’
After Little Jordan finished his rant, he slung his bag on his back and walked to the locker room door. Then, as Popovich watched with a tense and hopeful gaze, Little Jordan asked, "Well? Are you coming or not?" At that, Popovich couldn’t help but pump his fist and let out an excited shout.
’Those two little rascals. They finally forgave each other!’
As he watched a stunned Durant grab his bag and follow, the show ended. Popovich could no longer control his tears; they just flowed.
But this time, they were tears of joy.
"Oh my god, they finally made up. I’m crying my eyes out," Erin said, fanning her eyes with her hand. She had been crying up a storm.
Popovich looked up at the ceiling and sighed, his heart filled with a thousand emotions.
This wasn’t a movie; it was a reality show. This was real life, happening right in front of them.
Watching three young men go through setbacks and conflict, only to end up saving each other and forgiving one another... that raw, genuine emotion had a far greater impact than any movie could.
"Seriously, he shouldn’t be a doctor. He should be a producer."
Popovich said with a sigh. He finally understood why this show was so popular.
The show blew up.
That night, after the episode ended, discussion about the show on the internet erupted like a volcano, reaching its peak.
Countless people were discussing this episode, debating whether Durant’s choice was wrong, and talking about what a complete bastard Beasley was.
It got to the point where many people who hadn’t even seen the show were drawn in, going out of their way to watch the replay.
Over at ABC Television, the hotlines were already crashing.
The ratings shot past 20, breaking a slew of records.
And it even broke into the mainstream.
The next day, morning news programs and a pile of current events newspapers, like the New York Daily, all reported on last night’s episode.
The media had paid attention before, but it was mostly sports-related outlets. While major news sources like the New York Daily had reported on it, the coverage was always limited.
But today, it was right on the front page.
On this day, the entire United States came to remember Durant’s name, albeit in an unconventional way.
In New York, Los Angeles, and Washington—in the office buildings filled with well-dressed white-collar workers, in the bars with their patrons getting drunk, in taxis with their talkative drivers—everyone was discussing Durant’s choice and Beasley’s betrayal.
This drama, full of twist after twist and involving brotherly friendship and team spirit, was truly more exciting than a movie.
Even at the routine press conference at the President’s Mansion that day, a reporter asked the spokesperson if the President had watched yesterday’s TV show and if he had any thoughts on Durant’s choice.
He had probably just asked it casually, but to his surprise, the spokesperson answered seriously, saying that the President did watch it, and hadn’t missed a single episode.
Regarding Durant’s choice yesterday, the spokesperson believed that we shouldn’t be too harsh on Durant—that he was a good kid. Beasley, on the other hand, was the one who had made a mistake.
With the President himself being a viewer, a whole host of celebrities naturally jumped out to express their opinions.
Among the judges, Jordan swore to reporters that he had felt something was off about Beasley during the auditions. The reason they eliminated him, he claimed, was due to his personality issues, and now the facts had proven him right.
Stern also gave an interview to reporters, stating that a player’s character off the court is just as important.
Even major Hollywood producers declared that Durant’s choice was forgivable, and even said they hoped to turn this whole sequence of events into a movie.
This craze even spread overseas.
On the third day after the show aired, Chen Yu, far away in Athens, was asked by an athlete about the aftermath of the Durant and Beasley situation while he was in the middle of a consultation.

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