Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 498: Chapter 342: I Have Decided (Two in One)_4

Afterward, Randy Mims, who was by LeBron’s side, said to the people around him, “We will not accept interviews from this guy anymore! He’s not welcome!”

The reporter didn’t seem surprised by the reaction from LeBron’s camp and left muttering complaints like “such a hypocrite.”

LeBron’s heartbeat was accelerating. The opinion in the sports world is no different from that among celebrity fan circles; it’s all a turn-based game. Whoever has the upper hand will never be criticized.

When LeBron single-handedly buried the Detroit Pistons, he didn’t have to comment on Darfur because he had proven he could rival Yu Fei.

However, once he was defeated by Fei, the domineering aura suppressed by the semifinals would attack from all sides again. That was what Fei had lived through in the past few years, and what Michael Jordan faced in 1993 when mired in a gambling scandal.

Only victories could silence those people because this was the covenant made between the gods of sports and the devil.

They only temporarily disappear from their lives when they continue to win—remember, it’s temporary, because when glory fades, rumors such as “Jordan retired to escape his gambling debts” or “gambling debts led to his own father’s murder” surface. At his peak, Fei only had the right to breathe in public opinion when he was winning. This status had been LeBron’s desire for the past few years.

Now, he had ascended by virtue of a great game.

Only, the view from here might not be what he wanted to see.

Because Fei was unwilling to share the throne at the summit with anyone, whoever climbed up, he kicked them back down.

LeBron returned to the locker room, but unexpectedly encountered Richie Paul. Why unexpectedly? Because Paul should be following his agent Leon Rose to learn the business. For Paul, there would be other plans in the future.

But tonight, he came unannounced.

LeBron asked, “What happened?”

Paul glanced at Mims, who gave him an affirmative look, hoping he would speak up.

Paul took a deep breath and said, “Nike has already agreed to your signing on that letter.”

LeBron’s face was like still water as he asked coldly, “I don’t understand, what does that mean?”

Just as the outside world had said, LeBron didn’t sign the letter for the same reason as Fei; Nike had vast business in China, and as a new generation representative of Nike in the basketball field, he couldn’t easily make political statements to the international community.

“It’s just making a statement,” Paul said. “You won’t lose the Chinese market, we are just straightforwardly opposing the genocide in Darfur, which has nothing to do with China.”

LeBron still didn’t understand why Nike wanted him to take the risk of losing the biggest market in Asia this time, it wasn’t his style.

“Don’t they know I go to China every summer?” LeBron said angrily. “I have fans there, they support me just like the fans in the United States, and if I sign on that letter, everything I did there in the past few years will be meaningless!”@@novelbin@@

Paul wasn’t sure if LeBron cared about China’s interests or the feelings of Chinese fans, but it no longer mattered.

“LeBron,” Paul said, “we can’t give you a team as outstanding as Frye’s right now, so we must seize his only weakness.”

LeBron was silent.

Political incorrectness was a main reason Fei was doomed to have a villain image. When his rivals temporarily couldn’t defeat him on the court, seeking other measures off the court was only natural.

Frye doesn’t play for the national team? Then LeBron is the man born for the national team, as you know, he has a strong sense of national honor.

Frye’s personal life is a mess? Then LeBron is the NBA’s only good man.

Frye is arrogant, LeBron is humble;

Frye is aggressive, LeBron is frugal, respectful, and decent;

As long as he is the opposite of Frye, even if LeBron isn’t as good as advertised, he could still find a place in public opinion.

Now, Frye publicly refuses to speak out for the suffering people of Darfur for his own benefit? Then LeBron becomes the altruistic incarnation like Michael Jackson singing “We are the World”, willing to offend the eastern powerhouse for the suffering, ready to give up that market, ready to lose countless fans.

The third game of the Eastern Conference Finals moved to Cleveland.

Before the game, Nike created a grand atmosphere to build momentum for LeBron.

They claimed that LeBron would announce an important decision after the Eastern Conference Finals.

Because LeBron strong-armed the Cavaliers into signing a 2+1 contract extension last summer, the outside world didn’t know what LeBron’s decision would be.

Returning to the home court of the Cavaliers, the trend of the game didn’t change in the least.

A rout of the Cavaliers was inevitable; they couldn’t compete with the perfect chemistry of the Bucks.

In the third game, Fei scored 40 points, and the Bucks won by 35 points away from home.

The defeat of the Cavaliers was nearly certain.

The Bucks were about to win their fourth NBA Finals ticket in five years.

Before the fourth game of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Cavaliers announced LeBron James would miss the game due to injury, which seemed to explain LeBron’s slump in the third game.

However, the outside world was now more curious about LeBron’s decision.

Nike brought in ESPN to broadcast it live, a loser about to be swept out of the playoffs, yet suddenly enjoying the attention usually reserved for winners.

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