Chapter 641: Chapter 467: The Person Who Never Showed Up_2 Chapter 641: Chapter 467: The Person Who Never Showed Up_2 Winning consecutive championships on the same team is called a dynasty, but what if someone switches teams and still wins consecutively?

That’s called an empire.

Stein emphasized Yu Fei’s personal authority with “SoleImperium,” aiming to highlight that the Bucks and the Supersonics won championships because of Yu Fei’s presence.

This significantly weakened the traditional dynasty narrative.

However, it also resembled the propaganda around Jordan of yesteryears, where the so-called noble will to win, an incarnation akin to America’s military mythology, was fervently promoted by Nike. They glorified the belligerence of number 23, portraying it as a challenging motivation for teammates, defining the tyranny and brutishness of the elite as necessary actions in the pursuit of victory.

Over the decades, Nike had become dependent on this narrative.

They molded their sports stars into victorious seekers of success, but in doing so, they elevated their personal status alongside their team’s victories.

However, Reebok went a step further.

The birth of the “SoleImperium” concept was aimed at emphasizing Yu Fei’s persona, while diminishing, even ignoring the contributions of other Supersonics players.

This marketing and promotion was indeed more prestigious and provocative than Nike’s, but conversely, it erased the contributions of certain Supersonics players.

People like Kwame Brown were quite happy to be servants of the empire.

But for the 21-year-old Kevin Durant, the situation was much more complicated.

Nike treated James as a spoiled figure, so they were willing to team Zhan Ke with him in a 1+1 strategy to counter number 44.

But for Durant, Nike had deeper expectations.

Durant debuted with the title of Yu Fei the Second, and Nike had given him a contract second only to James’s before he entered the NBA. Later, Yu Fei’s return to Seattle greatly surprised Nike.

Then, Nike adapted their strategy, allowing Durant to learn by Yu Fei’s side while quietly sapping some of Reebok’s popularity. Moreover, they deliberately designed a clever persona for Durant: the boy next door.

Unlike the tyrant image of Jordan, the supremacy of Yu Fei, the kingship of LeBron, and the Black Mamba persona of Kobe, all of which have an alienating dominance,
Durant was different.

He had no tattoos, was friendly with everyone, carried a backpack, and spoke appealing words.

However, recently, Nike found that Durant was not eroding Reebok’s market share, but rather enhancing Yu Fei’s presence.

Seattleites would buy Durant’s jerseys, but if they had to choose between Yu Fei and Durant, the answer was quite pragmatic.

Because Durant was still the third player on the Supersonics.

He was not Yu Fei’s lieutenant; he was after Yu Fei and Roy.

As Yu Fei’s camp began to emphasize the “SoleImperium” concept, Nike faced something intolerable.

No matter how many championships the Supersonics won, no matter how outstanding Yu Fei’s teammates were, the empire always belonged to Yu Fei alone.

Naturally, Nike’s feelings affected Durant.

So in July, when Bosh tail-wagged to Yu Fei, making a verbal agreement with the Supersonics without contacting other teams, followed by James’s “The Decision,” Durant tweeted his naive comment afterward: “Why does everyone now want to play in Seattle and Los Angeles? Let’s get back to competing, fight like true competitors!”

As if living on Twitter, Kwame Brown quickly replied, “Don’t let Chris see this.”

Then, Yu Fei’s fans reacted as if they had been stepped on the tail.

To them, Durant equated Bosh’s joining the Supersonics with James’s publicly broadcasted decision to defect to Los Angeles.

“KD, what nonsense are you talking about, this is not the same thing at all!”

“Chris is Frye’s brother; they just want to play brother basketball. Why are you creating internal conflict with such a tweet?”

“Delete this, kid, without ‘SoleImperium’ you are nothing!”

Durant wanted to respond to Brown, but he then saw Yu Fei’s fanatics educating him with the “SoleImperium” theory.

A rebellious fire was ignited in his heart.

He responded to the fan, “What is ‘SoleImperium’?”

“You are also part of ‘SoleImperium,’ and you don’t know what this means? Let me make it clear, without Frye you are nothing, Chris just wants to be a part of ‘SoleImperium’ like you!”

Calm down…

KD, stay calm.

That’s what Durant told himself.

He decided not to respond anymore.

But in the following ten minutes, that phrase echoed in his mind.

Without Frye, you are nothing.

That was a great insult.

Frye was certainly the most important player on the Supersonics, but was he nothing? Even Frye wouldn’t say that!

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Why would these fans create a so-called “SoleImperium” concept to erase their contributions?

In the end, Durant couldn’t hold back and once again responded to the fanatic, “You like Frye; I don’t ask you to like our team’s other players, but you should at least respect us. We are also NBA players, with or without Frye. We would still be NBA players. This means even without Frye, I can still average 20 points per game in the NBA!”

Although what Durant said made sense, as soon as he decided to reason with a fanatic, he had already lost.

One fanatic was responded to; hundreds of fanatics stood out.

“Do you think you are better than LeBron?”