Chapter 684: Chapter 481: The Fall of a Hero (Combined)_4 Chapter 684: Chapter 481: The Fall of a Hero (Combined)_4 Especially when Yu Fei returned with the aura of a savior, Durant’s position became awkward.

They had once hoped that Yu Fei would demand the Supersonics to trade Durant for immediate competitive power.

But Yu Fei showed an unexpected level of patience, not only accepting Durant but also not caring that he was the new star heavily promoted by Nike. This led Nike to devise another plan–Durant was six years younger than Yu Fei, so when Yu Fei was 30, Durant would be just 24, at the peak of his strength.

They could look forward to Durant taking power from Yu Fei.

If Durant improved quickly enough, he could even change the Supersonics from a situation dominated by a superstar to an open confrontation between two major factions, like the OK duo.

However, reality did not go according to their plans.

Durant indeed became a supernova, and his boy-next-door image won him a lot of favor. But he didn’t take away Yu Fei’s cake; in Seattle, his commercial value wasn’t even on par with Roy’s.

Durant truly became a beloved boy-next-door.

Yes, a boy.

A boy by the side of the emperor–who would care?

Whenever the master wished, he would, as he had just now, toss him a lob to replace his own spectacular show. The audience was entertained, the boy got the chance to perform, and everyone was happy.

Before the game started, Durant ran up to Memitt, “Good evening, Uncle Lynn.”

“Kevin, this might be the most watched Christmas battle in history, why don’t you look excited at all?” asked Memitt.

Durant’s expression remained unchanged, “Actually, I’m very excited.”

“That’s good.” Memitt encouraged, “Everyone only knows this game is about number 44 and number 23 versus number 24; you need to let them know, number 35 shouldn’t be underestimated either.”

Reebok valued tonight’s game more than Nike.

CEO Paul Arrington was present at the scene himself.

“Frye, my birthday is in a few days,” Arrington said, “I hope you can gift me tonight’s game ball as my birthday present.”

Yu Fei asked with a smile, “Do you want a game ball from a victorious game or a losing game?”

“Preferably a victory.” Arrington joked, “As the number one sorcerer in history, you wouldn’t want your winning streak against LeBron to end tonight, right?”

Yu Fei waved his hand, unable to accept the nickname of sorcerer.

Then, he entered the court.

As Yu Fei had indirectly been involved in Woods’ scandal before the game, attracting a huge wave of traffic for himself, many people who had not planned to watch the game had now booked it for tonight.

The NBA officially announced that approximately 15 million Americans would be watching tonight’s game.

This meant that the viewership rate for tonight’s game would surpass that of most of the NBA Finals in history.

Taking into account that the League was about to renegotiate with major television networks, such a game becoming a social focal point meant that the NBA was returning to the popularity of the Jordan era.

The League was also the winner in the present.

Then, the starting players from both teams took the stage, and a look at their names revealed the value of each team.

The Lakers’ starters were: Kobe Bryant, Richard Hamilton, LeBron James, Ron Artest, and Marc Gasol.

The Supersonics’ starters were: Brandon Roy, Kevin Durant, Yu Fei, Jermaine O’Neal (Chris Bosh not yet recovered), Kwame Brown.

“A team made up of losers, are they destined to become the biggest failure in history?”

After the players stood in position, Yu Fei spoke to Kobe.

Kobe, however, had learned his lesson and turned to the other Supersonics players, “You all work hard every night, but in the end, all the glory goes to this one guy; I really don’t know what you’re fighting for.”

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“Is it really okay to deflect the subject like this?” Yu Fei went on full attack, “Is this how you defended yourself at the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office?”

The game hadn’t even started, and the tension between both sides was already palpable.

Yu Fei’s aggressive stance toward Kobe was just the surface. The moment number 24 chose to team up with number 23, his career as a Kobe fan came to an end.

And thus, a lifelong Kobe hater was born.

(11) Suddenly, I think about China having its own Woods. That would be my fellow countryman, Lin Dan. Similarly, a national hero whose influence extended beyond his industry, it’s hard to look at him with reverence after his scandal.