Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

So, at the very beginning, like Yu Fei, Carter stated that he wouldn't give up the starting spot to anyone.

He didn't want to, unless the League forced him.

The League was indeed planning to do so, but Jordan felt that it would further damage his already tarnished reputation, so he publicly stated, "Unless Vince tells me 'I want you to start,' I won't accept it."

⑴ You can find this piece of news on Sohu from 2003.

Now Carter was in a difficult position, as everyone wanted him to give up the starting spot. He was considered Jordan's successor and his junior; they came from the same school. Why should you refuse to support your senior brother for the last leg of his journey? How could you refuse? Are you really that selfish?

Alright, even though this senior brother never respected him from the very beginning, Carter still wavered. Although he had the potential to become the greatest of all time, he never had the heart to match it.

This stifling drama, which disgusted Fei, hadn't finished yet when he took Lawson and Clark with him to Los Angeles.

He would spend two days there participating in Reebok events, and then he could head to Atlanta.

In Los Angeles, Yu Fei met Iverson and other Reebok athletes.

But in terms of the welcome he received, it was almost on par with Iverson's.

With an astonishing sophomore season at the Bucks, Reebok already viewed Yu Fei as a future superstar. However, his current contract with the company was 4 years for 10 million dollars, which was far below his market value.

This made Reebok go out of their way to please Yu Fei, trying to make him feel respected.

"Big Fei, you should take the initiative to offer the starting spot to Michael," Iverson advised like a mentor, "after all, Michael won't accept it."

Yu Fei asked, "Why not?"

"It's about dignity, brother. Everything requires dignity. You're being too undignified!"

Who knew that a man who chased his wife with a gun to a friend's house still understood what dignity is?

"Got it, I'll be more careful next time."

"It's okay, we've all been young!" Iverson said nonchalantly, "These are tips from an old pro!"

Setting aside Iverson's private life, Yu Fei felt he had no ill intentions towards him, so he mostly agreed with him.

For the next two days, aside from sleeping, Yu Fei's time wasn't his own.

That's when he experienced the annoyances of fame—lacking nothing but personal freedom, having to check the schedule for everything he does.

After finally finishing the company events and stepping out of the airport, the NBA officials in Atlanta had prepared even more activities for him.

Countless NBA-sponsoring companies needed players to attend promotional events to make people believe that the stars represented the quality of their products.

What Yu Fei found most unbearable was attending a donation event about love and peace with Pierce, Walker, Iverson, (Jamal) Mashburn, Kidd.

Yu Fei glanced at his companions and felt that this group would be more suited to attend charity events for drug prohibition, alcohol abstinence, illegal firearms possession, intentional injury, and anti-domestic violence.

Why should he, an innocent man, accompany these criminals to this crappy charity event? Where's the justice in that?

On the first official day of the All-Star weekend, the Eastern All-Star starters needed to gather in their uniforms for a group photo.

The media witnessed an uncommon scene, as Yu Fei, having left the Wizards, and Jordan stood together, forcing a smile.

"How have you been recently?" Jordan asked with a hidden edge in his smile.

"Not bad," Yu Fei responded with a grin, "Just ranked first in the Eastern Conference, how about you?"

Jordan said, "Oh, nothing much, Jerry pulled a groin muscle, but he'll be okay."

Hamilton mentioned how Jerry was both tall and hard.

"So, what's your current rank?"

Jordan wanted to drop his smile, but in this setting, he couldn't clash with Yu Fei: "Currently ninth."

"Ninth, ah, that's good," Yu Fei expressed with apparent satisfaction, "It suits your abilities."

Jordan said, "Don't be too pleased."

"Where am I pleased?" Yu Fei truly wasn't; he just couldn't control his laughter, "I just wanted to remind you that last year your team secured the eighth spot in the East under a rookie's lead and he got traded for it. Better luck."

Not only were the media present, but also other members of the Eastern All-Star Team.

It was well known that Yu Fei and Jordan didn't get along, but many hadn't witnessed just how bad it was.

Now, they knew how terrible the relationship was.

During the brief time of taking promotional photos, Yu Fei had already managed to get under the Dog's skin.

"Okay, Frye, cut it out," said George Karl, the head coach of the Eastern All-Star Team, in a peace-making tone, "We're here to relax and have fun."

Yu Fei laughed and asked, "George, don't you see that I'm having fun?"

"It's important that everyone has fun," George said.

"That's not possible," Yu Fei stood up, surveying everyone on the scene, "Some people wish they were still young, but time has abandoned them, so they just deceive themselves."

A reporter asked, "Frye, who are you referring to?"

"A smart reporter should learn to solve puzzles on their own," Yu Fei said.

After completing the photo shoot, Yu Fei said to everyone, "See you later."

Yu Fei declined to participate in the Rookie Challenge, and he wasn't interested in the Slam Dunk Contest—although many people wished he would join, he really felt like he was more of a practical dunker.

But he was very interested in the Three-Point Contest.

It's just that this year, he was past the registration time, but he would come to play next year.