Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 994 994 579 Unsettled Soul_2

?Chapter 994: Chapter 579 Unsettled Soul_2 Chapter 994: Chapter 579 Unsettled Soul_2 “`
They started to believe it.

So, when Jordan retired in 1998, he was convinced that people would remember him forever. If he had died at that moment, his epitaph would have read, “Here lies the greatest basketball player of all time.”

However, just a few years later, fans began to compare Kobe with him; Carter’s dunks seemed more spectacular than Jordan’s; the immensely talented McGrady was seen as having the potential to surpass him. Jordan’s ineffectiveness as a team executive and his desire to prove that these successors were not on his level led him to make that decision—he was coming out of retirement. He believed his resilient will was a shield against aging.

Then, he met the young Yu Fei.

That arrogant Yu Fei, that fearless Yu Fei, that Yu Fei who didn’t take him seriously at all. They might have become close friends in a fairy tale, but in reality, two equally powerful forces could only have one reaching the summit.

To maintain his dominance, Jordan chose to trade Yu Fei.

This decision led to his tragic end in Washington D.C.

At this moment, Yu Fei walked past the locker room after a big win. Jordan glanced at him, fully sensing his triumphant air.

To Jordan, Yu Fei was like a Roman general riding through the streets in a victory parade.

But was there a beggar by his side, reminding him, “All glory is fleeting”?

Jordan knew, probably no one would remind Yu Fei.

Because Yu Fei was so confident in his invincibility that he would choose the Clippers.

Jordan thought this would be Yu Fei’s downfall. Every person exalted as a god eventually gets knocked down. Every myth in American sports has to go through this stage. Perhaps the most ironic thing about Yu Fei was that he had chosen the place to bury his own legend.

At that moment, Jordan couldn’t tell if he hated Yu Fei or was reveling in schadenfreude.

All he knew was that his moment closest to immortality was the instant he chose to retire in 1998. In the subsequent days, only a gradually weakening legend and myth surrounded him, only questions about his historical status until Yu Fei completely surpassed him.

Now it was Yu Fei’s turn. As long as he failed with the Clippers, his previous successes would be questioned, his seemingly perfect resume would develop a gap, and newcomers would get the chance to surpass him.

“Don’t you have anything to say to MJ?”

Back in the locker room, Yu Fei’s teammates were still excited about the recent encounter with Jordan and his entourage. Not because Jordan was a former GOAT but because of the legendary feud between him and the current GOAT.

Everyone had thought there would be a volcanic eruption between the two, but instead, they just measured each other’s aura, and nothing happened.

“Oh, was that MJ?” Yu Fei said sarcastically, “He’s gotten so fat I didn’t recognize him.”

Mentioning MJ instantly piqued Pierce’s interest.

“Do you still remember when you guys came to Boston for a game?” Pierce said proudly, “You were a substitute back then.”

Yu Fei scoffed, “That’s because that pudgy bastard used his privileges to suppress my status.”

“How did you end up starting then?” Pierce asked in surprise, “I remember it wasn’t long before you were starting in D.C.”

Talking about those events, Kwame Brown, as someone who had experienced them, couldn’t help but interject: “Frye certainly wouldn’t be manipulated. Later, in an intrasquad scrimmage, he seized the opportunity to blow our starting lineup out of the water, demanding the starting spot in public, or else he wanted a trade.”

“!?!?”
Such explosive inside stories immediately intensified the gossip appetite in the locker room.

Though it was an old story, it had remained a secret for many years.

Even Rivers wanted to know the truth: “Frye, was it really like that?”

“Pretty much…” Yu Fei couldn’t be bothered to look back at those stale stories.

But his own admission set the locker room abuzz.

Once the team’s translator told Antetokounmpo about it, the Greek exclaimed excitedly, “Ubuntu! I want to learn from you!”

“Who was the one you blew out back then?” Griffin’s focus was always somewhat inexplicable.

Yu Fei shrugged, “I’ve forgotten.”

“Big Fei, how could you forget?” Brown exclaimed, “Isn’t it your current agent?”

“Christian Laettner?”

“Wang Defa!!!?”

Seeing their shock and awe, Yu Fei truly felt his mindset starting to age.

For Griffin’s generation, they grew up listening to those stories, and now hearing the protagonist of those tales reveal the inside scoop was quite impactful for them.

However, for Fei, matters from the past had already been settled, and if anything was worth summarizing, it was Jordan’s ending.

But that ending wasn’t Jordan’s ending in D.C; it was his ending with the Chicago Bulls.

If Yu Fei, during his rookie years, had heard that after retiring from the Bulls, Jordan wanted a share of the team’s management but was ruthlessly rejected, he would have gloated and commented on how shrewd the Bulls’ owner was. But now, his perspective had changed.

The Bulls’ owner, Jerry Reinsdorf, had bought the team for millions of US dollars.

And then, when Jordan retired in 1998, he increased the team’s value to 400 million US dollars.

From any viewpoint, Jordan made Reinsdorf the most money with his career.

Yet when Jordan retired, Reinsdorf didn’t even want to give him shares of the team?

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