One Year Left to Play-Chapter 303 - 101: Back to Los Angeles

If Zhang Hao was traded by the Hornets using two quasi-All-Star level players, no one would care, but the Lakers are different.

Zhang Hao’s response was completely subconscious. It wasn’t until he dashed into the arena and the people chasing him were stopped by security that he realized those people were reporters!

When he left Rutherford Town, he only saw a few domestic reporters from afar outside Continental Airlines Arena. Look at the scene now...

"This... if Wall was selected by the Lakers, wouldn’t he score 30 points in every game? Did I miss an interview? Whatever..."

Zhang Hao had been to this arena a few times before, and since he was now a Lakers player, the security didn’t stop him. He came in and followed the path to the training court. He purposely wore sports attire to start training early, practicing longer range two-pointers and mid-range shots.

But he hadn’t reached the training court before being stopped.

Jeanie Buss enthusiastically hugged Zhang Hao: "Oh, Aix, you finally joined the Lakers. I knew it, you belong to Los Angeles; New Jersey doesn’t deserve your brilliance."

This... enthusiasm as fiery as hell...

Zhang Hao couldn’t refuse, and gently hugged Jeanie Buss back.

Despite being very enthusiastic, Jeanie Buss didn’t do anything excessive; she just hugged him briefly and stepped back, saying, "You came so early, are you here to train? You’re so diligent. I was busy all night, I’m quite sleepy. I won’t take up more of your time; since we’re colleagues now, we can go on a date in the future... Haha, just kidding."

From when Jeanie Buss appeared to when she left... Zhang Hao was somewhat stunned.

"This woman... unfathomable depths."

For a moment, Zhang Hao felt like saying: "Auntie, I don’t want to work hard anymore..."

However, the other party seemed to be merely being courteous, and as a former socialite, this might be her way of interacting, perhaps trying to gain the players’ support. Zhang Hao knew that the Lakers’ "intrigue" would persist for many years.

He didn’t take it seriously.

Meanwhile, Jeanie Buss headed to the parking lot, where her secretary drove her home.

Her enthusiasm toward Zhang Hao was purely because she thought he was pleasing to the eye, a young boy so fresh-looking that he seemed like he could pinch out water. At her age, who wouldn’t like that?

As for gaining players’ support, this might be very important for ordinary management, but for her, it was completely unnecessary. She was the boss; she didn’t care how much the players supported Logo Man.

Moreover, Jeanie Buss never interfered with Logo Man’s player operations; instead, she actively supported him commercially, providing financial backing because she knew how accomplished Logo Man was in this area.

Even Logo Man had to admit she was a very charming woman.

...

Just past 8 a.m., Logo Man arrived at the arena.

The plan was going smoothly; the short-term plan had some unexpected hiccups, but it was accomplished nonetheless.

Now for the long-term plan to come to fruition.

Sending Divac away just to get Zhang Hao was indeed beyond the initial budget, but fortunately, the longer-planned, much more profitable matter, akin to getting a wolf with bare hands, didn’t affect that plan.

Most importantly, the expenditure exceeded expectations, but Zhang Hao’s displayed talent also surpassed expectations!

Strong enough that when the Brooklyn Nets asked for Divac, he readily agreed.

In the first month of matches, Zhang Hao averaged 21.2 points per game, ranked fifteenth in the league; averaged 2.3 blocks per game, ranked ninth in the league.

If Zhang Hao had entered the NBA after finishing his junior or senior year and performed like this, Logo Man wouldn’t be surprised, as every year during good draft years, there would be a few rookies who could be used as cores straight away and lead teams to win games.

But at 18... a dreamlike age!

Today, Logo Man arrived early at the arena intending to wait for Zhang Hao in advance.

However, as he walked into the arena, passing through the player corridor, he noticed there was already someone on the training ground.

Not disturbing Zhang Hao, Logo Man, watching Zhang Hao’s training, his eyes lit up—turns out it was three-pointers!

And quite good; Logo Man watched for a while, and Zhang Hao made 29 consecutive shots from the top arc area!

Turns out the two three-pointers in the game against the Bulls weren’t incidental; he really had developed a three-pointer!

Just the posture...

Once Zhang Hao finished a set of training, Logo Man spoke up: "Wow, Aix, you came to train this early?"

"Good morning, Mr. West," Zhang Hao greeted politely first, then answered, "Used to waking up early, and have nothing else to do besides train."

"How long have you been training today?"

"After warming up my body, I trained for over 30 minutes, running 6 sets of shooting drills, with each drill and rest interval being about 6 minutes, just finished one shooting drill now."

"A set?"

"Yes, on non-game days during home periods, I typically train for 6 sets."

"..." Logo Man was silent for a moment: "Your habits are good, and your diligence is commendable, but we need to discuss a more reasonable and scientific training intensity.

Today’s training ends here. We have a lot of work today; come, let’s first do a height and weight measurement."

Zhang Hao nodded, knowing that by coming to train early, he mainly wanted to get his body moving, so he could perform better if there were tests later.

Also, he wanted to show the hard-working side of himself, the simplest way for athletes to impress others.

...

centimeters?

Zhang Hao opened the special contracted player basic information column in the system, and indeed!

Without noticing, he had grown a bit taller, with a wingspan reaching 218 centimeters.

Already an outstanding static physical condition for playing power forward; even half a year ago, Logo Man, despite having his eyes on Zhang Hao, had overlooked the possibility that Zhang Hao might keep growing taller.

Next, taking advantage of Zhang Hao’s activated body, Logo Man had the trainer conduct a fitness test for Zhang Hao.

After the test, Logo Man, looking at the fitness report that amazed the trainer, returned to his office, closed the door... and outside, the passing cleaning lady heard the crazy shouting from the general manager’s office.

The 40-year-old cleaning lady was shocked: "You can’t tell the general manager still has such passion at his age... Wait, isn’t his secretary male? Seems to be called Mickey?"

The cleaning lady was so frightened she hurriedly moved away.

Inside the office, Logo Man, after yelling several times, calmed down.

"Wait, what’s going on? Is the Brooklyn Nets’ owner blind? How could they agree to the trade? Why? Do a physical exam first, but Aix doesn’t seem to have any health issues..."

Logo Man was very confused, and the Brooklyn Nets’ general manager Marx was equally bewildered, as was former head coach Butch Baird; how could they know the Nets’ owner hadn’t watched the fitness report they submitted for Zhang Hao? Hadn’t watched any of Zhang Hao’s matches?

On the other side, having just completed the fitness test, Zhang Hao felt somewhat disheartened—"If I keep growing, what should I do? Then I’d have to play center against O’Neal... Hey? Didn’t I become a Lakers player? Grow, grow, I’m fearless...

O’Neal should be coming next season, right?

Wait, did the Lakers trade me using Divac? Then what about Kobe?

What about the OK Duo?

Will it become the Remy Martin Duo?"