"Hey, LeBron. I heard your signature shoe is launching during All-Star Weekend. Congratulations," Mike O’Connor said, turning to James. They were old acquaintances.

However, even though O’Connor was congratulating him, his tone was like he was praising an underachiever: ’Not bad, you managed a 61. At your level, just passing is an achievement.’

This made the Chosen One extremely uncomfortable.

He’d hated O’Connor for a long time. This arrogant, goateed man had offended him more than once.

"Yes. If you’d like a pair, I can have them sent over," James replied, keeping his emotions in check. He had impressive self-control.

"That won’t be necessary," Mike O’Connor said with a wave of his hand. "I don’t like wearing stiff shoes made for centers. Besides, Jack’s signature shoe is coming out soon. It’ll be released before the playoffs. Nike wanted to spend more time on Jack’s shoe to make it a carefully crafted, flagship product. The playoffs are a great stage, after all. You’ll have to work hard to make the playoffs this year, too."

James’s chest tightened. O’Connor was really twisting the knife.

’I’m fucking tenth in the East, and he’s talking about the playoffs? What fucking playoffs? Little Sheep Su Xi, you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? You deliberately had your agent come in here to show off, to provoke me, to mock me, to taunt me!!’

And just like that, James’s resentment extended to Su Xi.

Su Xi knew O’Connor was the type of person who was just bursting with a superiority complex. He acted that way toward everyone, even the president of Nike. It wasn’t really aimed at James. Still, Su Xi waved a hand at O’Connor, signaling him to stop talking. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Su Xi said goodbye to Antonio and hurried off to his promotional photoshoot.

As soon as he and O’Connor left, the locker room erupted in chatter.

"Who the hell does that kid think he is? Strutting around like an arrogant peacock. Back when we were making a name for ourselves in the NCAA, he was just a ball boy," Dallas rookie forward Josh Howard said, his face flush with resentment. "He gets a few endorsements because of some Hollywood actress and suddenly he thinks he’s a superstar."

"Exactly. I don’t see him lasting long," Bosh chimed in, craning his long neck.

"That kid’s pretty cocky. He knocked Maggette flat on his ass when they played the Clippers. He’s made plenty of enemies around the league. This All-Star game should be interesting," Kaman added, enjoying the drama.

And then there was Syracuse. Though he said nothing, he was deeply resentful of Su Xi.

He’d been defeated by Su Xi in the NCAA finals, but he didn’t think Su Xi had any real talent. ’It was just a lucky break for him that time.’

Now Su Xi was playing better and better in the NBA, and Syracuse felt it was because Su Xi had stolen his luck. That was the only reason he was playing so well. ’If I were on the Pacers, I could do even better than him. Now he’s getting all these endorsements, catching the eye of a beautiful actress, and he was even voted in as an All-Star starter.’

’All of this should have been mine.’

Syracuse seethed with resentment.

"Melo, you need to pass me the ball more during the game," James suddenly said. "You can’t just feed the ball to Little Sheep Su Xi because you’re teammates. He’s already had enough of the spotlight. He’s completely outshone the rest of us."

As James said this, the atmosphere in the locker room immediately grew complicated.

It was true. Wasn’t Su Xi already in the spotlight enough?

He was already the only first-year player to make the All-Star team. Were they really going to let him hog even more of the glory?

Envy, jealousy, and hate intertwined, festered, and spread throughout the locker room.

Antonio’s expression turned serious. "LeBron, you’re a good friend of mine, and so is Jack. I’ll pass to whoever has the best look. And besides, I don’t think Jack needs anyone to feed him the ball anymore. In the sophomore team’s frontcourt, nobody besides Yao Ming has an advantage over him."

...