Su Xi had no idea that simple gesture would cause such a stir. He had to admit, though, that Hilary Duff leaning in so suddenly had been a bit abrupt.

But at the time, it really was just too noisy.

Besides, Hilary Duff had been very considerate. She knew that talking about the MVP was a sensitive topic and didn’t want to cause any negative blowback for Su Xi. However, her song idea did need a hook—and the best hook would be for Su Xi to win MVP while she was in the audience.

Su Xi nodded and said he would aim for it. Their conversation ended as simply as that.

But because of it, an earthquake was just beginning to rumble through the world of gossip.

"Hey, Jack." Wade shot Su Xi a suggestive look, pulling him aside conspiratorially. "Did you bag the Disney Little Princess? Good heavens, I feel like it’s easier for you to land a Hollywood starlet than to win MVP."

Wade marveled.

His remark made James, who was standing nearby, glance over. The Chosen One had an exceptionally sensitive radar for certain keywords.

Even though he and Su Xi weren’t on speaking terms anymore—they were like the most familiar of strangers—no one in the entire 2003 draft class paid closer attention to Su Xi than James did.

Su Xi was the primary source of his emotional turmoil.

Just then, A.C. Green also pulled Su Xi aside. "Jack," he said, "you must follow God’s will. You can’t just open the window to your heart carelessly..."

"She and I are just friends. We were discussing work, and it was just too loud," Su Xi said. "Mr. Green, you can’t speculate wildly like other people. God permits me to have normal conversations with women."

Once Su Xi brought God into it, A.C. Green fell silent—out of respect for God.

Doug Collins came over, uninterested in the rumored affair between Su Xi and Hillary. He walked up and asked, "Jack, do you still want to play power forward?"

His tone was clearly one of consultation.

This struck the nearby rookies as extremely odd. ’What in the world is going on? Weren’t these two coaches supposed to be targeting Su Xi? Didn’t everyone say they disliked him?’

’How is it that one of them is discussing God with him, while the other is asking for his opinion?’

’From the sound of it, Doug Collins was implying that as long as Su Xi wanted to play power forward, he could. But... Su Xi’s a guard! He’s only six-foot-three!’

’And why is Collins so deferential to Jack? Isn’t he supposed to be here to support LeBron? The whole world knows LeBron is the Chosen One of the 2003 draft class.’

"Of course," Su Xi said. "I’m going to battle Stadumier to the very end."

"Alright," Doug Collins agreed with the utmost seriousness.

He then gathered the players to lay out the strategy. Sure enough, he kept Su Xi on the court and explicitly assigned him to the 4-spot.

Although he also had LeBron James run the offense as a mismatch point guard, James still felt a bit uneasy. He felt he was no longer the coach’s only privileged player. ’There’s only one Chosen One in the NBA, and a team should only have one mismatch player. What gives Su Xi the right to be one too?’

James was not happy.

But there was nothing he could do about it.

He had to follow the head coach’s orders.

...

"Oh, my God. Jack really knows how to juggle basketball and romance. He’s over there getting cozy with the Disney Little Princess, Hollywood’s little sweetheart," Stephen Curry lamented from the TNT broadcast booth. "Just how massive is this guy’s charm? Why are all these Hollywood starlets flocking to him?"

"I’m certain Michael Jordan never had this kind of charm back in the day, even though he was unstoppable on the court. As far as I know, at least three women in show business explicitly turned him down for a date. He wasn’t that popular. Even Madonna chose Pippen and Rodman over him." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

As a former teammate of the God of Basketball, Cole was exposing Jordan’s old "embarrassing moments" on television, proving that even the God of Basketball had his blind spots.

After all, starlets in the entertainment world aren’t short on cash. They can hook up with bosses worth billions of USD in minutes, so why would they need to get involved with the basketball GOAT? There’s just no need. Isn’t Madonna with a personal trainer now, after ditching Pippen and Rodman?

"Jack’s appeal to female celebrities surpasses that of any NBA superstar. He’s the GOAT in that department," Barkley said with a laugh.

"It’s just a fad. The media is hyping him up into this big phenomenon, and celebrities love chasing trends, like they’re scrambling to buy some limited-edition luxury item. But once they have him, they’ll find it’s dull and uninteresting. Do you all really think any of these starlets are going to grow old with Su Xi? They’re all just playing around."

Kenny Smith added acidly, "It’s just a high-class version of stamp collecting."

As Su Xi’s die-hard fan, Barkley couldn’t take it anymore. He retorted sarcastically, "Coming from someone who isn’t even qualified to *be* a stamp in the collection, that’s not very convincing, is it, Kenny? Even though you were an NBA player, I really don’t think you ever broke into that circle of fame and money."

"It’s like right now, Jack has a great shot at winning the Rookie Challenge MVP, but you were willing to bet kissing a jackass mouth-to-mouth that he wouldn’t."

"If you don’t get it, you don’t have a say."

Barkley was going all out, aiming his fire directly at Smith.

Normally, the two got along great, often teaming up to roast other people. But whenever the topic of Su Xi came up, they were like two hedgehogs ramming into each other, ready to draw blood.