The New York Knicks head coach believed the Kings had marked Wang Yi as questionable to play purely as a smokescreen.
With a smile, he handed the Kings' active roster to his assistant coach, John.
John glanced at the roster and shook his head with a laugh.
"The Kings' smokescreen is so clumsy. His right wrist is fractured, so he definitely can't play. Does he think this alone will throw off our pregame preparations?"
Another assistant coach, Cyrus, said, "I don't think so. The Kings wouldn't use such a low-level smokescreen to fool us. Given the coaching staff's intelligence and Wang Yi's resourcefulness, there's probably some special reason behind it."
The head coach smiled and shook his head. "Lately, I've been studying a Chinese military text called The Art of War. Wang Yi once said his tactics and how he used his players were deeply influenced by it, so I took the opportunity to look into it. And I think I've actually learned a thing or two."
"When you go to war, you need to mix truth with deception. That's how you confuse your opponent and cloud their judgment."
"That guy Wang Yi is always resourceful, so we'll assume there's some special purpose behind this and waste a lot of energy preparing for it. But in reality, he really is injured and can't play. I've never seen anyone play basketball with a fractured wrist."
"So he's just taking advantage of our expectations to mess with us. There's no need to pay him any mind."
The other assistant coaches exchanged glances. They agreed that the head coach's explanation made sense.
"Then we won't worry about him. Without Wang Yi, the Kings might move Westbrook into the starting lineup."
"They might also go with a twin-tower lineup or even three big men.