The First Interview

As was customary, after the game, the key players from both teams shook hands.

Curry, the Warriors' star, first embraced James and Brow, exchanging a few words with them.

Then he walked over to Wang Yi.

A flash of fighting spirit passed through his eyes.

"Your three-pointer is incredible!" he said to Wang Yi.

"Yours isn't bad either," Wang Yi replied.

Curry broke into his trademark grin, like an elementary school kid.

Though he'd grown a beard, his smile was just as adorable as ever.

He truly lived up to his nickname, God of Cuteness.

"I hope we can settle things on the court," he said.

Fighting spirit surged in Wang Yi's eyes too.

"Me too."

Who wouldn't want to challenge the very best in their field, if given the chance?

After saying goodbye to the Warriors, Wang Yi started toward the Player Tunnel.

But just then, James patted him on the shoulder. "Wang, don't leave yet."

Wang Yi looked puzzled. "What is it?"

James pointed to the beautiful reporter walking toward them.

"An ESPN reporter wants to interview you after the game."

"Huh? Me?"

Wang Yi was quite surprised.

Postgame interviews usually went to the most outstanding player on the winning team.

The Lakers had lost, so technically, their players weren't eligible for an interview.

Even if a Lakers player were interviewed, it should have been James or Brow.

There was no way it would be him.

James laughed, showing a bright white smile.

"You don't need to be surprised. Maybe your luck is about to turn after this game."

Many people called James hypocritical, saying he liked to put on a show no matter what he did and that he was a phony.

But no matter what, as the team's leader, he was still an outstanding one.

Wang Yi nodded once more. "Thanks."

The blonde reporter had now come up to Wang Yi.

The cameraman followed, pointing the lens at him.

Wang Yi had experienced this feeling before.

When he first joined the NBA, the media back home had praised him to the skies.

Whenever he went out, he was sure to run into a crowd of reporters with cameras and microphones, eager to interview him.

But after he entered the NBA, he suffered injury after injury and the team didn't give him much playing time. The media back home could hardly wait to drag him through the mud.

As for NBA reporters, not one of them had interviewed him.

The beautiful reporter greeted him with a bright smile.

"Hi, Wang. I hope I got your name right."

She was clearly joking.

Wang Yi answered easily, "You did. The pronunciation was just a little off."

The reporter looked a little surprised.

She'd interviewed a few Asian players before.

Yao, for example, and Yi.

They'd had one thing in common: at first, they'd been a little shy and reserved.

But Wang was quite relaxed.

That made him easy to interview.

She continued, "Your performance tonight was incredible. Can you tell us why?"

Wang Yi gathered his thoughts, then replied.

"I earned this. I've trained every day for more than a decade. I left home and came here all alone. Every bit of that effort was for this moment."

He didn't put on an act or offer insincere thanks to this person or that.

He only thanked himself.

He thanked himself for keeping going, no matter how difficult things got.

The reporter went on.

"When Stephen Curry shook your hand earlier, what did he say? Can you tell us?"

Wang Yi flashed a mysterious smile and joked, "That's a secret between men."

What players said to one another was private between them.

Without Curry's permission, Wang Yi wouldn't casually reveal what they'd talked about.

First, it was a matter of respecting Curry.

Second, a star like Curry drew a lot of attention. Wang Yi was still only on a short-term contract, and if he said the wrong thing, the backlash could come at him from all sides.

The media and fans back home had already torn into him until he was in tatters, and he'd learned how to take the pressure.

Still, it was better to avoid trouble when he could.

The reporter wrapped up. "Thanks, Wang. I'm looking forward to your next game."

Wang Yi gave a wry smile.

He wasn't sure whether the Lakers would offer him another short-term contract after that performance.

After all, the Lakers already had plenty of guards. Signing him too would leave them overcrowded.

After returning to the locker room through the Player Tunnel,

the other players congratulated him again.

But Wang Yi was in a hurry. "Sorry, everyone. I have something urgent to take care of."

He quickly went into the shower room in the back, rinsed off, and changed.

Then he prepared to leave.

Just then, James and Brow stopped him.

"Wang, come with us to the press conference. I think the reporters will have plenty of questions for you."

Generally, only players who'd performed well that night got to join the team's two stars at the postgame press conference.

But Wang Yi shook his head. "Sorry, I have something urgent to take care of."

With that, he hurried out of the locker room.

James was a little surprised.

Players rarely turned down a press conference.

After all, it was a chance to get noticed.

But since Wang said he had something urgent to do, James didn't press him.

Meanwhile, back home, the two commentators were still summing up Wang Yi's performance on Tencent NBA's live stream.

"All I can say is, incredible. Absolutely incredible!"

"Nine threes in five minutes, and he scored the team's final twenty-eight points himself. He nearly led them to a comeback single-handedly. It was stunning."

"We're looking forward to seeing Wang Yi play even better."

Meanwhile, the comments section was filled with "666," but some people were saying:

"Where are all the haters now? Didn't someone say they'd livestream themselves eating shit upside down if Wang Yi made eight threes?"

"You're giving the haters too much credit. They only come crawling out to bare their fangs when a player does badly. When the player does well, they all retreat into their shells."

"Come on, haters. Let's see you show your faces."

But not one of the haters dared to show up.

Meanwhile, Wang Yi had already reached the visiting team's locker room.

He was standing right outside the door.

He had something very important to do.

Word that Wang Yi was blocking the entrance to the visiting team's locker room quickly reached the Lakers' locker room.

The Lakers players all changed expressions when they heard.

Blocking the visiting team's locker room was no small matter.

He could be punished by the league, and in a serious case, suspended for several games.

But Wang Yi was a Laker, and his teammates couldn't just stand by and do nothing.

They were a team, a unit.

If there was a fight, they'd fight together. If there was trouble, they'd face it together!

Caruso was the first to hurry down the long hallway toward the visiting team's locker room.

The head coach tensed up when he saw.

He warned everyone, "Under no circumstances are you to throw a punch!"

Then he turned to a staff member beside him.

"Quick, find a way to get LeBron back here!"

As the team's leader, LeBron James knew how to keep the others in line.

Plenty of fiery players who might otherwise have caused trouble not only stayed out of it under his leadership, but ended up putting on impressive performances.

The staff member quickly responded and jogged toward the press conference room.