That afternoon, Wang Yi went to James's luxurious villa in Los Angeles.
James's personal physician, Dr. Karen, gave Wang Yi a thorough examination.
He was an extremely careful and conscientious doctor.
The examination took more than half an hour.
At last, he said to Wang Yi:
"Based on my diagnosis, you have acute traumatic synovitis in your wrist, and there may be fluid buildup. I recommend resting and receiving treatment for at least ten days. Don't put any more weight on your right hand. Otherwise, the injury could worsen rapidly and even affect your career."
Wang Yi listened and gave a bitter smile.
"If I rest, my career will only end sooner."
James understood Wang Yi's current situation. After thinking for a moment, he asked:
"Wang, can you shoot with only your left hand on the court?"
Wang Yi nodded. "Of course."
The reward the system had given him was "Three-point accuracy increased to 45%." No matter which hand he used to shoot, he could reach 45%.
James turned to his personal physician.
"Karen, he can use only his left hand on the court. On days when he isn't playing, he can come to my house every day. Could you treat him?"
Karen was a very meticulous person.
He was clearly agitated and shook his head repeatedly.
"That won't do. I have to take responsibility for my patient. He's injured, so he should rest and receive treatment—not risk ending his career by playing through the injury!"
James glanced at Wang Yi, then said to Dr. Karen:
"Karen, come here for a moment."
The two of them then went out onto the balcony.
No one knew what they talked about.
More than ten minutes later, they returned to the living room.
Dr. Karen examined Wang Yi's wrist again, then finally nodded.
"You can play, but you must come in for treatment as soon as possible after every game. And you should avoid practicing shots, dribbling, or anything else that puts pressure on your wrist."
Wang Yi nodded. "Thank you, Doctor."
Next, Dr. Karen treated Wang Yi.
Wang Yi felt that his wrist was much looser.
The pain had also eased considerably.
That night, Wang Yi stayed at James's house.
James had five guest rooms, after all.
The next day was game day, and the system didn't issue another training task.
The team only had a morning practice.
Following Dr. Karen's instructions, Wang Yi didn't take part in any ball drills.
He did only some light physical training.
Eight o'clock that evening.
The game between the Lakers and their fellow Los Angeles team, the Clippers, was about to begin.
Players from both sides were warming up before the game.
On the Clippers' side, their guard, Mad Dog Beverley, went to his coach and volunteered.
"Coach, I'll guard James."
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue nodded without a moment's hesitation.
"LeBron's yours."
Mad Dog Beverley's eyes immediately lit up.
Like a hunting dog that had spotted its prey.
Though Mad Dog Beverley wasn't tall, he had boundless fighting spirit.
Once he stepped onto the court, he went after the opposing Core Player like a hunting dog, biting and clawing.
Even Durant the Grim Reaper had once been shut down by him—they'd canceled each other out and both been ejected.
That was why Beverley was usually assigned to guard the opposing team's leading player.
Of course, the Clippers' other defensive anchor was Leonard, who had Deathly Embrace.
But Leonard was a Core Player on the team and had to conserve his energy.
So under normal circumstances, Tyronn Lue wouldn't have him guard the other team's leading player.
Besides, in his view, the LeBron of today was old and past his prime. There was no need to use Leonard's Deathly Embrace on him.
Soon, the game began.
Wang Yi was still sitting at the far end of the bench.
He watched the action on the court while keeping part of his attention on head coach Vogel.
He was afraid he might miss the signal to go in.
The two teams were evenly matched, so the game was bound to be close.
Under those circumstances, the head coach was highly unlikely to take a risk and put Wang Yi in.
But as a professional player, he had to be ready at all times.
That was a professional athlete's attitude.
The game began, and the two teams traded baskets.
The Lakers had a huge advantage in the paint, so they focused on attacking inside.
The Clippers were strong from three, so they played to their strength and took more shots from beyond the arc.
Meanwhile, in the Tencent NBA Live Broadcast Room,
the guest commentator was Su Qun, a well-known media personality in China.
Another host was Wang Meng.
There was also a female presenter, Meina.
Meina was a James fan. Whenever the Lakers played, she was almost always the one hosting.
Wang Meng started by posing a question.
"In the last game, our country's player Wang Yi hit nine three-pointers in the final five minutes and exploded for 28 points. What an incredible performance! Teacher Su, do you think he'll play tonight?"
Su Qun smiled as he looked through his notes.
"His performance last game really amazed everyone. The Lakers have already re-signed him to another ten-day contract, which shows they value his three-point shooting. But the two teams are evenly matched tonight, and the game could be very close, so he probably won't get much of a chance to play."
Wang Meng said, "Teacher Su makes a very good point. Still, we're hoping to see him put on another explosive performance."
The comments were already filling up with fans' reactions.
"I'm looking forward to it too!"
"I hope he gets to play."
"After Da Yao retired, I stopped following the NBA. Yesterday I saw a player from our country drop 28 points in five minutes. I was stunned."
Of course, there were far more haters than fans.
"It was just one game, and they still didn't win. If you can't win, even scoring 100 points just makes you a stat padder."
"He was just lucky last game. Nobody was guarding him in garbage time. Let's see if he can do that again when someone's defending him."
"Don't worry, he might not even get on the court tonight."
Wang Yi, who was at the game, knew nothing about any of this.
And even if he had known, he wouldn't have cared.
Over the past two years, he'd received more than enough abuse and slander from Chinese internet trolls.
His mental toughness had long since been forged, making him completely immune to verbal attacks.
On the court, Mad Dog Beverley stuck to James like glue.
He kept trash-talking, and his defense was aggressive.
James was older now, and his playing style had shifted more and more toward conserving energy.
So he usually didn't do much attacking in the first half.
Most of the time, he just stood at the top of the arc and ran the offense.
Fortunately, the Lakers' three-point shooting was decent tonight.
They went five for eleven from beyond the arc in the first half.
At halftime, the teams were separated by just two points.
But in the third quarter, the game took a sudden turn.
James had planned to drive into the paint in the third quarter and draw defenders before passing the ball out.
Unfortunately, the Lakers' three-point shooting fell back into its familiar slump.
They missed three consecutive three-pointers.
Meanwhile, the Clippers made four in a row.
The lead suddenly ballooned to fourteen.
Coach Vogel quickly called a timeout and stressed the need to defend the Clippers' three-point shots.
But stressing defense alone wasn't enough. The Lakers had to make their own shots, too.
And that wasn't happening.
After the timeout, the Clippers sank two more three-pointers.
As for the Lakers, their shots from beyond the arc weren't falling.
The Clippers responded with a collapsing zone defense.
James couldn't drive through it, leaving the Lakers with no choice but to look for opportunities on the perimeter.
But things often worked that way: the more desperate you were, the less likely your shots were to go in.
With six minutes left in the third quarter, the Lakers were already down by a full twenty points.
Though Vogel was a clever coach, there was nothing he could do.
Everyone knew the best way to break a zone defense was to shoot threes.
But when your shots wouldn't fall, it was a problem.
The mood across the Lakers' bench began to grow heavy.
Just then, Caruso remembered what Wang Yi had said the day before.
"You can trust me."
Thinking of that, he leaned toward James and whispered something in his ear.
James's eyes lit up, and he looked toward Wang Yi.
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