As time passed, February 2 arrived.
The Knicks had no game scheduled that day.
And since their previous game had been at home, Chen finally had the rare chance to relax at home, sleep in with his wife, and wake up whenever he pleased.
That very day, the League finally announced the All-Star Game reserve lineups for the year.
In the Eastern Conference, the players who had won the coaches' favor were James Harden, Jaylen Brown, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Jayson Tatum, Bam Adebayo, and Pascal Siakam.
And here were the Western Conference All-Star reserves: Russell Westbrook, Kyrie Irving, Devin Booker, Jimmy Butler, Anthony Davis, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Looking over the full list, it was hard not to feel a little nostalgic.
Perhaps the coaches had gotten into nostalgia themselves.
Either way, this year's All-Star reserve lineups had quite a few familiar faces.
Take the Thunder, for instance: Westbrook and Davis had both made the All-Star reserves once again.
And then there was Alexander, who had burst onto the scene this season and gone straight into the All-Star starting lineup.
For the first time in ages, the Thunder had three players selected as All-Stars.
The Western Conference's top seed still had some clout!
Which raised the question: why had both players so often missed the All-Star team when Chen was coaching them?
"The answer is obvious: Chen ruins his teammates!"
"Outrageous! Westbrook and Davis got their blood sucked for three or four years straight! How despicable!~~"
Besides the Thunder's impressive showing, there was also Kyrie Irving, who had finally returned to the court and quickly gathered a huge following again with his dazzling style of play.
Irving was back in form, too! He'd somehow surged ahead in the second round of voting and knocked Edwards out.