Su Yan Really Likes Me!

The Flying Pig did it too?

The moment O'Neal heard that, his face turned pitch-black. He glared viciously at Barkley, looking like he wanted to kill him.

What did he mean?!

The original line should have been, "Kobe said: Shaq did it too."

Shaq naturally referred to O'Neal.

Kobe's 2003 Eagle County Incident came to light during the Lakers' three-peat, at the absolute peak of his career.

It nearly ruined his entire professional career, along with his once-happy family.

Back when Kobe was at the height of his fame, countless beautiful women would gather outside the hotel whenever he returned to rest after a game.

They all wanted to get close to Kobe.

Every one of them wanted to sleep with Kobe. Even if it was just sleeping together, they would have enjoyed it immensely.

The so-called Eagle County Incident...

Was when the young and impulsive Kobe failed to hold himself back, gave in to temptation, and slept with one of the beautiful hotel receptionists.

Yes, the kind where they stayed up all night.

That was perfectly normal.

It was treatment that big stars had always received.

Then... afterward, all it took was paying a sum of money to keep such matters from being exposed, as though they had never happened.

But then...

That woman exposed it. It had clearly been consensual, yet she insisted that she had been forced, instantly escalating the severity of the situation.

Kobe could not explain it, nor was he able to.

Then... an overwhelming wave of negative fallout descended.

First, the positive image he had built through three straight championships vanished overnight. Nike, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, and other sponsorship deals were all altered.

Nike slowed down its Signature shoes plan, and that delay lasted two full years.

McDonald's and Coca-Cola could not withstand the public pressure and terminated their contracts outright.

Overnight, Kobe became someone despised by everyone. The key was... he had no way to explain himself.

His teammates did not speak up for him either.

He had been falsely accused, yet he was isolated and helpless, unable to defend himself no matter what he said.

And that year, he was only twenty-five. When all those terrible things had crushed him until he could barely breathe and he had no idea what to do...

He uttered that classic line: Shaq did it too.

What he meant was that O'Neal had slept with someone too, but he had paid to resolve the matter, so why were they all targeting him?

Kobe had been too young. He said something like that out of despair and helplessness.

It was barely understandable.

But betraying a teammate like that was definitely wrong, and it greatly contributed to the breakup of the OK Combo.

Even though there was still no evidence.

It was all just Kobe's word.

But it also subjected O'Neal to public attacks for a while. More importantly... the feeling of being "betrayed" was truly awful.

I treated you like a brother and opened my heart to you, yet you turned around and sold me out?

No one could accept that.

Barkley was now saying, "The Flying Pig did it too."

On the surface, it meant: O'Neal was bragging, but before he started bragging, I had already bragged.

The Flying Pig did it too.

Underneath that, he was naturally mocking O'Neal for being "betrayed" by his good brother Kobe!

It had to be said.

Barkley's counterattack was truly ruthless.

O'Neal's expression instantly turned extremely ugly. If they had not been recording a show, he might have exploded on the spot.

Magic Johnson and Larry Bird both understood it too.

"HAHAHA!"

Seeing that the two were about to get heated and that they might not even be able to continue recording the show, Magic Johnson laughed loudly and interrupted them, steering the conversation back. "Charles and O'Neal both made excellent points.

"At first, I didn't understand it either.

"I thought... the three-pointer was too far away. There was no way to guarantee the shooting percentage, so it couldn't become a regular scoring weapon."

He couldn't lead a team to the very top.

The closer you got to the basket, the easier it was to score.

That was the basketball creed of our time.

But after witnessing the three-point explosions of Ray Allen, Peja, and Stephen during his NCAA days, as well as Su Yan's recent string of absurd three-pointers...

My thoughts had changed too.

I felt that three-pointers were pretty good."

"Hmph, what threes and twos? If you want to play basketball, you should learn from me. Using your brain is the true path to greatness.

Reckless shots and charging in like a brute—

Neither is the right way to win."

The moment B King Larry Bird opened his mouth, his old tsundere side came out.

Then he changed the subject. "Still... times are always changing, and basketball rules are changing too.

We have to adapt to the times.

Back then... it wasn't just an era of interior battles—the rules favored inside players as well, leaving perimeter players with almost no room to survive.

Things are different now.

Ever since the NBA abolished the hand-check rule in the 2004-05 season, the league had already been subtly encouraging perimeter offense.

The times are changing.

The Four Great Shooting Guards from earlier years, or the group of Small Forwards who had risen in the current era—LeBron, Carmelo, Pierce, Kevin, and the rest.

The era belonging to centers was nearing its end.

Now, another three-point storm had begun to blow. The beginnings of the Small Ball Era had indeed started to emerge!

Of course.

I still firmly believe that as long as you're smart enough on the court, neither three-point shooting nor physical talent needs to be exceptional.

You can still thrive in the NBA.

Take me, for example. My talent was ordinary, yet I'm the greatest Small Forward in history, an NBA legend ranked in the top ten—or even top five—all time!!!"

The tsundere B King had ultimately gone farther and farther down the path of praising himself...

Yep, Larry did it too!!!

The four legends bickered and bragged wildly, but they all more or less acknowledged that the league had begun to show signs of the Small Ball Era.

Three-pointers were gradually becoming the main theme of this era.

And this roundtable discussion also etched the relatively unknown Su Yan and Curry into the minds of the fans.

[Potential stocks who fit the times].

That was the fans' impression of the two.

6 p.m.

After TNT's roundtable discussion ended.

Central Manhattan.

555 Ten.

It was a modern glass tower filled with luxurious apartments.

Its enormous floor-to-ceiling windows offered an exceptionally expansive view, allowing residents to take in New York City's beauty at a glance.

Clearly.

This was a district for the rich.

Inside an 800-square-meter luxury apartment on the 28th Floor.

The elevator doors opened.

A young girl in a white dress walked out. She was as beautiful as a little princess from a fairy tale.

A male personal butler followed behind her, carrying the little princess's backpack.

The butler smiled and asked, "Ms. Water, have you been studying properly lately?"

"Of course."

Walter Marcia answered as though it were only natural. "I've been studying hard and working diligently lately.

Only by becoming more outstanding can I make him like me even more."

She was the girl who had held flowers and confessed to Su Yan not long ago, only to be rejected.

She possessed peerless beauty.

"Ms. Water is amazing."

The butler praised her with a smile.

Princesses were meant to be spoiled—that was a butler's duty. Besides, Walter Marcia was indeed so beautiful that no one could bear to scold her.

The butler stepped forward and opened the door.

The first thing Marcia did after returning home was rush straight to the study and take the latest basketball newspaper from the magazine rack.

She searched for news about him.

She attended Loyola High School, one of New York's top private high schools.

The students there all came from either wealthy or influential families—practically all of them were rich.

There was a reason the tuition was so expensive. The school's faculty was outstanding, and the students who graduated from there—

were all excellent academically and... highly capable.

During their time at school, students were forbidden from using their phones. They were required to focus wholeheartedly on their studies.

The "him" she spoke of naturally referred to Su Yan.

The moment she got home, she eagerly and happily flipped through all the news about Su Yan.

She longed to know everything about him.

Naturally, she also saw how Su Yan had publicly rejected that female fan with the hot body and pretty face.

That made Marcia very happy.

Sure enough... Su Yan liked me. He only liked me, which was why he rejected her.

There was only me in his heart.

It was just that... I was still too young, so he didn't agree!!!