The arena was nearly empty, with not even a quarter of the seats filled.
Even so, the cheers from the fans were loud enough to make Link nervously lick his lips.
"Link, don't zone out again today! Stay on the bench and be ready at all times. I don't want you making mistake after mistake the moment you get on the court, like last time!"
Just as Link was feeling dazed, a bald man in a suit yelled at him. The man was the team's coach.
"Uh... right..." Link nodded mechanically.
Link couldn't help glancing around at his jersey and the hulking Black men beside him. He swallowed nervously.
He'd really made it. He was really standing on a professional basketball court! Sure, it was only a G League game, but at least it was professional basketball!
This wasn't Link's first NBDL game, but in a way, it was. That was because Link's body no longer belonged to its original owner.
While the rest of the team gathered to cheer one another on, Link stood frozen off to the side, seeming to zone out again.
But his thoughts were actually racing. He was recalling all the unbelievable things that had happened to him over the past few days.
※※※
Three days earlier...
Link slowly opened his eyes and saw a spotless white ceiling. The smell of medical alcohol filled the air. There was no doubt about it: he was in a hospital room.
"How are you feeling?" A nurse making her rounds noticed Link was awake and gave him a warm, sunny smile.
"I feel great. I..."
Link's words caught in his throat. What had just come out of his mouth wasn't Chinese. And the nurse standing by his bed wasn't Chinese either—she was a blonde, blue-eyed foreigner!
What was going on!? Link was startled. He asked himself the question and immediately began searching his memories.
Before he'd fainted, he'd been a deadbeat graduate from a third-rate university, living in 2019. He had no house, no car, and no savings. His mother had divorced and remarried when he was very young, moving to another city, and he'd never seen her again.
His father was an irresponsible loser who'd barely raised him. The two of them hadn't been in touch for a long time.
The night before, Link, a basketball fan, had been watching game footage on a secondhand computer he'd bought online in his rented apartment. Then thunder suddenly rumbled outside, and the computer lost power. Link decided to open the case and take a look. He'd barely opened it when he passed out, as if he'd been electrocuted.
When he opened his eyes again, he'd found himself in this utterly inexplicable hospital room.
"Sir, are you all right?" Seeing Link's strange expression, the blonde nurse asked with concern. Of course, she was still speaking English.
Link had been pretty good at English back in school, but after four years of slacking off in college, he'd forgotten most of it. Yet he understood every word the nurse said!
"I... where am I? Can you speak Chinese? Why is there a foreign nurse here?"
"Huh?" The nurse was clearly baffled by Link's nonsensical questions.
"Uh... never mind... thank you. I'm a little tired. I'd like to rest alone for a while." Link hurriedly waved his hand, signaling for the nurse to leave.
He already had answers to the questions he'd just wanted to ask. Memories that didn't originally belong to him had merged into his mind.
The nurse shot Link a startled look, then hurried out of the room. After all, his reactions really did make him seem like a lunatic.
Still, it was just as well that she'd left. Now Link finally had a chance to use those memories that didn't belong to him to figure out his current identity and circumstances.
The owner of this body was also named Link. He was a Chinese American, and his full English name was Tom Lin. Since Tom was an utterly ordinary name, and Link sounded similar to his Chinese name, everyone liked to call him Link.
He had a complete family in the United States. Both his parents were Chinese Americans. His father was a gardener, and his mother was a full-time housewife.
There was no doubt that this guy wasn't well-off in America either. His parents had loved him dearly since childhood, but the family still had to pinch pennies to get by.
Link stopped reminiscing and began to think about one crucial question: what year was it?
Finally, the digits 2010 appeared in his mind. He'd gone back nine years—and ended up in the United States! As someone who often read web novels, Link knew that he'd probably transmigrated.
He scrambled out of bed and ran to the bathroom to splash water on his face. For some reason, he felt as if everything in the room were a little smaller than usual.
Unfortunately, even after splashing water on his face, Link didn't "wake up." He was still in the United States, in a body that wasn't his own.
After washing his face, Link looked at the "himself" in the mirror. The black-haired guy had sharp features and a pretty handsome face. The only downside was that, like Link before he'd transmigrated, he was completely broke.
Leaning on the edge of the sink, Link stared at his familiar yet unfamiliar reflection and thought things through.
It turned out that yesterday, the current Link had been knocked down while defending during practice and hit the back of his head, passing out. When he woke up, his body had been "taken over" by Link.
"Wait!? A basketball court!?" At the thought, Link looked down at his body in astonishment. At last, he understood why everything around him seemed a little smaller.
It wasn't that everything around him had shrunk. Link's body had "grown"!
The current Link was 2.03 meters tall and weighed a full 94 kilograms! And this guy was a professional basketball player!
"Hahaha!" Suddenly finding himself with the body of a professional athlete, Link couldn't help laughing with delight. Fortunately, most American hospital rooms were private, so no one heard him. Otherwise, they would've sent him to the psychiatric ward.
In his previous life, Link had been a basketball fan who'd dreamed of making it to the NBA one day and competing alongside the greatest players in the world. Even if he never became a star, just being a rotation player and earning a minimum salary of over a million dollars a year would've been more money than he could have made in a lifetime!
Now his dream had come true!
Although he'd come from nine years in the future, Link didn't remember any lottery numbers, and he knew nothing about business. On top of that, he was unfamiliar with the United States and would have trouble supporting himself. Since he'd been given another chance, Link didn't want to live as miserably as he had in his previous life.
So the only thing he wanted to do now was become a professional player. Sign a big contract, buy a luxury car, live in a mansion, have women, and reach the pinnacle of life...
Just as Link was about to start drooling, he realized there was a serious problem.
Although he was now a professional player, he had nothing to do with those glamorous stars.
In college, Link had played for Fresno State University. But the school only competed in NCAA Division II, which meant he wasn't even eligible for March Madness. And since his own skills were nothing special, no NBA team had shown any interest in him.
That summer, Link's college teammate and good friend, Paul George, had been drafted tenth overall. Link had waited all the way until the sixtieth pick, but never heard his name.
Afterward, Link had been signed by the NBDL's Oklahoma City Blue as an undrafted free agent.
Worse still, Link seemed close to being unable to keep up even in the NBDL. The NBDL was still a professional league, and it wasn't even in the same class as NCAA Division II. In the past few days, the coach had openly voiced his dissatisfaction with Link. He could be cut at any moment.
His parents had spent almost all their savings sending him to college so he could pursue his basketball dream. If he couldn't stay in the NBDL, Link would have to give up on becoming a professional player and join his father as a gardener. After all, he'd majored in sociology, a degree that made it difficult to find a job.
Thinking about all this, Link ran his fingers through his jet-black hair. He'd only just arrived, and already he was facing a huge problem.
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