Luke Ba Weiyuan didn't plan to stay with the Skyforce for long. His goal was the NBA—to get back to the Trail Blazers.
There were only two ways to return to the NBA. The first was to wait for a key player on the Trail Blazers to get injured. If someone at his position happened to miss time, he would have a good chance of being called up.
Of course, this method depended too much on chance. And once the injured player returned, the player who'd been called up would most likely be sent back down.
The other method, and the most reliable one, was to dominate in the G League. If he put on an impressive performance, NBA teams would naturally take an interest in him again.
After all, rookies like Ba Weiyuan had signed guaranteed contracts with their teams. The Trail Blazers wouldn't let their million-dollar investment go to waste.
So for Ba Weiyuan, there was really only one way back to the NBA: play well every game and crush every matchup!
A few minutes into the game, that big oaf Jon Brockman had clearly been getting crushed. But Ba Weiyuan hadn't expected the number five in front of him, whose name he couldn't even remember, to sink a three right over his head.
And before shooting, he'd even flashed a smile that sent a chill down Ba Weiyuan's spine.
Ba Weiyuan knew undrafted players were different from first-round picks like him. They'd fight for their lives in every game for a ten-day contract with an NBA team.
But even when most undrafted players went all out, they still couldn't beat first-round picks. Ba Weiyuan had seen it plenty of times. He wouldn't let anything unexpected happen this time, either!
"Luke, what are you doing!? Pay attention. I won't let you give him another basket!"
At the same time, the Skyforce's head coach yelled at Ba Weiyuan. Clearly, he was just as unhappy about the basket Ba Weiyuan had given up.
Ba Weiyuan waved toward the bench, assuring them he wouldn't make another mistake. Luke Ba Weiyuan had played two years of college ball, but he'd never heard of that number five. He was sure some bottom-tier NCAA player couldn't threaten him, an NBA player!
"Link, watch out. That guy's tough!"
Seeing Luke Ba Weiyuan approach with a fierce look, Zeke Upshaw shouted to Link.
"Yeah, don't worry. Keep an eye on your man!" Link pointed toward Upshaw's matchup, reminding him not to leave his man open.
Conner watched Upshaw and Link and couldn't help finding their behavior a little strange. It was perfectly normal for teammates to communicate on the basketball court, but the G League was a little different, because teammates were also competing against each other.
Yet Link and Upshaw didn't act like rivals at all.
As Conner watched, Ba Weiyuan received a pass from his point guard and prepared to take on Link one-on-one. Conner focused his attention, eager to see what the Asian player could do. He'd been able to guard Brockman in practice, but could he pull off an upset against Ba Weiyuan in a real game?
"That idiot's going to get torn apart by Ba Weiyuan. Just watch."
Sitting on the bench, Jon Brockman sneered. But Conner wasn't surprised to hear it. That was more in keeping with the G League's usual atmosphere.
Luke Ba Weiyuan really did want to tear the number five in front of him apart, but Link looked confident, calm, and composed.
Link still remembered the 2010 Western Conference Finals, when the Suns faced the Lakers. Grant Hill had been thirty-seven by then, but he was still the Suns' most effective defender against Kobe.
Now that he had Grant Hill's abilities, guarding some rookie sent down from the NBA shouldn't be a problem!
"Damn it!" Luke Ba Weiyuan felt a little nervous instead, because Link was just too composed—too composed for a rookie.
Link stared fixedly at the basketball in Ba Weiyuan's hands, as if he might snatch it away at any moment.
"You'll be sitting on the bench soon, nobody!" To ease his nerves and rattle Link, Luke Ba Weiyuan resorted to trash talk.
But it was obvious he wasn't very good at it. His words had no effect on Link at all.
Ba Weiyuan made a triple-threat move with the ball, but Link's center of gravity didn't budge. The trash talk hadn't affected him in the slightest.
Seeing this, Ba Weiyuan simply drove straight at him, planning to power through with his strong physique.
"He's done for." Brockman smiled. Even he hadn't been able to hold Ba Weiyuan off just now, so there was no way Link, that pushover, could do it.
"Thump!"
A muffled impact rang out as muscle collided with muscle, but Link wasn't knocked away. Instead, Luke Ba Weiyuan bounced back beyond the three-point line.
He'd been thoroughly beaten in the physical battle!
"What!?" Brockman suddenly jumped to his feet. Anyone who didn't know better might have thought he was celebrating for his teammate.
Luke Ba Weiyuan was only strong by NCAA standards. Link's strength was on an NBA level!
"That's incredible! He stopped Luke Ba Weiyuan's drive. Where did this guy come from? Why had no one even mentioned him during the draft?"
As the commentators marveled, Luke Ba Weiyuan suddenly rose up for a jump shot beyond the three-point line. Like most white forwards, he had excellent shooting fundamentals and a very steady percentage. He planned to take advantage of Link's loose defense and sneak in a three.
What's more, Luke Ba Weiyuan was left-handed, making his offense even harder to disrupt.
Ba Weiyuan reached the peak of his jump and prepared to release the ball with a smooth motion. But just as he pushed it away, the world suddenly seemed to go dark before his eyes.
"This!" The commentator broke out in goose bumps, waiting for it to happen.
"Smack!" Another loud impact rang out—but this time, it was the sound of a palm striking the basketball!
Link showed Luke Ba Weiyuan no mercy, swatting his shot away with a volleyball spike of a block beyond the three-point line!
"What a beautiful block! My God, the whole arena's gone wild!"
The commentator's scalp tingled. It was rare to see a block like this in a G League game. And when it did happen, it was usually in the paint.
A volleyball-style block beyond the three-point line? Unless the defender had overwhelming physical superiority, it was impossible.
And when the gap in strength was that overwhelming, it didn't matter whether the shooter used his left or right hand.
As the ball was swatted away, Zeke Upshaw sprang into action. He'd been watching Link's side of the court, so the moment the block was made, he took off.
Upshaw scooped up the ball. With no one in front of him, the Black guard finished with a one-handed slam. His dunk wasn't as pretty as one from an NBA player, but it still fired up the crowd.
After seeing Upshaw score, Luke Ba Weiyuan immediately turned to look at Link.
Link flashed his teasing smile again, then pointed to the name on his back. "Remember my name, you nobody."
Then Link ignored Ba Weiyuan and exchanged a light high-five with Upshaw.
Working together to crush the enemy—Link realized he might have fallen in love with that feeling.
"Damn!" On the sideline, Jon Brockman shouted. Of course, he wasn't yelling about Upshaw's dunk. He was roaring over Link's volleyball-style block.
The awkward part was that the media once again mistook Brockman for a fan cheering Link on...
"Looks like the Blue Team has great chemistry. Even though Brockman was subbed out for Link, he's still cheering Link's spectacular play. That's the kind of player who deserves recognition. Absolutely!"
If Brockman could have heard the commentator, he would have been furious. So now he'd become nothing but a clown on the bench?
The game continued for a few more minutes. At first, people thought Link had blocked Ba Weiyuan by luck. But after Link came on, Ba Weiyuan was shut out for the rest of the first quarter.
That's right, shut out!
Whether he had the ball or not, whether he shot or drove, Ba Weiyuan couldn't score with Link guarding him.
Link seemed to predict Ba Weiyuan's next move every time and get into position ahead of him.
By the end of the first quarter, Luke Ba Weiyuan had gone from supremely confident to staring blankly into space. Anyone would have been crushed after getting dismantled by an undrafted player no one had ever heard of.
Meanwhile, Link feasted on Ba Weiyuan. He rarely attacked with the ball, but his shots off the catch after moving without it had Ba Weiyuan on the verge of tears.
As long as Ba Weiyuan was half a step late with the contest, Link scored. It was no surprise that a player who averaged more than ten points per game in the NBA was unstoppable in the G League. The defensive intensity simply wasn't on the same level.
Link kept scoring, and Upshaw kept passing to him, willingly playing the supporting role.
Link ended the first quarter with two three-pointers. In all, he scored twelve points in the quarter!
If Whiteside hadn't been patrolling the paint and intimidating Link a little, he might have scored even more!
"I only have one question: why did Link go undrafted? It's obvious he's better than most of the players here!"
The commentator summed up the first quarter in one sentence, and those words were sure to reach the ears of many NBA general managers.
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