June 26, Philadelphia.
Lin Qi's call connected to the Philadelphia 76ers' general manager's office.
The Philadelphia executives on the other end were not having a good summer. Their team was a bottomless pit with just 24 wins, ticket sales were sluggish, the stands were empty, and management was under overwhelming pressure. They held the third pick in the 1995 draft and had wanted to use it on a polished player who could stop the bleeding immediately... someone like North Carolina shooting guard Jerry Stackhouse.
Lin Qi gave them no time to hesitate.
"John," he said, getting straight to the point, "I know you're planning to use the third pick on someone who can win games right away. Stackhouse, right?"
Silence on the other end... he had nailed it again.
"I have a better proposal than drafting someone." Lin Qi's voice carried a certainty that brooked no refusal. "You don't have to gamble on how many years a rookie will take to develop. I'll give you someone who can step onto the court and contribute immediately."
"I'm all ears."
"Dana Barros, the eighth pick, and my own nineteenth pick."
The breathing on the other end noticeably quickened.
"John, you should know Dana Barros better than anyone... he came from Philadelphia in the first place."
"What you need right now is a backcourt cornerstone who can carry the team. Give him the starting point guard spot, give him thirty-six minutes, give him all the pick-and-rolls, transition plays, and weak-side threes... John, he'll give you borderline All-Star production: twenty points and seven assists a game."
As a transmigrator, Lin Qi knew better than anyone... in actual history, Dana Barros had broken out with the Philadelphia 76ers. In the 1994-95 season, he had put up near-All-Star numbers in Philadelphia, averaging 20.6 points and 7.5 assists while shooting 46.4% from three, winning Most Improved Player and making the All-Star team.
But in this timeline rewritten by Lin Qi, he had signed Barros to Boston, relegating him to sixth man and suppressing the breakout that should have belonged to Philadelphia.
Now, what Lin Qi wanted to do was "return" that suppressed breakout to Philadelphia along with Barros himself... and use it as leverage to acquire the third pick that would rewrite everything.
He was using a "historical debt" he had created himself to make an enormous deal. Philadelphia would get an All-Star point guard who really would break out, and they would think they had made a killing. But only Lin Qi knew that what he was getting in exchange for this "certain present" was a "certain future that no one else could see."
"John, you have two choices right now," Lin Qi laid it out. "First, keep gambling on a rookie who's just entering the league, betting that he'll develop in a few years."
"Second," Lin Qi stressed, "trade one third pick for a polished point guard who can score twenty for you tomorrow, a lottery rookie at number eight, and another first-rounder at number nineteen."
"Not enough."
"I can give you the Clippers' 1996 first-round pick... and throw in a second-rounder."
"...Lin, I have to ask you something."
"Go ahead."
"Who exactly do you want to take with the third pick?"
Lin Qi slowly raised his head. On the office television, a high school highlight reel played on a loop... a Black teenager as thin as a rail, standing 2.11 meters tall, dribbled, passed, and drove facing the basket like a guard. Among kids his own age, he looked like an alien who had descended to Earth.
It was Kevin Garnett.
Watching the teenager on the screen, the corners of Lin Qi's mouth slowly lifted.
"Someone," he said softly, "you wouldn't dare pick."
On the other end, Philadelphia's general manager fell silent for three seconds.
Then he made the decision that would one day leave all of Philadelphia bitterly regretting it.
"...Deal."
June 28, draft night.
The television cameras swept across the teams' tables. When the announcer read, "The Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers have agreed to a trade," every expert in the studio froze.
The details spread: Boston sent Dana Barros, the eighth pick, the nineteenth pick, the Clippers' 1996 first-rounder, and the Chicago Bulls' 1996 second-rounder to Philadelphia in exchange for the third pick in 1995.
"My God..." ESPN's commentator sounded incredulous. "Boston... Boston traded Barros? The nuclear weapon who helped them reach the Eastern Conference semifinals? And they threw in three first-round picks and a second-rounder? Five for one?!"
"What is Lin Qi doing?" another commentator asked, looking baffled. "With the first two picks, the Warriors will most likely take Joe Smith, and the Clippers will take McDyess. At number three... Stackhouse? Wallace? Did Boston really go to all this trouble just to move up a few spots and draft a forward?"
Not a single person guessed the actual name.
Because as far as anyone was concerned, that name should never have been an option for a team that wanted to win right away.
With the first pick, the Golden State Warriors selected Joe Smith.
With the second pick, the Los Angeles Clippers selected Antonio McDyess.
The third pick.
David Stern walked onto the stage and opened the envelope marked "Boston Celtics."
The entire studio held its breath.
"With the third pick of the 1995 NBA Draft," Stern cleared his throat and read the name, "the Boston Celtics select... Kevin Garnett, from Farragut Academy High School."
...Kevin Garnett, from Farragut High School High School.
The studio first fell deathly silent, then erupted.
A high schooler! Boston had used Barros and two first-round picks to select a high schooler who had never even attended college with the third pick!
The camera cut to the venue, where the rail-thin teenager stood up excitedly and pulled on a green Celtics jersey. He did not yet know that he was about to become the cornerstone, for the next twenty years, of this legendary team with sixteen championship banners.
ESPN's commentator had completely lost control. "Insane! Lin Qi has completely lost his mind! He just delivered on his bet, then turned around and traded a near-All-Star and four draft picks for a high schooler! This is one of the most baffling trades in NBA history! What on earth is Boston's young general manager thinking?!"
That night, basketball commentators across the United States unanimously slapped the label "madman" on Lin Qi once again.
Only Lin Qi, seated behind Boston's table, calmly watched the teenager in the green jersey, picked up the bottle of mineral water beside him, and raised it slightly toward the camera.
He had won the first hand of this enormous gamble.
And the teenager who could shatter every ceiling was about to arrive in Boston.
Only now had the opening pages of this team's true dynasty story begun.