One Year Left to Play-Chapter 105 - 33: Advice for Domestic Players
The interview was very pleasant and smooth. The questions from Xinhuanet and Imperial Channel were not malicious either, and soon, the exclusive interview ended in just over ten minutes. The media personnel must return home with the materials to prepare for tomorrow’s report.
Back at the hotel, Zhang Hao and Pierce played tank battle and Contra together... Returning to Los Angeles tomorrow, and after that, everyone will go their separate ways. Leisure time is running out, so they couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play games.
The next afternoon, Zhang Hao and Pierce returned to Inglewood City together. At noon, the NBA and the Players’ Union announced that due to the failure of negotiations to modify the agreement, both sides opted to trigger the degree of "force majeure interruptions of the labor agreement," and from 12:00 midnight on July 1st, the NBA began a lockout.
Zhang Hao, Pierce, and Aprile Clark, who came to pick them up, arrived outside the Great Western Forum. They saw the Lakers already starting to take down the player posters above the entrance of the arena, beginning preparations for the lockout.
"It’s unlucky to have a lockout right after you joined the NBA; it really delays your chance to adapt to NBA-level games in the summer league." Aprile Clark commented upon seeing this. She also once dreamed of becoming a professional athlete, but from the third year of high school at 17, she couldn’t participate in youth competitions anymore and realized the gap between adult and student sports.
"Yeah..." Zhang Hao also felt it was quite a hindrance. Being able to utilize the summer league to understand what playing against rookie players, undrafted, and Development League players will be like, would obviously be a great help for the rookie season.
The summer league lasts for at most ten days, not interfering with training and providing real combat opportunities.
"Come on, Aix, one day, I’ll play in this arena! Will you join me?"
"The Lakers are moving downtown in ’99; rumor has it the location has been chosen. Los Angeles Arena Company and Anschutz Entertainment Group are spending money, and the Clippers are said to be moving in too. Which team are you referring to?"
"..." Pierce looked at Zhang Hao, wanting to strangle this bastard!
Aprile Clark laughed uncontrollably on the side; Zhang Hao always managed to jab Pierce when discussing his dreams.
"Aprile, pick the most expensive restaurant, tonight I’m going to eat Aix poor!"
Pierce was ready to strive hard! Turning grief into appetite!
"You’re losing weight; you’ve been dieting for a month and want to eat it back in one meal?"
"Aprile, don’t stop me! I’m going to beat him up..."
...
Amidst the chaos, a sumptuous dinner became the last gathering of the three after graduating high school. When Zhang Hao went around for trials at the beginning of June, they had already graduated high school.
Now, they would really go separate ways, preparing for the NCAA, the NBA, and for becoming theater actors...
Everyone was envisioning their future during the chat, knowing the road ahead would be challenging, yet filled with the hope that young people should have.
The next day, Pierce took a plane to San Diego, and Aprile Clark returned to the training site, leaving just Zhang Hao in the apartment.
He contacted the Players’ Union to have them send agent hiring information across their channels, and asked Pierce’s mother for help with interview appointments. He was ready to train while waiting to sign an agent.
"Auntie, please help with the agent appointments. By the way, I also need to call my dad and talk about something."
"Are you asking your father for the bank account to send him money back?"
"How did you know?" He indeed planned to call back to ask Zhang Hao once returning to Los Angeles, and then wire money back at a Chinese bank.
"Your father called yesterday and asked me to tell you to keep the money for yourself, spend it on training and maintaining your physique. He said not to call him unless you have stable playing time in the NBA."
"..."
Zhang Hao felt his father was really strong-willed. Whenever he asked for money, regardless of the situation at home, he’d squeeze the money together and send it over.
Luckily, the stage of forced RMB appreciation and the toughest phase for domestic foreign trade has passed; the situation at home has improved a lot, though not as easy to pull out several tens of thousands of USD as before.
Zhang Hao temporarily also abandoned this idea; there are indeed many expenses this summer, and once the lockout ends and he goes to Rutherford Town, New Jersey, there will also be considerable costs for renting a house. If things go well, he might even consider buying property since housing prices in New Jersey have been quite stable and worth investing.
He’s waiting for the agent’s contact and just needs to interview once it happens. By the afternoon, Zhang Hao arrived at Inglewood High School.
As he expected, the school wouldn’t refuse his continued summer training, even helping him contact fellow students needing work-study jobs as ball boys. Of course, he had to pay them an hourly wage of 7.5 USD, which is the legal working wage for American high school students without exceeding this amount, or it’d be troublesome if a university checks.
He spent an hour warming up, a more professional warm-up routine he learned at Adidas Training Camp; though still young, he started acting like a seasoned player, thoroughly activating every muscle and joint to avoid injuries during training.
After finishing the warm-up routine, Zhang Hao’s mind activated, the subtitle prompt appeared.
"Host will use top-level static opposition (Growth Card) on special contract player Zhang Hao, confirm?"
