The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 134 - 34 Bodyguard

Scoring one point less than Gan Guoyang in his debut game was something that Jordan held a grudge about for a long time, even mentioning it years later.

Later, when he learned that Gan Guoyang had called Barkley that day, asking him to "kill him in the game", Jordan understood why Barkley was charging around like a tank.

During one of the plays, Barkley collided with Jordan’s chest, causing Jordan to fall to the ground, unable to catch his breath for quite a while, which affected his performance in the second half of the game.

Jordan was quite angry about this and declared he would sever ties with Barkley, who claimed he was just playing normally. It was not until after they battled it out on the golf course, with Jordan soundly defeating Barkley, that he felt at ease.

The morning after the debut game, the whole Portland Trail Blazers team flew back to Portland. Ramsay gave everyone half a day off to rest well and prepare for the day after next’s home opener against the Supersonics.

Gan Guoyang invited Kossie over for dinner that evening. Gan Guoyang cooked the meal himself, which surprised Kossie; aside from basketball, the guy could actually cook. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Wang Fuxi and Kossie established a good friendship, and Fuxi’s wife’s apple pie won Kossie over, making him Fuxi’s informant and spy from then on.

Gan Guoyang didn’t mind, knowing he could easily win Kossie over if he wanted to, but his mind was on basketball, not on playing games.

It’s just that women find this hard to understand.

The reason Gan Guoyang invited Kossie over was that he knew Kossie had almost spent his entire first paycheck.

Buying houses for grandparents, for himself, and he was left with only a bit of pocket money. That’s how black players are, suppressed by poverty for too long.

In their spending philosophy, saving doesn’t exist. If you have money, spend it quickly. You should enjoy life as soon as possible because you never know what will happen later.

It’s not wrong, just that people from different cultural backgrounds have different beliefs about survival. Gan Guoyang respected Kossie, a tough, cheerful, and lively guy. He admired Kossie’s style and attitude on the basketball court.

In the first game, Kossie only got 3 minutes of playing time during garbage time, with all zeros in his stats. It was basically just a run, and he probably didn’t even break a sweat.

But Kossie was confident about his future. After all, he had refused to go to Europe to play basketball as Ramsay had suggested, choosing instead to remain and participate in the training camp, proving himself with his performance.

So even though he was broke and waiting for the next paycheck from the team, Kossie still made plans with Gan Guoyang to check out cars on the 29th.

Kossie couldn’t suppress his passion for cars. America, as a nation on wheels, indeed has an advanced car culture; not having a car is like walking around naked, making one feel uneasy.

The Ford that Gan Guoyang had previously bought was sitting in the villa’s garage. Although it wasn’t expensive and was a common brand, it had a high aesthetic appeal, and Gan Guoyang liked it very much. He had no plans to buy another car.

"You’re almost out of money for food, what car are you going to buy?"

"Ah Gan, I’m not out of money, I just haven’t been paid yet. I’m an NBA player, I will make a lot of money in the future, car dealers will lend to me, and I will pay off the loan quickly, right?"

America’s financial industry is indeed advanced; nearly anything and everything can be financed or put on installment payments.

After signing the contract with Avia and the Trail Blazers, stacks of credit card offers from banks started arriving in Gan Guoyang’s mailbox like snowflakes.

Although Kossie’s contract wasn’t big, financial institutions wouldn’t miss the opportunity to extract interest from the future earnings of NBA players.

Eventually, Kossie agreed to train one-on-one with Gan Guoyang for two hours after buying the car, and Gan Guoyang agreed to go car shopping with him.

This was a significant sacrifice for Kossie, knowing how painful it was to play one-on-one with Gan Guoyang, it was clear just how obsessed and eager he was for a car.

On the morning of the 29th, after finishing an hour and a half of running, Gan Guoyang drove Kossie to a Volkswagen/Porsche/Audi dealership in the northeast of Portland.

Not long after they entered the shop, the sales manager Joe Hollasani greeted them, quickly recognizing Gan Guoyang.

"Oh! You’re Ah Gan! I’ve seen you in the newspaper! You played really well in the game two days ago. Welcome to Portland, to join the Trail Blazers!"

In Portland, if you’re a sports fan, you’re definitely a Trail Blazers fan; there are no competitors. Trail Blazers players are very popular here.

Gan Guoyang shook hands and exchanged greetings with Hollasani, whose eyes glanced over at Kossie, inquiring who he was.

Kossie felt a bit embarrassed; damn it, not recognizing me, it seems his impressive preseason performance hadn’t garnered attention.

Gan Guoyang said, "This is my bodyguard."

Hollasani nodded in realization, greeting Kossie, "Hello, Mr. Bodyguard."

Soon after, Gan Guoyang laughed and explained that he was Jerome Kossie, also a Trail Blazers player, and this year’s rookie.

Hollasani immediately apologized to Kossie, who didn’t mind. Gan Guoyang said, "It’s okay not to recognize him now; you’ll know him later on."

Once Hollasani realized Kossie was looking to buy a car, he immediately recommended the Porsche sports cars in the store, knowing that a black player with a new contract wouldn’t be interested in Volkswagen or Audi, so going straight to Porsche was the best choice.

Kossie looked around and was drawn to a black 1984 Porsche 944 coupe. The car had a powerful look to it, matching Kossie’s skin color and temperament well.

Gan Guoyang followed Kossie on a test drive, and the car seat was adjusted so his long legs could fit comfortably.

The car zipped around the road for a couple of laps, displaying great handling and strong power.

Although Gan Guoyang wasn’t much interested in cars, he had to admit, the thing was really tempting.

The design of cars in the 1980s was very charismatic, with many impractical but cool features, and they had a distinctive style on the outside.

Not like the cars that came later, which became more practical but lost their personality and all looked the same.

"I wonder if the evolution of NBA basketball is going the same way," Gan Guoyang’s thoughts drifted to basketball again.

Back at the dealership, Kossie was very satisfied with the car. He said to Hollasani, "But I’m out of money right now, can I get a loan? You know I signed a contract."

The moment Hollasani heard about the loan, he became even happier, immediately prepared the loan contract, and said that Kossie could drive the car away as soon as he signed.

Kossie was about to sign right away, but Gan Guoyang stopped him, picked up the contract to review it for him, making sure there were no issues or traps, before letting Kossie sign.

This Hollasani wasn’t bad, he didn’t set any traps, the price and interest were fairly reasonable, he was a salesman with integrity.

After the test drive car was taken away, Hollasani, having finished the contract signing, led the two men to the parking lot to get the new car.

Kossie couldn’t contain his excitement, bouncing along as they walked. Obviously, this wouldn’t be his only car, after signing a big contract, he would surely get one after another.

Gan Guoyang reminded him, "You should pay attention to your financial health. It’s okay to buy cars, but it’s better to buy those with exceptional design that will hold their value over time. Take good care of them, and they will become an asset in many years."

Kossie nodded, but he wasn’t really listening, his mind was filled with thoughts of the new car.

When they arrived at the parking lot, Hollasani handed over the car keys to Kossie, but Kossie saw two identical Porsche 944s.

"Why are there two? Am I supposed to choose one? They should be the same, right?" Kossie asked.

"Oh, the one on the left is yours, and the one on the right is for Gan."

"For Gan?" Kossie was surprised. "Aren’t you not buying a car? So, seeing me buy one, you got jealous and grabbed one for yourself?"

"I didn’t buy it. Did you see me sign any contracts?" Gan Guoyang said with surprise.

Hollasani quickly explained, "This isn’t bought by Gan. Our dealership is gifting it, giving it to him."

Kossie’s joy was muted by shock, and the smile faded from his face as he asked, "A gift? You guys are giving him a Porsche?"

"Exactly, a gift for Mr. Gan. However, we hope, Gan, that you could take a photo with the car. We would like to use it for promotion, would that be okay?"

Gan Guoyang was helpless, why would they just give me a car like this? I don’t want a car.

How about I take the car and give it to Kossie, so he doesn’t have to buy one?

That won’t do, it wouldn’t respect Kossie nor the dealership, as the contract has already been signed.

In the end, Gan Guoyang thought, might as well use the Ford for Wang Fuxi and drive this Porsche himself; the Porsche really was great.

"Alright, but could I make a request, to change the color to gold?"

"No problem! No problem at all. We have a gold one in stock, just arrived today, the only one, reserved especially for you!"

The staff brought over the gold Porsche, which gleamed resplendently in the sunlight, dazzling like gold.

Gan Guoyang took a photo with the car, left a handprint, and then received the car keys. When he finds time to get the certificate and plates done, the car would be his.

In the afternoon, when they arrived at the training ground, Kossie, who was already downcast, looked even gloomier. Gan Guoyang asked why Kossie wasn’t happy even though he bought a car.

Kossie rolled his eyes at Gan Guoyang, "You’re asking knowingly! I went through the trouble of getting a loan for the car, and the dealership just hands you a car for free!"

"Is this something that happens among humans?" Kossie regretted bringing Ah Gan with him to buy a car.

But then he had a thought, next time he might as well pretend to be Ah Gan’s bodyguard, let the dealership give things to Ah Gan, and then pass them on to himself, wouldn’t that be wonderful?