Chapter 484: Chapter 146: I Want to Challenge Him One-on-One!

The two days of competitions were generally quite boring. Time Warner Cable Sports started airing recordings of two games consecutively at 11 PM on the night of the combined games: one was the 1995 McDonald’s High School All-American Slam Dunk Contest, and the other was the 1995 Adidas Training Camp Elite Competition. The ratings were quite good, making the NBA officials frustrated and swearing.

Both games were more exciting than this year’s All-Star Weekend matches.

Kobe gained some attention again, lying in the spotlight. His playing style, strikingly similar to Jordan’s, made many fans look forward to seeing how this 17-year-old prodigy, praised by his father, would perform in college.

Zhang Hao saw the media’s predictions about Kobe’s college performance and was eager to see what they would say when Kobe announced his entry into the NBA...

"By the way, what’s Kobe going to say when he finds out his talent has been declared mine?"

Carter’s performance in the high school slam dunk contest also made many fans curious about who he really was, but the focus remained on Zhang Hao, the reigning NBA All-Star fan vote leader and champion.

The only effect of replaying these two games was that fans wanted to know why Zhang Hao didn’t make any noise during All-Star Weekend.

The Lakers’ players who didn’t have the chance to participate in All-Star Weekend were far away in Miami, and journalists still managed to get stories!

... 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

...

Finally, on the last day of the All-Star Weekend, on the morning of the game day during the roundtable meeting, Zhang Hao appeared in the public eye.

As always, people saw the same youthful, somewhat naive face that was known to be not very talkative.

When people saw Zhang Hao, whether it was NBA officials, journalists, or All-Stars attending the roundtable meeting, none of them found it strange that Zhang Hao hadn’t been seen anywhere in the past two days.

It seemed as if that was just typical of Zhang Hao’s personal image.

"Aix, you finally showed up..." The Magician hadn’t seen much of Zhang Hao in the past two days either, but didn’t find it odd, leading Zhang Hao around to greet other All-Stars.

Most of the All-Star players this year had faced Zhang Hao on the court, but there were a few who were meeting him for the first time.

Jason Kidd, Anfernee Hardaway, Shaq O’Neal, Kemp, Barkley...

The Magician led Zhang Hao to greet them, and no matter the relationship, all the All-Stars showed respect.

Off the court, Zhang Hao gave off a vibe that even Malone, who didn’t particularly like him, had to admit Zhang Hao was very polite.

As the youngest player in the league, Zhang Hao always addressed others by their last names, with "Mr." as a prefix.

Some people felt this kind of address was too formal, while others quite liked it.

The four new All-Stars Zhang Hao met, Anfernee Hardaway seemed relatively reserved, smiling and introducing himself without acting like he was trying to act like a big shot among peers.

Kidd, on the other hand, seemed eager to show something, but next to the Magician’s presence, he was overshadowed.

These two left a first impression on Zhang Hao that matched his perception of them.

Kemp’s arrogant, indifferent demeanor made Zhang Hao surprised at how bad this talented power forward’s character was, yet it wasn’t entirely unexpected.

Barkley looked at Zhang Hao’s skinny frame with a curious gaze, and if it weren’t for all the people around, with cameras rolling, he seemed like he wanted to test Zhang Hao’s physicality.

However, Shaq O’Neal, who piqued Zhang Hao’s interest the most, seemed a bit off...

"Why does Shaq seem unhappy? His smile while greeting was so forced... Oh right, he can’t really be happy. The media in Orlando is bizarre. Wait, do Magic-produced centers all like to pursue happiness? Fortunately, Shaq is strong enough!"

...

During this All-Star Weekend, Zhang Hao spent his time as he liked, going out when he wanted to, practicing when he felt like it, playing video games, or watching TV shows as he pleased...

No pressure, not trying to show off in his rookie season’s All-Star Weekend or create incidents, he treated it as a long break during the season, feeling quite relaxed.

After a day of interviews, league brand-building activities, and simple pre-game preparations, at 7 PM, the All-Star Game was about to begin.

Before the game started, Donnie Briscoe, who had just won the Grammy for Best Pop Female Artist, performed an opening act, followed by the appearance of the guest players from the East and West teams!

The substitute lineup of the visiting Eastern Team came out first, and amidst the host’s introductions, Glenn Rice, Terrell Brandon, Reggie Miller, Ewing, Vin Baker, Juwan Howard, Moning, and others were introduced one after another.

Watching the All-Stars wearing their respective team jerseys... waiting to come out in the players’ tunnel, Zhang Hao looked at his Lakers No. 8 jersey in the dim light...

"The NBA doesn’t know what it’s missing. They haven’t standardized the All-Star uniforms, don’t they know how much more money they could make..."

As he complained to himself, Zhang Hao heard the first explosive cheer from the audience when the last Eastern All-Star substitute, Moning, took the stage.

In terms of popularity, among the Eastern All-Star substitutes, Moning was the most popular.

"The Eastern All-Star substitutes really... why didn’t the Bulls have anyone else selected as an All-Star?"

While Zhang Hao pondered, the Magician’s voice came from beside him: "How about it, Aix, isn’t All-Star Weekend different? Facing so many All-Stars, aren’t you excited?"