Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters-Chapter 1053 - 599 The Meaning of Starlight

Chapter 1053: Chapter 599: The Meaning of Starlight Chapter 1053: Chapter 599: The Meaning of Starlight Christian Laettner quickly found a more meaningful itinerary for Yu Fei.

However, this arrangement did not seem to be of much help to the development of his personal brand.

Nowadays, every player who can make a stand in the NBA longs to cultivate their own brand, especially in the age of social media, this has become even easier.

But Yu Fei was not interested in this.

Laettner’s plan was to get Yu Fei to pay attention to a recent shooting in New York. Such incidents have become as common as car accidents in American society.

However, the protagonist of this shooting was a young woman named Josephine Garner. She was a fan of Yu Fei’s, but that was not the point. Garner was born in Palestine and immigrated to Louisiana at the age of 20. After Hurricane Katrina, her home was looted, forcing her to move away. Her story is more like “American reality” than the “American dream”.

Not long ago, Josephine was grilling outside with friends when they were attacked by a gunman and she was tragically killed.

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If Yu Fei is a success story of the “American dream”, then Garner represents the opposite side of that dream.

Her ordeal reflects an unchanging reality in American society: her death had almost no impact on society itself. If Yu Fei hadn’t been tired of exchanging his vacation for a slew of commercial activities, her passing would probably have gone unnoticed.

But this time, Yu Fei decided to do something meaningful.

The next day, he wore shoes with “Garner” on them at the event and took the initiative to talk about the matter.

The media quickly followed up with reports, making Yu Fei’s image during All-Star Weekend distinct from others.

The New York Times wrote in its editorial: “What is the truth of our time? How do we ascertain what we hear is real? It’s a strange era. You see the president pushing impossible healthcare reform, and basketball players with no college education discussing the meaning of the world. But you can look at those who genuinely contribute positively to society. Just yesterday, Frye prayed for an unknown victim of a shooting. He could have, like others, vigorously built his brand in New York, but he chose to do something truly meaningful for society.”

Ironically, Yu Fei, who initially wanted to avoid commercial activities, gained even more attention for his individuality.

His sponsors also quickly adjusted their strategies.

Since the GOAT didn’t like high-profile commercial events and wanted to do something more meaningful, why not follow his wishes?

As a result, Josephine Garner’s shooting received a lot of attention, and her family appeared on television programs, receiving community support.

But what about other shooting victims?

Everything remained unchanged, as usual.

The development of affairs quickly deviated from Yu Fei’s original intent. He found that no matter what he did, it would ultimately be tied back to commerce.

On the last day of All-Star Weekend, Yu Fei was finally able to return to the court and play the game.

But it was then he noticed that the classic Gatorade commercial was playing on site, accompanied by the iconic “Be Like Mike”.

This commercial first aired shortly after the Chicago Bulls won the championship in 1991, featuring a 29-year-old Jordan playing basketball with kids, against a backdrop of Gatorade’s original lyrics and a catchy tune.

On the surface, this was just Gatorade’s way of celebrating their fiftieth anniversary, but in fact, it was also the brand reminiscing about their heyday, which coincided with the peak of Jordan’s career.

Who can say this isn’t Jordan’s fans “summoning” the previous GOAT?

Yu Fei himself did not particularly care about the title of GOAT, but Jordan’s presence always irked him.

Fortunately, Jordan himself rarely appears at the All-Star Weekend events anymore.

At this moment, Doc Rivers was leisurely organizing the Western All-Star Team’s practice. As the head coach, he was under little pressure, since four of the players came from his own team.

This gave him an unprecedented sense of support.

The Western All-Star Team still had two veterans, one was Kobe and the other was Nowitzki, aside from Yu Fei and Yao Ming, the team was entirely taken over by the younger generation.

On the Spurs’ end, Duncan had been absent from the All-Star game for two consecutive years.

This year, Paul George was selected as an All-Star, and he was also the only player from the Spurs to make it.

Just by looking at the distribution of All-Stars, one can clearly see the advantage of the Clippers.

Four All-Stars, by any measure, was a formidable advantage.

During practice, Yu Fei caught up with Kobe, and then Kobe suddenly brought up: “Do you know what’s been going on with KD lately?”

“What happened to him?” Yu Fei did not follow Durant.

Kobe looked at the current Durant, as if seeing himself after the Eagle County incident.

“He has become unfriendly.”

In fact, ever since the burner account incident with the SuperSonics, Nike had completely lost Durant’s “boy-next-door” image.

Durant was no longer the “Son of America”.

Thus, two years ago, Nike tailored an advertisement for Durant with the slogan: “KD is not nice”.

Durant with a powerful dunk?

“KD is not nice.”

Durant with a game-winning three-pointer?

“KD is not nice.”

Durant with a technical foul?

“KD is not nice.”

If you search “KD is not nice” on YouTube, you’ll see some of Durant’s most aggressive game footage.

But in most cases, “KD is not nice” seemed more like Nike shaping a persona, wanting to let the world know that despite Durant’s minor personal flaws, he was still a force on the court, and his unkindness only pertained to the game.