Chapter 2 The Second Life

Even as a time traveler, he knew nothing about the world of 2000, which wasn't his fault, even though he was part of a generation that could grasp the world with a smartphone. He couldn't just make an investment at this critical juncture and change his life.

Moreover, if he wanted to embark on a professional basketball career, his knowledge from his time wouldn't be much help in this era, because he was born after 2000 and only started paying attention to the NBA after 2016. And he was embarrassed to admit that the player who inspired his love for basketball was Kyrie Irving.

Stephen A. Smith once dealt a wave of AOE damage to Irving's fans on his show: "Anyone who likes Irving is sick."

Yu Fei agreed.

Yu Fei liked the Irving who shook Brandon Knight during the Rookie Challenge, the Irving who called for the ball to face off against Curry in the final minute of the fourth quarter in Game 7 of the 2016 finals and pulled up for a three-pointer, not the Irving after 2016 who was a team destroyer, detached from the world.

This feeling was actually easy to understand. Yu Fei believed Zeng Fanbo would definitely understand him.

When Zeng Fanbo went to the United States, he named himself "Kevin" because he liked Durant. Then Durant decided to make a decision that betrayed his forebears—or rather, on the basis of what predecessors had done, took things to an extreme, a thoroughness that left no room for overcoming—he joined the Golden State Warriors.

Zeng Fanbo felt the same shame, not only refusing to admit he was a Durant fan, but also refusing to let his American classmates/teammates call him Kevin, even preferring the awkwardness of them trying to pronounce his real name over hearing the word "Kevin."

After washing up in the morning, Yu Fenglin had already prepared breakfast for her son.

Yu Fei wolfed down the sandwich and then drank a glass of milk, "Mom, I quit the volleyball team."

Yu Fenglin seemed indifferent, "Oh, is that so? It's fine, you weren't that good at it anyway."

"You're not angry?"

"Whether you choose volleyball or give it up, it's your own business, why should I be angry?"

"What if I want to join the basketball team?"

Yu Fenglin, watching TV, didn't show much concern for her son's major choice, "Whatever makes you happy."

Yu Fei left, realizing that his mom was the antithesis of a stereotype.

She wasn't concerned about Yu Fei's grades, just that he ate and drank well.

She didn't even mind that Yu Fei's academic performance was only mediocre in the school.

Maybe she had already prepared a backup plan for Yu Fei; if he couldn't do well in his studies, he could just work directly in the store.

Perhaps this was Yu Fei's destined life.

But this Yu Fei was no longer that Yu Fei; everything was about to change.

※※※

Kent Meridian High School's boys basketball coach Hank Sylvan heard an interesting piece of news from the volleyball team yesterday.

The boy with the most outstanding physical talent the school has seen in nearly twenty years quit the volleyball team.

Strangely enough, the volleyball coach, Levin McConnaughy, didn't seem upset at all.

Sylvan knew the kid. In fact, when he first enrolled, he was already close to two meters tall.

Sylvan had thought about having him join the basketball team, but the kid had no interest in basketball; he insisted on joining the volleyball team, and Sylvan could only watch begrudgingly as a rare talent wasted his youth in volleyball at Kent.

Years went by, and Sylvan had let go. When he heard the kid had quit the volleyball team yesterday, Sylvan had a moment of reflection; however, he didn't expect that today, the kid he had dreamt of years ago would take the initiative to come exercise on the basketball court.

It was early February; normally, this stage was the most crucial moment of the high school basketball season in America.

All the major state championships had already entered the quarterfinals stage.

But none of this concerned the Royal Team.

Due to the mediocre Royal Team's fourth-place finish in the "Kent School District" qualifiers, they didn't even make the regular competition and were eliminated early on.

Therefore, the school's basketball court was not only available for the team's regular practice but also open for students to use.

Sylvan had once admired Yu Fei, but now, years later, Yu Fei didn't look like someone who could play basketball.

No matter how talented a person was, if they hadn't even played amateur basketball before turning 18, they had lost their potential to be trained.

Prodigious talents like Olajuwon might claim to have only touched basketball at 15, but they certainly had some exposure to amateur basketball before that, whereas Yu Fei was already 17.

Even if he was Kent Meridian's most physically talented student in nearly two decades, it was unlikely he would achieve anything in basketball.

Sylvan looked at Yu Fei and felt more and more regret.

Narrow head, wide shoulders, very long arms – although a bit slender, few players his age were robust... no matter how you looked at it, he was a great prospect for basketball.

"What a pity," Sylvan sighed.

Yu Fei and Lin Kaiwen arrived at the court.

The school's basketball court was only a standard size, with two hoops.

Currently, the half-court where Yu Fei and his friend were at was occupied by two white girls playing badminton, looking quite pleased with themselves.

On the other side, a bunch of dark-skinned Little Black Men were playing a 3v3 half-court basketball match.

In a city like Kent, where whites and Asians make up 90% of the population, the fact that K-M has so many black students is inseparable from the school's reputation, ranking, and tuition fees.

However, even sewage aspires to rise to a higher level.

No matter how many black students there are, without talent, their basketball skills won't shine.

Talented black players would choose traditional high school basketball powerhouses right from the start and wouldn't waste their time in a place like K-M.