Rise of the Legendary Coach in NBA

"I've crossed over?"

Andrew Tang stared at the unfamiliar face in the mirror. Although the skin was yellow like his, it looked entirely different from what he remembered. Not only was he much younger, but he was also more handsome.

In his past life, he was a coach for the Chinese College Student Basketball League. With his remarkable abilities, he led an unknown school to the finals. However, they encountered biased refereeing and lost the championship. After the game, he went to a food stall to drink and unwind. He drank so much that he passed out, and now he had just woken up.

He pinched his face, feeling pain, and confirming this wasn't a dream. Then he walked out of the restroom.

There was a strong smell of traditional Chinese medicine in the air. He soon realized he was in a large Chinese medicine store. Strangely, the place was bustling with people of various ethnicities—dark-skinned and white-skinned alike.

"Am I abroad?" Andrew took a deep breath. At thirty-something years old, his mental fortitude was pretty strong.

He walked to the store entrance and looked outside. After seeing the "Chinatown" sign and hearing the accents of passersby, he realized he was in the United States.

Being a fan of novels, he had read enough rebirth stories to make sense of this. Accepting it wasn't too difficult.

In his thirties, life had thrown him curveballs. He had finally led a team to the finals, only to be cheated out of a victory. Life couldn't get much worse than that. Crossing over might not be such a bad thing after all.

"Andrew, why are you still standing here? Doctor Zhang is calling for you!" A shout came from behind.

Andrew turned around and saw someone dressed similarly to him. The original owner of this body must have been an apprentice at this Chinese medicine store.

He nodded and followed the apprentice into the office.

Inside, an elderly Chinese doctor, around 60 years old, sat across from a tall black man, administering treatment. The tall man had his back to Andrew, so he didn't immediately recognize him. But when he followed the gaze of the old doctor, his eyes widened in shock.

T-Mac?!!

Sitting in front of him was none other than NBA legend Tracy McGrady, the former Rockets superstar!

How could he be here?

"You take over. I'll check him," the elderly doctor said.

McGrady looked embarrassed but stood up while holding onto the table.

"Little Andrew, Xiao Liu, help him to the bed," the elderly doctor instructed.

Andrew, still in disbelief, helped McGrady to the bed and lifted his shirt.

After conducting a thorough examination, the old doctor shook his head with a sigh.

After McGrady returned to his seat, the elderly doctor spoke regretfully, "If you had come to me two years ago, I might have been able to help with acupuncture. But now, your back injury is beyond treatment. You'll just have to manage it."

McGrady's face grew even more despondent at the doctor's words. After exchanging a few more pleasantries, McGrady was escorted out by security.

Andrew's thoughts were racing.

He was passionate about basketball and very familiar with the NBA. McGrady's back injury had occurred in 2001 after a collision with a player named Treller. The injury had plagued McGrady's entire career due to conservative treatment. Judging by the timeline, this incident must be several years after that.

At that moment, Andrew glanced at the calendar on the wall, which displayed the date: May 1, 2006.

It all made sense now. McGrady's back injury was indeed irreparable by this time. He remembered that McGrady had missed most of the 2005-06 season due to his back. After that season, McGrady had sought treatment from doctors all over. This must have been one of his stops.

As a fan of Chinese basketball, Andrew had always admired the Yao-McGrady combo. If he had crossed over earlier, he might have been able to warn McGrady. But now, it seemed like there was nothing he could do.

"Ding! The God-level Coaching System is now active!"

A loud voice echoed in Andrew's mind.

"Who's there?"

He looked up in confusion, then suddenly felt lightheaded. When his vision cleared, he found himself standing in a white space.

"What is this...?"

Andrew was stunned. He could accept the idea of rebirth, but a sudden change of scenery like this? That was a whole different level of strange.

"This is the virtual space of the God-level Coaching System," a voice echoed around him.

"God-level Coaching System?" Andrew was still in a daze.

"The God-level Coaching System is designed to help the host become the strongest coach. The host can earn honor points by completing assigned tasks. These honor points can be used to purchase goods from the system store. The goods can be used by the host or given to others. When used on others, the favorability between the user and the host will increase."

After hearing the voice's explanation, Andrew quickly realized—this was his golden cheat code, a perk of rebirth!

It seemed like he was about to become the protagonist of this legendary journey.

At that moment, a virtual shelf appeared before his eyes, stocked with all kinds of goods.

There were basketball skills like crossovers and dream shake moves, physical attributes like "Iron Waist" and "Iron Bones," and even mental attributes like charm and composure.

The system store was certainly diverse.

Andrew noticed that the prices were marked in honor points.

"After system activation, the host will receive 3 honor points as startup funds."

With the system's announcement, Andrew noticed that items priced between 1 and 3 honor points were now available for purchase.

He skimmed through the options and sighed. None of these virtual items could be turned into money. As for learning fancy footwork, that didn't seem useful to him. Charm? He'd need money for that to work later. As for "Iron Waist"... well, maybe it could boost his... bedroom performance?

He chuckled, realizing his thoughts had wandered off track.

But then, something caught his eye.

Iron Back: 2 honor points. Can heal back injuries caused by impact. As long as the spine isn't broken, this will be effective.

There was also Steel Back, which cost 3 honor points. It was even more miraculous, capable of healing severe spinal injuries.

Iron Back… for McGrady?

An idea suddenly flashed through his mind.