One Year Left to Play

Chapter 571 - 175: The Melancholy Teenager

April 14th, the day of the Lakers’ game against the Suns this season has arrived.

Currently, with a record of 60 wins and 17 losses, they are in second place in the West, just half a game behind the first-place SuperSonics, who have a record of 61 wins and 17 losses.

On the Spurs’ side, they have had four consecutive losses... 59 wins and 19 losses. After David Robinson got injured, they tried to hold on initially, but David Robinson didn’t rest, and his injury has been slow to heal, leading to a performance drop from MVP level to barely making the All-Star, causing the Spurs to suffer four consecutive losses.

Before 8 am, Zhang Hao was already quietly training at the gym.

Teammates gradually arrived one by one, all in high spirits. Sixty wins! Who wouldn’t be happy?

But it’s hard for people to empathize with each other’s joys and sorrows. Teammates noticed that today, the person who is usually the most passionate about games had a melancholy aura.

Has our rookie grown up? Starting to use melancholy to look cool? Well, he’s always been big...

This piqued everyone’s curiosity, but no one asked.

With Zhang Hao’s polite yet typically reserved nature—only saying what he wants to say and keeping silent on anything he doesn’t want to discuss—his teammates were accustomed to it.

If Zhang Hao doesn’t bring it up, it means he doesn’t want to talk about it. No point in pushing, besides, it’s more fun to gossip about what might be bothering Zhang Hao.

And then, Zhang Hao overheard his teammates, pretending he couldn’t hear them, chattering around him while pretending to train or warm up.

Regarding the content, well, men being men, when they speculate about another guy, they often stray into not-so-kid-friendly topics.

"Do they really think I’m deaf? Forget it, this group of guys, they only know how to pick on a pure-hearted, innocent, flawless 19-year-old like me..."

Zhang Hao finished his personal morning routine of extra exercises at the home arena and headed up to the meeting room on the second floor, ready to wait morosely for the pre-game meeting.

On his way up, he ran into Logo Man.

Zhang Hao’s eyes lit up. His teammates’ joys and sorrows might not be mutual, but surely, this person could understand his current feelings!

Logo Man greeted Zhang Hao, and Zhang Hao immediately responded.

"..."

"..."

And then, silence followed.

Logo Man felt Zhang Hao’s enthusiasm in his gaze and, puzzled, asked, "What’s up, Aix? Is there something you need?"

Something’s not right!

Not as expected, Zhang Hao directly asked, "Mr. West, have you heard that Kobe Bryant has joined Duke University?"

This... Although Logo Man didn’t understand why Zhang Hao asked this, he replied, "Kobe? Of course, I know. He went to Duke. It’s exciting. I’ll definitely watch every game of the Duke vs. North Carolina rivalry next year."

This isn’t right! That’s not how it should be!

The OK Duo is gone! Why aren’t you worried at all!

Zhang Hao didn’t voice this thought.

After another moment of silence, Zhang Hao politely apologized and headed toward the meeting room.

"???" Logo Man was baffled.

On the great day of the team’s 60th win, what’s wrong with their superstar rookie?

"Forget it. I should just go pray for the Magic to get eliminated soon..."

...

Something’s not right!

Their rookie is really not right!

The teammates were just curious, but as the head coach of the team, Del Harris tended to think a bit more deeply.

"Why is this kid so melancholic today? Where’s that boundless fighting spirit on game day? He was so excited during the last game against Barkley, what’s wrong this time? Could he be hitting the rookie wall now?"

During training preparations, feeling Zhang Hao’s dejection, Del Harris couldn’t help but think of the concept of the rookie wall.

"It’s unpredictable. This kid seems never to have hit the rookie wall before; who knows what hitting the wall means for him?

But if it is the rookie wall, where would it occur?

Totally can’t grasp this kid’s pattern! Can’t predict what he’s thinking; he’s so aloof, so difficult!"

"Even if it’s not the rookie wall, this melancholic state isn’t good. The playoffs are around the corner, and if he performs poorly because of mental issues, we’ll have a lousy playoff run, and he’ll be harshly criticized... No way! Our team maintaining its intensity; his fighting spirit is vital, his influence is too strong! What a troublesome kid!"

Del Harris clearly felt that when Zhang Hao didn’t exhibit that fighting spirit, didn’t spread that strong fighting spirit to every teammate, the cohesiveness of the team declined significantly.

With such remarkable leadership skills, Del Harris decisively realized this was his real concern.

After preparation training, Del Harris found the Magician: "Elvin, go ask that kid what’s going on. We have a game today, why is he acting cool?"

The Magician rolled his eyes at Del Harris.

The Magician didn’t think Zhang Hao had a big issue. Young people always have troubles, and he could see Zhang Hao seemed to be troubled by something.

However, he didn’t expect Del Harris to be so nervous.

If you’re nervous, why not ask yourself!

After all, even Old Johnson is the most legendary superstar in the history of the team, the greatest active NBA superstar!

The Magician thought it couldn’t just be pride preventing Del Harris from asking. He figured that even if Del Harris’s own son came out, he wouldn’t be as worked up as he was about Zhang Hao’s occasional bout of melancholy.

Though he believed Del Harris was overly concerned, the Magician was still prepared to go ask about it.