The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 757 Mr. Gump
Gan Guoyang's involvement in labor dispute was just a minor episode in his basketball career.

He knew in his heart that the NBA business wouldn't fail anytime soon, and would only get better and better.

Having this kind of confidence allows him to be poised and confident during negotiations. He knows that neither the boss nor the players want to lose their livelihood.

As long as balance and coordination are maintained, this millionaire-making machine, the dream factory of basketball-loving teenagers, will continue to operate, producing more and more money.

Throughout this process, Gan Guoyang remained as fair and impartial as ever, using his astonishing energy, rich experience, and cunning methods to achieve a level playing field with David Stern.

Stern really couldn't do anything about Gan Guoyang for the time being. This top disciple of Larry Fleischer was indeed very capable and had a lot of resources at his disposal.

Of course, Gan Guoyang was not as selfless as he appeared; he had his own selfish motives.

Firstly, the mid-level exception and veteran minimum salary contracts give the Trail Blazers more flexibility in salary management.

This would facilitate the Trail Blazers' future roster improvements; otherwise, Gan Guoyang's salary alone would exceed the entire salary cap, and the Trail Blazers would lose the opportunity to sign him to help them.

With the Trail Blazers' current roster, winning a championship will be extremely difficult. Apart from Forrest Gump, the team is either too old or too young.

To improve roster depth in the future, some trades will be necessary to sign some talented players. The mid-level exception and veteran minimum contracts will be important signing methods.

Secondly, the new transitional labor agreement left loopholes in the contracts of superstars, allowing Gan Guoyang to sign the largest contract in history, worth $3 million over three years.

As a player who retired and then returned to the game, Gan Guoyang had many points of contention regarding his contract extension with the Trail Blazers. The league gave the green light and granted the Trail Blazers a special exception to sign him.

His annual salary set a record in North American professional sports, earning over 30 million a year, befitting his status as a seven-time champion.

Otherwise, if a luxury tax were levied or a maximum salary rule were set, Gan Guoyang would definitely not be able to get such a large contract.

After Gan Guoyang signed an unprecedentedly large contract, Michael Jordan, who became a free agent in the summer of 1996, also demanded a huge contract from the Chicago Bulls.

After repeated negotiations and back-and-forth, Reinsdorf finally offered Jordan a massive four-year, $1.18 million contract.

Although this contract did not exceed Gan Guoyang's annual salary, the total amount has set a new historical record.

Following that, the Seattle SuperSonics offered Ewing an $1800 million annual contract to continue their pursuit of the championship.

Ewing's performance was crucial to the SuperSonics' ability to advance from the Western Conference to the NBA Finals for two consecutive years. His defensive and low-post offensive abilities have always been much needed by the SuperSonics.

Furthermore, his rebounding has improved. In any case, the SuperSonics' defensive rebounding was already poor enough, so acquiring Ewing is a significant improvement.

The presence of Forrest Gump further strengthened the position of the center in the 90s.

During the Olympics, the Los Angeles Lakers reached an agreement with Shaquille O'Neal, finalizing a 7-year, $1.2 million contract, which once again broke the NBA contract record.

The Lakers originally planned to give O'Neal $9600 million, but seeing the prevalence of contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Jerry West boldly increased the contract amount to $1.2 million.

As a result, the Orlando Magic no longer have the strength or sincerity to compete with the Lakers. They have lost the best talent in the team's history and wasted a valuable number one draft pick.

In terms of annual salary, O'Neal's salary of over 1700 million a year already accounts for two-thirds of the salary cap, leaving the other Lakers players with only one-third.

However, in reality, O'Neal's salary in his first year after arriving on the West Coast was $1071 million, which was less than half of the salary cap.

His salary would increase every year thereafter, and in the final year of his contract in the 2002-2003 season, if O'Neal exercised his option, his annual salary would reach $2300 million.

This shows that players and teams are optimistic about the overall revenue growth of the league.

Not only in the NBA, but also in the American film industry, Jim Carrey's salary has reached $2000 million.

Mike Tyson earned $6500 million in his first fight after being released from prison.

The astonishingly high salaries at the top of the arts and sports world, with their dizzying "zeros" that leave ordinary people bewildered, are essentially a result of the booming US economy in the 1990s.

Without the constraints of the Soviet Union, the United States entered a golden age of development during Clinton's term, becoming the true world leader.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the NBA expanded its market to the entire United States and even the world, naturally increasing its revenue significantly.

In the grand summer of 1996, the air was filled with the smell of money.

Even Alonzo Mourning, a center who could barely be considered a second option on a top team in the 80s, was signed by New York with a 7-year, $1.05 million contract.

He was supposed to stay in Charlotte, but starting in his third year, his relationship with Larry Johnson deteriorated rapidly, and the two went from friends and comrades to enemies who hated each other.

Johnson, who arrived a year earlier, had already signed a super long-term contract with the Hornets for 12 years and $8400 million. Moreover, Mourning had a terrible relationship with Hornets owner Shinn, so the only one who could leave was Mourning.

His former teammate Ewing and coach John Thompson gave him clear advice: go to New York and fill the void left by Ewing.

After losing Ewing, the Knicks finally decided to bring in another tough center from Georgetown, realizing that Ewing was quite good when he was there.

Although he has all sorts of flaws and it seems unlikely that he can lead the Knicks to a championship, Forrest Gump was right: once Ewing is gone, who knows when the next one will come.

Therefore, the Knicks, who were rich and had no shortage of money, did not hesitate to give Mourning a contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars, allowing him to team up with Kemp and Rice to build a new New York Knicks.

In Portland, Larry Bird was reading the newspaper in his office, watching his juniors making so much money, and he couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"I fought my entire career and earned just enough to make up for what a kid earns in a year. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have played so hard. I should have extended my career and played until 1996."

"No wonder Magic wants to make a comeback. He must feel that he was wrong about that 25-year, $1500 million contract. Now that he's played for another year, he can make it all back."

"I've had spinal fusion surgery now, so I should be able to play. Or maybe I should just make a comeback! Player contracts are definitely bigger than coach contracts."

Bird was quite envious of how much money young people could earn these days. Each generation builds upon the foundation laid by the previous one.

Bird didn't know that in another ten or twenty years, player salaries would be even more outrageous than they are now, and the so-called big contracts he signed today would only be considered cheap contracts.

In the office, assistant coaches Rick Carlisle and Dick Hart listened to Bird's complaints with smiles but remained silent, simply organizing the documents and data at hand.

Bird, Carlisle, and Hart—these three are the entirety of the Trail Blazers' coaching staff for the new season.

In today's NBA, where coaching staffs are constantly expanding, a combination of one head coach and two assistant coaches seems rather meager.

But Bird believed that three people were enough, and that too many people would easily lead to disagreements, and that too many voices on a team was not necessarily a good thing.

Especially for teams aiming for the championship, the ideal situation is for everyone to work together with a single voice.

When Bird met with Gan Guoyang and Tang Jianguo in Naples, he was curious to know if the Trail Blazers would remain as straightforward as ever in the new season.

He received a positive answer from Tang Jianguo: Forrest Gump was still the undisputed leader, and his goal remained the championship.

This is exactly the team Bird wanted to join. Whether there were new players on the team, whether to develop new players, or whether to consider ticket sales, etc., were not things he wanted to consider.

Victory and championships have always been his pursuit on the basketball court, and everything revolves around this; he doesn't get involved in much else.

When finalizing his assistant coaching assignment, Bird chose Rick Carlisle, the Trail Blazers' assistant coach, a smart guy who had previously been a backup teammate of the Celtics.

Then Bird asked Carlisle who would be a good choice to be the team's defensive coach. Carlisle thought for a moment and said, "Forrest Gump..."

"He's too expensive, I can't afford him. Let's get someone cheaper."

Carlisle added, "That's my colleague Dick Hart... well, he's a great defensive coach."

Seeing is believing. After Bird arrived in Portland, he met with Hart alone and quickly confirmed that this was the assistant he wanted.

Hart was low-key, honest, and passionate about basketball, and his defensive philosophy was a perfect fit for Bird's tastes.

Therefore, Bird did not touch the Trail Blazers' two assistant coaches, essentially becoming the head of the team with his bags packed.

He decided to sign with the Trail Blazers the week after Gan Guoyang announced his return, holding only a brief press conference.

In fact, his arrival should have been big news that shook the league. Forrest Gump has returned, Larry Bird has also returned, and he's come to Portland.

But by then, the news media's attention was already drawn to the labor negotiations and the upcoming Olympics, and Bird was keeping a low profile.

After arriving in Portland, he hid himself away and focused on coaching—he was still a beginner as a head coach.

So, some Trail Blazers fans asked each other who the team's head coach was this season, and were all surprised to learn that it was Bird.

It's unbelievable that Larry Bird has become the head coach of the Trail Blazers!
Fans were looking for traces of Bird in Portland, and soon discovered that he would drive between his home and the arena every day, occasionally stopping at a nearby coffee shop for a drink or a bite to eat, and that was it.

Compared to his arrogance on the court, Bird was very introverted off the court. He hated crowded places, disliked giving interviews, and as a celebrity, he didn't like making friends with other celebrities.

Apart from Magic Johnson, who can be considered Bird's "official" close friend, all of Bird's close friends were ordinary people outside the basketball world, office workers. He was not willing to have too many personal relationships with players.

Upon becoming the Trail Blazers' head coach, Larry Bird's first task was to secure a new, sufficiently large office for the coaching staff at the Rose Garden Arena.

Prior to this, the Trail Blazers coaching staff did not have an office; Jack Ramsey, Bobby Bellman, and PJ Carlesimo all worked and held meetings in the training facility's video playback room.

When it's time to play a match, they discuss and decide on tactics in the locker room. Their main workplaces are the training ground and the match field.

Bird was different; he needed a place to settle down, a quieter environment to learn and discuss issues with his two assistant coaches.

This is, after all, his first time as a head coach, and it feels very different from playing basketball.

Rick Carlisle tried to teach Bird how to draw tactical diagrams in his office, showing him how to use circles, crosses, dotted lines, and solid lines to represent player movement and passing on the court.

After a day of learning, Bird decided to give up on the project. He was simply not good at drawing, and he thought it was foolish to have players play according to a route map.

"Richard, from now on, the drawing work will be yours. I'll give you a tactic, and you'll give the instructions to the players."

"But...this is the head coach's job..."

"Yes, but there's no rule that the head coach has to draw it, right? So it's fine if you draw it, isn't it?"

Therefore, Rick Carlisle had no choice but to accept Bird's appointment, and in future games, he would draw up the Trail Blazers' playbook for every game.

Bird also learned from Dick Hart how to organize player training, especially defensive drills, which are often very boring.

Some players, especially those in younger teams, may resist defensive training, and poor training quality can directly affect the team's performance.

Hart is very experienced; in his youth, he served as a Marine, just like Jack Ramsey.

He later coached at the University of Oregon, where he was known for his tight defense, and Stu Jackson and Earl Kent were among his students.

He entered the NBA in 1982 and served as an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons for four years, where he built Chuck Daly's defense, laying the foundation for the future Bad Boys' defense.

He then worked for the Pacers and Hornets before being recruited by Pat Riley to the Miami Heat in 1991 to build a tough defensive system for the team.

In 1994, the Trail Blazers finally poached him from the Heat, bringing him back to Oregon to become the team's defensive coach.

By 1996, Hart had been a coach for 31 years and had extensive experience in training players to defend.

After listening to Hart's three-day-long lecture on his training insights, Bird waved his hand and said, "From now on, the defensive training will be your responsibility!"

Hart said, "But... I'm just assisting you in your work..."

"That's right, assist me in my work, and I'll assign you the tasks you're good at."

"how about you?"

"I will stand by and supervise."

"..."

Rick Carlisle and Dick Hart soon discovered that their head coach was treating their two assistant coaches like slaves.

The two of them spend their days in the office discussing work, creating player profiles, developing training camp plans, analyzing league rules for the new season, and building tactical frameworks.

Spoelstra's son, Erik Spoelstra Jr., was also invited to Bird's office to do video editing and compilation work, collecting and processing the players' video footage.

Bird placed great importance on Spoelstra's work, requiring him to conduct the most detailed video analysis, especially summarizing and analyzing the players' hot attack areas and comfortable shooting positions.

The workload is considerable, but Spoelstra did this kind of work for free with the Trail Blazers when he was in college, and now he has even greater enthusiasm for the analysis work.

And Bird? He spent most of his time sitting at his desk drinking tea and reading newspapers, occasionally complaining to everyone about how young people these days earn such high salaries and play such poorly on the court.

He seemed like a hands-off manager, leaving everything to his subordinates so he didn't have to rack his brains.

However, Larry Bird was clearly not a figurehead; in fact, he thought about the team's overall direction every day.

He closely monitored Forrest Gump's situation, maintaining a weekly contact with him to stay informed about his recovery progress.

He also paid close attention to the situations of Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal, two young high school players.

I searched through a lot of past news and magazine reports about the two of them and gained a preliminary understanding of their background and circumstances.

During his time in Portland, he had dinner individually with every player on the Trail Blazers roster, including veterans like Porter, rising stars like PJ Brown, established talents like Riddell who had only recently joined the team, Oregon natives like A.C. Green, and the hot-tempered young man Van Exel in the post-championship era...

Bird knew perfectly well that what ultimately determines a team's success or failure is not the tactics, statistics, or efficiency on paper, but the living, breathing people.

A team of 12-15 players can only be qualified for success when each of them finds their place and unites firmly together.

The most important job of a head coach is to mold these 12-15 players together, understand them, help them, and direct them to form a unified front. When he was a player, Bird didn't need to think so much; he just needed to do his job well, and sometimes he would even cause trouble for the coach.

Once he became head coach, his position changed, and Bird's thoughts naturally changed as well.

Bird's basketball career involved several coaches throughout his high school, college, and Celtics careers. Each coach had a different style and had a different impact on Bird.

The one who had the greatest influence was Bill Fitch, a strict and sharp-tongued old man.

Previously, public opinion believed that Bird and his teammates rebelled and drove Fitch away. In fact, Bird had always been a supporter of Fitch and wholeheartedly agreed with Fitch's strict coaching style.

However, Bird knew very well that not everyone could willingly accept Fitch's devilish training and venomous tongue, so when the entire Celtics team rebelled against Fitch, he could only stand by and watch.

After becoming head coach, Bird was determined to absorb Fitch's strengths while discarding his weaknesses.

He imagined himself as a strict and demanding coach on the field, but off the field he could give the players freedom and get along well with everyone.

But Bird soon realized that this was almost impossible; the two could hardly coexist unless someone could step up and take on a part of the role, putting on a good show with Bird.

Bird approached Buckwalt multiple times in September, wanting to learn from him how the Trail Blazers had overcome numerous problems and difficulties over the years to maintain their championship competitiveness.

And how Jack Ramsey and Bobby Bellman controlled the locker room—during the 1992 Olympics, he discovered that Bellman wasn't as controlling as he had imagined; instead, he was laissez-faire with the stars.

Of course, that was with the Dream Team. But what about with the Trail Blazers? How did he coordinate the entire team and keep them competitive for so long, especially with the incredible 1993 championship?

Buckwalt went straight to the point and asked Bird a question: "Larry, do you know about the Foxbat fighter jet?"

Bird shook his head and said, "I don't care about fighter jets. Anyway, no one would want me with my height. I'm better suited to working in a field hospital fixing light bulbs."

Then, Buckwalt repeated the "flying fox theory" that he had told Jerry West years ago to Bird.

After hearing this, Bird exclaimed in surprise, "You mean the Portland Trail Blazers are actually just a makeshift team? No wonder I've been here for two months and haven't found anything particularly amazing about them."

Buckwalt laughed and said, "There's nothing magical about basketball, it's just that we happen to have a magical player."

"Can he still maintain his magic? I've been in touch with him recently, and he said his performance has declined to the level of Michael Jordan in the last two years. A while ago, he said he might become an upgraded version of Larry Bird. I'm fucking saying an upgraded version of myself? I can't even imagine myself getting better, but I really can't do anything about him."

Buckwalt laughed and said, "But Forrest Gump has always been honest; if he says yes, then he means yes."

By late September, summer was almost over, and Bird had gradually adapted to life in Portland.

At this time, Gan Guoyang's two-month recovery plan was nearing its end, and Bird was invited to visit Gan Guoyang's home.

When he played for the Celtics, Bird rarely visited his teammates' homes, let alone frequently went to a particular teammate's house.

But in Portland, he was captivated by Gan Youwei's cooking and would occasionally want to go to Gan Guoyang's house for a treat.

“I really should let Reed come here and try your father’s cooking. He’ll love it. And he’ll be furious that the Chinese food he used to eat was pig swill.”

Auerbach is a passionate Chinese food enthusiast, but the skill level of ordinary restaurant chefs can hardly compare to that of Gan Youwei, who meticulously researches dishes at home.

After returning to Portland, in order to maintain his memory, Gan Youwei, like his son, began rehabilitation training, picking up kitchen knives, woks, and spatulas again, and studying the new and old dishes he had developed in the past.

“Everyone has different tastes. Perhaps what Reed considers pig feed is what he likes.”

Bird looked Gan Guoyang up and down; compared to two months ago, he had undergone significant changes.

The fat is definitely gone, the body fat has dropped to a very low level, and the person looks lean and strong.

Compared to 91 and 92, the muscles on his body are not as defined, but his overall size has increased.

"Sonny, how much do you weigh now?"

280 pounds.

"When you say 'an upgraded version of Larry Bird,' are you referring to increased weight?"

"Weight is only one factor; toughness is even more important."

Gan Guoyang mocked Bird for not being tough enough, which infuriated Bird.

But when you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. After more than two months of in-depth understanding, Bird clearly realized that Forrest Gump was the key to the Portland dynasty.

Bird understood this perfectly, just as he himself was key to the Celtics' championship victory.

If any coach comes to the Celtics and doesn't try to figure out his relationship with Bird, that coach is incompetent.

Over the course of more than two months, Bird's understanding of Gan Guoyang deepened, and he increasingly felt that Gan was a man of unfathomable depth.

As a player, he doesn't just focus on himself, but has a clear understanding of everything about the Trail Blazers.

During this period, Bird kept in private contact with the Trail Blazers players. When he talked to Gan Guoyang about these players, he found that Gan knew them very well.

He was like a crazy fan, knowing everything about his teammates' personalities, what they liked to eat, what they were superstitious about, what their hobbies were, what their little secrets were, and even what kind of women they liked.

Bird couldn't help but ask Gan Guoyang, "Do you know what kind of person I am?"

Gan Guoyang took a deep breath and pretended to sniff Bird's scent.

"You wear a nice suit but cheap shoes, looking like a country bumpkin, a neat, clean country bumpkin with a touch of forced taste. Good nutrition makes you tall and strong, but you're still the descendant of poor white people, right, Coach Larry Bird? You're desperately trying to get rid of your accent, the pure Indiana cornfield accent. Honey, what did your parents do? Farmers driving combine harvesters in the cornfields, or butchers smothering cattle with a hammer? You're trying to use arrogance to cover up your deep-seated inferiority complex. You don't want to marry a country girl, have seven or eight kids, and continue your ancestors' lives on a farm. You dream of escaping, of going to the NBA."

Bird looked at Gan Guoyang with the eyes of someone looking at a monster and said, "Don't fucking tell me you're Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Fuck you, I quit. Let Rick be the team's head coach. I don't want to be eaten by you."

Having successfully imitated Hannibal Lecter's line when he first met Agent Starling in "The Silence of the Lambs," Gan Guoyang was very proud and laughed loudly, saying, "You can't leave now, Larry. Being eaten by me is the fate of every NBA player."

Bird listened to Gan Guoyang's words and felt that the joke was half true and half false.

Yeah, who hasn't been devoured by him? Only those who retired early and those who hadn't even had a chance to enter the league yet.

In the last week of September, the Trail Blazers' rookie training camp, which Gan Guoyang and Bird had been eagerly anticipating, was finally about to begin.

The training venue, as usual, is the scenic Willamette University stadium.

The day before training began, rookie Kobe Bryant was so excited he couldn't sleep.

Around 3 a.m. that day, Kobe called Gan Guoyang without waiting for him to rest.

Fortunately, Gan Guoyang had replaced the noisy doorbell with an electronic beep, which made him less irritable when he was woken up by the phone.

"Who attacked? Was it China?" Gan Guoyang asked calmly.

Sometimes he would receive transoceanic calls from China, from very high-ranking officials.

"No, it's me, Kobe Bryant!"

"Fuck Kobe, what time is it? It's not even 4 a.m. yet!"

Upon hearing that it was Kobe, Gan Guoyang's voice immediately became agitated.

"But I can't sleep."

"If you can't sleep, then don't sleep. Why are you calling me? Am I some kind of late-night hotline?"

"Um... I'd like to discuss the situation with you regarding the rookie training camp. I've heard a lot of rumors, and it's said that every rookie training camp is the worst one you've ever mentioned."

"If you're calling me at 3 a.m., and you're not from the worst graduating class, then who is?"

Despite Gan Guoyang's anger, Kobe didn't think there was anything wrong with what he was doing.

Instead, he continued to vent his excitement on the phone, repeatedly asking Gan Guoyang questions about training.

He asked so many questions that Gan Guoyang didn't know how to answer them.

Gan Guoyang felt like there was a fly buzzing in his ear, but he couldn't bear to hang up.

Because he felt Kobe's immense passion for basketball, which was so infectious.

This is a kind of passion that is difficult for ordinary people to understand and accept.

Only Gan Guoyang, a fellow fanatic, or Larry Bird, could understand.

They would certainly agree with Coach Bill Fitch's coaching style, but unfortunately, such players are ultimately a minority.

In the end, Gan Guoyang talked to Kobe on the phone for an hour in a daze, and he couldn't remember what he said.

After hanging up the phone, he couldn't fall asleep, so he got up, did some warm-up exercises, took a shower, and prepared some breakfast for himself.

Around 6 a.m., Gan Guoyang saw that it was almost time and decided to call Jermaine O'Neal.

For more than two months, Kobe would always take the initiative to contact Gan Guoyang, asking about every little thing.

As for why O'Neal needed Gan Guoyang to remind him, it wasn't that O'Neal was lazy, but rather that he was very introverted and somewhat shy in front of Gan Guoyang.

Kobe needs some discipline, while Jermaine O'Neal needs guidance and encouragement—this is Gan Guoyang's initial assessment of the two.

"Jermaine, it's time to get up. Stop rolling around in that girl's arms and get up quickly to prepare for today's training. It's the first day of the new recruit training camp, and I don't want to see you late."

"Oh...okay...okay, I'm not with a girl, I live alone."

"Really? Can you guarantee you'll live alone throughout your entire rookie season?"

"I...I don't know."

Jermaine O'Neal rented a house near Willamette University as a temporary residence.

In high school, he was caught in bed with another woman by the girl's father, which almost had a negative impact on his career.

Fortunately, the girl was there voluntarily, and the two were in a romantic relationship rather than being forced or deceived.

Gan Guoyang certainly knew about this; he knew that there would be many temptations after entering the NBA.

Especially for women, lust is a deadly weapon. Back when Drexler was in power, he would give newcomers a "Portland Strip Club Guide" every year.

Portland's sex industry is now rampant, and young Black players, once they get their salaries, find it almost impossible to resist the temptation to go there.

Gan Guoyang can't interfere with where his teammates go to play, but he will do his duty to remind the younger players. Whether they listen or not depends on their own fate and awareness.

Young men like Jermaine O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, who didn't go to college after graduating from high school, are too easily led astray by the allure of a glamorous lifestyle.

Kobe, in particular, was considered very handsome among Black men, making him the most likely to attract women.

At this age, it's the perfect time to improve your skills, and there are plenty of opportunities to play in the future.

At 7:00 a.m. sharp, Gan Guoyang arrived at Willamette University’s training facility.

In the past, Gan Guoyang was always the first to arrive, sometimes even before dawn when he would arrive at the stadium to train.

Today, however, he heard the sound of a ball bouncing inside, indicating that someone was already playing ball.

It was indeed Kobe Bryant, wearing a Trail Blazers training uniform, dribbling, shooting, and running alone on the court.

He was extremely focused and dedicated, his body tense and meticulous in every movement. He would pause from time to time to think about and summarize his movements, muttering to himself to make adjustments before continuing with the next movement, repeating, repeating, and repeating again.

Gan Guoyang gazed at him from afar, as if gazing at his former self.

Just then, someone called out to him from behind, "Sang... Ah... Mr. Gump!"

Within the Trail Blazers, only Jermaine O'Neal respectfully addresses Gan Guoyang as "Mr. Gump."

Gan Guoyang turned around and saw O'Neal standing behind him, panting. He asked, "What happened to you? Did you run here by yourself?"

"Yes, I live relatively close to here, and I don't have a car, so I drove all the way here."

In the United States, very few people don't own a car, except for children. Children all have toy cars, and disabled people have wheelchairs.

Jermaine O'Neal just signed a contract and gave all his salary to his mother, leaving him with very little for the time being and not yet buying a car.

Gan Guoyang said, "I'll give you a car, on the condition that you train well. Today is the first day, so you can spar with me one-on-one."

"Huh? Mr. Gump, this..."

"You'd better do well on your first day. From now on, you can just call me Gan or Sunny."

“Okay, Mr. Gump.”

"..."

(End of this chapter)