Chapter 370: Unstoppable
“Can’t stop them. Not even a little.”
Kerr stared at the Kings’ game footage on the screen, shaking his head as he spoke with unmistakable despair.
The new season had already been underway for more than a month. In that short span, the entire league had felt the suffocating pressure of the Kings. Nearly every game ended in an easy win, the Kings tearing through anyone in their way with ruthless efficiency, leaving nothing behind.
That overwhelming sense of domination made Kerr feel as though he’d been dragged back to the days of the Bulls dynasty.
Weren’t they like this back then too?
Looking down on the entire league—utterly unstoppable.
“Maybe… we should just give up on this season?”
Myers, sitting nearby, said carefully.
“Give up?”
Kerr turned toward him with a bitter smile. “Is that really something we get to decide?”
Just yesterday, the Warriors had faced the Kings for the first time this season. Kerr, who’d still been clinging to a shred of hope, had been hit squarely over the head with reality.
Although Dejounte Murray, the Kings’ current starting point guard, couldn’t truly contain Curry, the perimeter pairing of Murray and Butler completely cut off the connection between the Splash Brothers. Thompson barely touched the ball for nearly an entire quarter.
In the end, Curry—fighting alone—only lasted three quarters before going down.
“The Kings right now are in a completely different weight class from the other twenty-nine teams,” Kerr said flatly. “As for us, there’s no real chance of resisting them.”
After he finished speaking, Myers looked up at him with a puzzled expression.
“Steve, it sounds like you’re implying something.”
Myers scratched his head, feeling oddly itchy, as if a new thought were about to form.
“If not us… then who?”
“Just wait and see.”
Kerr picked up the remote and shut off the screen.
“With the Kings standing alone at the top, there are plenty of people who can’t stand Chen Yilun and his crew. Someone will come looking for our help.”
“You mean…?”
Myers frowned.
“That’s right.”
Kerr’s eyes gleamed. “A coalition. Only by teams banding together and wearing the Kings down through a rotation of battles do we stand any chance of dragging them off that throne.”
“But that sounds way too theoretical,” Myers said after a moment’s thought. “Has any team actually reached out to you?”
“Not yet,” Kerr replied, stretching lazily. “But trust me—it’ll happen. The Kings’ rise has blocked too many paths.”
“You have to understand, the timing of this Kings dynasty couldn’t be worse. The stars of the Stern era are slowly declining—especially that James guy. He’s always been extremely protective of his legacy.”
“He’s the one who wants to replace Jordan. Now imagine a fully dominant dynasty appearing right in the middle of his career. Think about what that would do to his place in history.”
“Damn…”
Myers sucked in a sharp breath.
“That’s ruthless.”
“So,” Kerr said, shaking his head, “this year, James will use every possible method to stop the Kings. Even if the championship doesn’t end up being his, that’s fine. As long as the Kings are pulled down, if we ask him to do something, he’ll agree.”
The two exchanged a look—and burst out laughing together.
...
...
“Are you sure this will work?”
Prince asked, sounding doubtful.
At the moment, he and Chen Yilun were sitting together in a VIP private room at a Michelin-starred restaurant.
“What’s the rush?”
Chen Yilun shot him an annoyed glance. “I’m not your boss right now. Today, I’m just inviting you here as a friend for dinner.”
Chen Yilun was unusually relaxed these days. The team’s roster was complete, deep, and powerful.
As the saying goes, stillness beats action. With the lineup already set, he had no interest in getting dragged into the chaos of the trade market. Free agency was closed anyway—what could other teams really do to make things difficult for him now?
That finally left Chen Yilun with time to handle some personal matters.
He’d originally planned to attend the dinner alone, but after thinking it over, bringing Prince along seemed more convenient.
As the two chatted casually, the door to the private room was pushed open.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
A pale, middle-aged white man in a suit stepped inside.
“Yilun, I’ve heard your name so many times. It’s great to finally meet you.”
Chen Yilun stood up with a smile and extended his hand.
The newcomer was none other than Elon Musk, the hottest name in North American capital circles at the moment.
“So,” Musk said as he took off his coat and hung it on the rack, “should we eat first, or talk business?”
“No rush,” Chen Yilun said, gesturing for him to sit.
“Let’s eat first.”
After several rounds of food and drinks, Chen Yilun and Musk were deep in conversation. If Prince hadn’t known they were meeting for the first time that very day, he might have thought they were old friends catching up over a meal.
“Alright, Yilun,”
Musk said, picking up a napkin and wiping his mouth. “Let’s talk business. I’m very interested in that idea you mentioned earlier, but there are still a lot of unresolved issues. Walk me through it.”
Hearing that, Chen Yilun quietly took a document from Prince’s hands.
“The core ideas are all in here,” he said, “but there are still plenty of technical barriers we haven’t broken through. That’s why I need your side to step in.”
Chen Yilun’s reason for inviting Musk was simple: he planned to rely on Musk’s internet companies and resources to do something that could completely upend the basketball world that had existed for over a century.
“Very good. Very, very good,”
Musk said as he slowly read through the document.
“Explain it in detail. In basketball, I’m a complete outsider—I’ll need you, the professional, to lead the way.”
“Alright.”
Chen Yilun took a deep breath and began.
“Right now, the way the basketball world develops talent is largely the same everywhere, but the methods of identifying and discovering that talent are extremely outdated.”
As soon as he started talking about his area of expertise, Chen Yilun’s entire demeanor changed.
“In terms of player development, different continents and countries use very different systems. In North America, it starts in the neighborhoods—basketball is closely tied to business. Talented kids can play in the McDonald’s All-American Game in high school, then move on to the NCAA in college. These youth leagues are the most important channels for developing young players in North America.”
“In Europe, the focus is more on training-camp systems. Young players are filtered through camps, and because restrictions are looser than in North America, many players—some just turning eighteen, or even still minors—get chances to join clubs and play professional basketball.”
“In other places, player development leans even more toward club-run youth academies, where prospects are trained from a very young age and sports are kept completely separate from education.”
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