Chapter 385: Stormy Turbulence
“Are you sure about this?”
Chen Yilun looked at Durant, who was sitting across from him, disbelief evident in his voice.
“It’s confirmed.”
After saying that, Durant couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it himself.
“They held the meeting yesterday. As soon as it ended, one of my people came straight to tip me off”
“They’ve really got some nerve.”
Chen Yilun let out a cold snort and continued.
“Do they seriously think the Kings are on their own?”
Truth be told, breaking apart this so-called Regicide Alliance would take Chen Yilun no more than calling in one or two favors.
Their plan was actually very simple: form alliances between several teams and manipulate the Western Conference standings.
After all, the season was already past the halfway point, and the Kings still firmly controlled the number one seed in the West.
All they needed to do was deliberately win or lose a couple of games, line themselves up with an easy opponent, and force the Kings into a much tougher matchup.
But this kind of problem wasn’t something Chen Yilun had no answer for.
Who didn’t have a few helpers?
Even without Leonard, the Spurs still had Aldridge and DeRozan. Making the playoffs this year wouldn’t be difficult for them at all.
If Chen Yilun were willing to put aside his pride and ask Popovich for help, the old man—who’d played dirty his whole life—would definitely agree.
But given Chen Yilun’s temperament, there was no way he’d lower himself to ask for help.
“So what do we do now?”
Durant asked carefully, noticing the unpleasant look on Chen Yilun’s face.
“What else can we do?”
Chen Yilun scratched his head and casually lit a cigarette.
“We deal with it as it comes. If they want to pull little tricks, let them.”
As he spoke, Chen Yilun stood up from his chair.
“I want them to understand that our team is the strongest. No one can stop us from moving forward. Even if they resort to tactics like this, they still won’t have any chance of beating us.”
Hearing these words, Durant froze for a moment, then looked up at Chen Yilun in disbelief.
In Durant’s impression, Chen Yilun had always been the image of a shrewd, calculating businessman.
But after hearing what Chen Yilun said today, Durant finally felt the surging undercurrents beneath his calm exterior.
He genuinely wanted to build a super dynasty with no compromises, no shortcuts.
“Well said!”
Durant felt the blood rush to his head.
“Only a team like that is worth giving everything for!”
He slapped his chest hard.
“Don’t worry, boss. I’ll clear out every obstacle in our way. Let’s climb to the highest stage together.”
After seeing Durant off, Chen Yilun’s expression instantly darkened.
“So you want to play dirty with me, huh?”
He took two quick strides to his desk, picked up the phone, and was about to dial Adam Silver’s number.
But after thinking it over, he didn’t make the call.
If he already knew about their underhanded moves, then the league commissioner surely knew as well.
Since there had been no reaction from Adam Silver yet, it meant the league’s upper management still had an ambiguous stance on the matter.
“If that’s the case…”
Having figured this out, Chen Yilun quietly put the phone down.
This was no longer something he could handle on his own.
After all, no matter how you looked at it, he was firmly in the right. The only question was when and how the issue would be dealt with.
What Chen Yilun didn’t know was that, at the very moment he was thinking this through, the league’s top brass were already in chaos.
“This is a desecration of professional sports! This is a direct provocation against our entire league!”
Vice President Tatum slammed the table furiously, roaring with rage.
“Since when did those players think they could point fingers at us?”
Another league executive was just as angry, his face flushed red.
“And they didn’t even try to keep it quiet. I swear their heads must be full of hot chocolate. They openly held a meeting right before the All-Star Game—were they afraid people wouldn’t find out?”
Sitting at the head of the table, Adam Silver’s expression was equally grim.
In the past, Silver hadn’t liked the Kings’ rise mainly because it hadn’t happened according to his expectations. But now that everything was already set in stone—and the results had turned out surprisingly well—he was more than happy to see the Kings growing stronger.
The emergence of this so-called Regicide Alliance, however, was like someone dancing on top of his head.
It was a complete humiliation, grinding his authority into the ground.
Even so, no matter how furious he was, Silver couldn’t explode in public.
This kind of scandal was virtually unprecedented. If it were exposed, it wouldn’t just disgrace those teams—the credibility of the entire league would take a hit.
And back in Stern’s era, something like this had never even been whispered about. If it came to light now, it would be a career-ending blow.
So even though Silver was furious beyond words, he still couldn’t openly punish LeBron and the others.
That was the reality: when the mess is big enough, someone higher up is forced to deal with it.
“What matters most right now isn’t how we punish them,”
Silver said coldly as he tapped the table.
“It’s that once the games actually start, the ball is in their hands. We really don’t have much room to interfere.”
“Who says we can’t interfere?”
A white-haired executive frowned and spoke up.
“Since we can’t deal with them directly right now, what really matters this season is whether the Kings can hold their ground. No matter what, we’ll settle accounts with them next season.”
Those words struck exactly where Silver was thinking.
He nodded in approval.
“Then that’s how we’ll do it. If they’re willing to be ruthless, don’t blame us for responding in kind.”
Turning to Vice President Tatum, Silver said firmly,
“Contact the Referees’ Union immediately. From here on out, any game involving those four teams—make sure the whistle is targeted. They want to control the score? Let them see who really controls the game.”
And so, without anyone else realizing it, the massive machinery of the league had already begun to turn in silence.
Ambitious schemers, pragmatic operators, and calculating plotters all moved forward according to their own designs.
But without exception,
every gathering storm was heading toward that supreme prize of the summer—the O’Brien Trophy.
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