Chapter 89: Adjusting the Lineup
After finishing his call with Wes Wilcox, Chen Yilun stretched and went back to his room for a few hours of sleep. He was completely exhausted—ever since CJ’s injury yesterday, he had been running around the hospital without any rest.
After a short break, Chen Yilun got up and returned to work.
“Mike.”
Chen Yilun found Malone organizing practice in the gym.
Even if he hit the road right away, it would still take a while before a backup point guard could arrive.
“How’s the team holding up? Managing okay?”
He rubbed his still-aching eyes.
“We’re fine. CJ’s injury isn’t career-ending. Everyone’s handling it.”
Malone stood with his hands in his pockets, watching the players on the court.
“With Gay keeping things under control, nothing’s going to spiral.”
“That’s good.”
Looking at the players still training, Chen Yilun lowered his voice. “What about the tactics?”
“No need to worry. It hasn’t really caused major issues.”
Malone jerked his chin toward the court. “Look, Devin’s filling CJ’s spot now. Honestly? This kid may not run the offense as smoothly as CJ, but his outside shooting threat is huge. We’re covered.”
“What about the bench?”
“See that guy?”
Malone pointed toward the court.
Chen Yilun squinted to make sure he wasn’t mistaken. “Wait—Josh Richardson?!”
Josh Richardson took the inbound pass and confidently brought the ball up.
“After CJ went down yesterday, I called right away and brought him up.”
Malone smiled faintly. “This team doesn’t rely on just you. Since we drafted Josh, I’ve been working on his ball-handling. Just in case something like this happened.”
“Ball-handling? But he’s a forward.”
Chen Yilun froze.
Richardson had been drafted to give the team more depth at forward and had been playing with the Stockton Kings in the G-League.
Since Malone oversaw player development, Chen Yilun hadn’t paid much attention to how Richardson was being trained.
“Better safe than sorry.” Malone grinned. “When Josh first joined, I noticed his ball-handling was pretty solid. But there wasn’t a role here where he could work on it. So I sent him to the G-League to sharpen his dribbling.”
“I just got word from the Hawks—they’re willing to move Schröder.”
“Schröder?” Malone thought for a moment.
“I don’t think it’s necessary. The team isn’t falling apart. And with the way things are now, even with your veteran connections there, they’d probably overcharge us.”
“We can wait and see.”
Malone leaned in and whispered, “If the team really starts breaking down later, then we’ll revisit it.”
“Alright, alright. You run the team anyway.”
Chen Yilun raised his hands in mock surrender. “I’ll tell Atlanta we’re not interested.”
Seeing Chen Yilun go along with him, Malone felt a wave of relief.
A GM like Chen Yilun—capable, open to feedback, and willing to stand up to ownership when necessary—was every coach’s dream partner.
It made everything so much easier.
And so, after a very hasty lineup adjustment, the Kings boarded a flight to Orlando.
...
But once the game began, things went in a completely unexpected direction.
“Uh… is it just me?” Reggie Miller’s eyes went wide in the broadcast booth. “How does this Kings team look even more dangerous now than when they had their full roster?”
You couldn’t blame him. The Kings’ performance tonight completely shattered the predictions of league analysts.
With Booker officially in the starting lineup, the team’s offensive firepower jumped to an entirely new level.
The Magic, stunned and confused, quickly realized the zone defense they had learned from the Heat was useless.
Once Booker handled the ball, the Kings’ perimeter threat jumped another level. Their offense became brutally simple.
In short:
If you try to zone Jokic out of the paint, fine—we won’t go in. Jokic just moves to the top of the arc to set a screen.
Then it’s either Booker pulling up for three, or Jokic and Gay running a pick-and-roll. Either way, someone gets an open shot.
That’s when the league realized: the same Booker who used to quietly run plays off the bench was actually this explosive.
And just as the game shifted into bench rotations, the Kings shocked the league again.
“Josh Richardson at point guard?”
Magic head coach Scott Skiles stared in disbelief at the Kings’ lineup.
This was unbelievable.
If Skiles was stunned, then Shabazz Napier, the Magic’s backup point guard still on the floor, was downright despairing.
At 6’1”, he suddenly had to defend the 6’6” Richardson.
Richardson didn’t hesitate—he signaled for his teammates to spread the floor and went straight into a post-up against Napier.
“Who is this No. 0? Where did the Kings find him?”
Coach Skiles turned to ask, his eyes locked on the unfamiliar face.
“Josh Richardson. A second-round rookie this year. He’s been in the G-League until now—this is his first NBA game.”
The Magic GM explained quickly.
“You’re telling me this guy’s a second-round pick?” Skiles watched as Napier was slowly pushed back.
“Did Chen Yilun dig up another steal?”
But soon, Richardson posted deep, spun for a jumper—only to clang it off the rim. Skiles let out a long sigh of relief.
“That gave me a scare for a moment. I thought the Kings had landed another second-round gem. But his offense is weak—he hasn’t even polished his shooting form yet.”
As a coach, Skiles could immediately tell: Richardson’s shot selection and mechanics on that play were pure rookie-level.
“But we still can’t ignore him.”
He leaned toward his assistant.
“My guess is the Kings are grooming Richardson to be their version of Livingston.”
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