However, what people hadn’t expected was that the most attention-grabbing part of the first issue turned about to be Irving.
Irving’s performance in front of a crowd of NBA players was a pleasant surprise.
"He will lock in next season’s Rookie of the Year in advance."
Of course, what was more noteworthy than the performance was that Irving had gone to Hansen’s training camp!
Grant was utterly humiliated.
Irving’s emotional intelligence was inevitably questioned as it truly embarrassed their general manager.
No matter what, Hansen’s training camp managed to attract a fair amount of attention during the lockout period.
However, at this time, what really captured people’s interest was the Drew League.
Some stars who were unwilling to play overseas and couldn’t find other places to play threw themselves into this fairly famous streetball league.
The advantage of this league over local, lower-tier leagues (such as the United States’ CBA) is that they don’t have to stick with one team and can switch things up.
Hansen also received an invitation from Kobe.
Hansen didn’t accept, just like he had said before, these show-like games offered little training value for him.
However, Harden accepted Kobe’s invitation and left the training camp.
But that didn’t impact Hansen’s training camp, because soon after Harden left, Guy, fully recovered from his injuries, joined.
Accompanying him was Jordan Crawford.
Who knew when it started, but Guy and Crawford seemed to get along well—probably because they were both members of the Anti-Hollins Alliance?
Hansen didn’t know; however, with these two on board, he was thrilled.
He even felt he should have claimed the Passing Talent sooner.
Including Faried, these three could really fly.
Grizzlies floor flow?
Memphis, the city of alley-oops!
Time flew by, and by the time October arrived, Hansen’s training camp came to an end.
After three months of continuous training, Hansen’s [no need to pretend, blind passes he could complete] smoothly reached its peak.
He couldn’t wait for the new season to start.
However, the negotiations between labor and management continued.
Hansen only remembered that there was a lockout; he wasn’t clear on when it would end.
So, in the meantime, besides playing basketball with Swift, he also began a tour to East University arranged by UA.
It was his first time returning to East University for an event after so many years playing abroad.
Hansen was initially worried he’d be sidelined as before since he wasn’t without detractors at East University.
But the reality at East University took him aback, with a packed airport and a bustling scene that was far beyond his expectations.
Especially when he appeared, the fans chanting his name and the many waving their banners with his name really moved him.
He had underestimated the impact he had made leading the team to the Western Conference Finals on this piece of land.
Especially with Yao Ming officially retiring from the NBA in July that year and Yi Jianlian’s contract expiring, Hansen, who was previously not that important, suddenly became the sole player from East University in the NBA.
Not just the fans, soon after Hansen arrived at East University, the basketball association sent several groups over.
They didn’t state their purpose, but it was obvious what they wanted.
Next year was an Olympic year, these bigwigs might not care about the World Championships, but they couldn’t ignore the Olympics.
If they really ended up without an NBA player and didn’t win a single game, their faces would be utterly lost.
Hansen’s attitude was one of indifference.
He wasn’t bred from the system, owed nothing to the basketball association, and naturally didn’t need to respond to summoning or dismissal at will.
Later, he simply vanished, focusing all his energy on interacting with the fans.
The fans of East University were quite lovely, especially those who he saw climbing trees or fences during the event—they were filled with love for basketball.
At the event, during the Q&A session, a fan asked about the upcoming season.
"Can the Grizzlies make it to the Finals next season?"
For the Grizzlies, having reached the Western Conference Finals last season, advancing further meant reaching the Finals this season.
Due to the lockout, Hansen didn’t have a chance to make bold statements in front of reporters this year.
But it was basically the same in front of East University fans.
"Last summer, I said I’d bring a championship to Memphis, and next season is the time." The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡~𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢~𝙣𝙚𝙩
Just as Hansen finished his tour of East University and returned to the United States, UA approached him to discuss terminating their endorsement deal.
They offered Hansen a new, six-year contract worth $66 million.
Indeed, shoe companies can terminate existing contracts and offer longer, more lucrative deals.
They, of course, weren’t foolish, but thought the current contract didn’t match his worth, fearing he would leave once his contract expired, so they locked him in early.
To put it frankly, UA’s first contract with Hansen wasn’t low since he was tied with Curry as the top rookie of the 2009 class, but Hansen’s rapid development outpaced expectations.
Take a look at Curry still being the second in command at the Warriors, while Hansen had become the team leader and even led his team to the Western Conference Finals.
If they didn’t terminate the contract now, Hansen seeing no sincerity might indeed leave.
Moreover, like the NBA rookies’ early extension, it’s usually done a year in advance, but this time, being two years ahead had quite a bit to do with Irving.
With Irving performing well in Hansen’s training camp, UA also wanted to snatch him from Nike’s hands.