Chapter 892 - 273: Season-End Strengthening!

Well, last season, Dino Radja was still plagued by injuries, and in mid-season this year, at the beginning of January, Dino Radja suffered a severe injury again. After much hesitation, Dino Radja announced his retirement from the NBA after the All-Star weekend, feeling that he could not adapt to the NBA’s physical play, fading out of the NBA before he was 30.

Last summer, he joined the Spurs, planning to do great things with David Robinson, but then David Robinson was out for the season, and he became the Spurs’ top scorer.

A few days ago, he reached an agreement to terminate his contract with the Spurs and came to Los Angeles to meet with the Lakers’ management. In fact, he had already been given permission by the Spurs to contact other teams during the All-Star weekend.

The Spurs originally wanted to trade him, but in the end, they couldn’t make it happen and could only terminate the contract.

Then, on the night of February 23rd, he personally saw O’Neal leave the game with an injury after scoring 20 points, with 17 rebounds and 7 blocks in the first three quarters...

That night he just shut down.

But since he was already here, what could he do? Just sign the contract.

Fortunately, O’Neal’s injury wasn’t serious...

He didn’t immediately join the Lakers; he spent a few days studying the Lakers’ game tapes and tactical manual.

This morning, after the Lakers returned to Los Angeles, they waived Lumir Robinson and officially signed him.

He purposely didn’t let the Lakers management inform his teammates about his joining, to avoid trouble, thinking it’s not too late to greet them during the warm-up in the afternoon.

After a busy morning with the official signing, press conference, and interviews... he planned to return to his vacation villa for some rest and warm up for the evening game.

When he first came to Los Angeles to play half a season with the Clippers, he bought a house.

Just as he was saying goodbye to Jeanie Buss, Jerry West, Del Harris, and other management and coaches and was about to leave, Jerry West’s phone rang.

After speaking a few words with Zhang Hao on the other end, Jerry West hung up the phone, saw Wilkins was leaving, and hurriedly called, "Dominique, please wait a moment..."

Wilkins asked, "What’s up, Jerry?"

Jerry West smiled and said, "Looks like you won’t be able to go home and rest, Aix invited us to his house for lunch."

"Aix invited us for lunch?" Wilkins was a bit surprised.

Jeanie Buss said at the right time, "Really? Oh, that’s quite rare. I’ve heard that aside from Kenny and Jason, he hasn’t invited any other teammates to his house."

Wilkins was just surprised at first; he wasn’t familiar with Zhang Hao, who wasn’t the most enthusiastic person. If it were Barkley or O’Neal or Magician inviting him for lunch, he wouldn’t be surprised.

But hearing Jeanie Buss’s words, Wilkins felt different...

Kenny Anderson and Jason Williams were Zhang Hao’s teammates when he first entered the NBA, and Wilkins knew this from his research about joining the Lakers.

Zhang Hao’s good relationship with these two was certain, and Zhang Hao’s aloofness was well-known, with not much personal interaction with other teammates, which wasn’t unusual.

After all, playing basketball is a job, and teammates can be seen as colleagues. The league has many such lone individuals.

But Zhang Hao had never invited other teammates to his house and invited Wilkins...

This felt, really cool!

Jerry West heard Jeanie Buss’s words and just smiled; in this regard, the eldest lady was indeed impressive.

He wasn’t good at this either, and he didn’t continue with the topic. Bringing it up was enough, and he said, "The car Aix called is already outside the arena. Let’s go..."

...

Having a considerate girlfriend and assistant, Zhang Hao enjoyed the benefits.

He hadn’t thought of inviting new teammates or an established star to his house, but Aprile Clark did.

Because Zhang Hao was coming back and didn’t know what he wanted to eat, this morning Aprile Clark took Britney to buy a lot of food, much more than needed, which came in handy now.

She timed it perfectly to call the taxi company to pick them up and have Zhang Hao make the call.

As lunch was almost ready, Lakers’ eldest daughter Jeanie Buss, General Manager Logo Man, Assistant General Manager Kupchek, Head Coach Del Harris, Assistant Coach Kurt Lambis, and new recruit Wilkins arrived.

Wilkins got out of the car and looked at Zhang Hao’s house, not luxurious but not bad either.

Zhang Hao’s family of four came out to greet them, exchanged some pleasantries, and Wilkins noticed that Zhang Hao was indeed very aloof... but very polite, always adding Mr. or Miss when addressing people.

Upon entering the living room, the furniture was not luxurious but very cozy.

Shortly after, two more guests arrived, as Zhang Hao had also invited teammates. Since they had just played a game yesterday and would be playing a back-to-back tonight, he didn’t invite too many people and didn’t want to disturb those he shouldn’t, only inviting those he could.

Kenny Anderson and Jason Williams.

No one else...

Wilkins once again glanced at everyone who came to Zhang Hao’s house today... the eldest daughter was right!

Zhang Hao wasn’t bad at dealing with people, but over the past year or so, he had gotten used to speaking less when it came to people he wasn’t that close to.

The less you say, the fewer mistakes you make; the more you say, the more mistakes you make. He adhered to this principle.

Aprile Clark chatted with the guests in the living room while Zhang Hao went to help Britney with the dishes.

Suddenly, a system notification came!

"Congratulations to the host for gaining Dominique Wilkins’s favor. The learning mode ’Violent Aesthetic Basketball’ writing has been activated. When the host learns from Dominique Wilkins, game material and training material regarding Dominique Wilkins’s breakthrough attack on the rim will be collected..."