Chapter 667 - 593: Why Were You Able to Stand Out

Chapter 667: Chapter 593: Why Were You Able to Stand Out

Inside the room, a camera was set up. Under the soft fill lights, Durant sat a bit stiffly, listening intently to the question.

"I’ve already asked a lot of questions."

Sitting across from Durant was the famous ESPN reporter, Ryan Mcken. He was in his forties, wearing narrow-rimmed glasses and with a slightly receding hairline. He sat with his legs crossed, a notebook resting on them in his hands. After some serious thought, he asked a question.

"According to the information I have, Chen’s production team initially collected files on 872 players from all over the United States, and that doesn’t even include the 12-to-14-year-olds they originally planned for."

"From those 872 players, they selected 282 to enter the program."

"Then, through open tryouts, they narrowed it down to 126 people."

"Of these 126, 90 made it to the regular season phase after a mock draft."

"After a three-month regular season with 16 teams, 48 people were left."

"Three rounds of playoffs left only two teams, a total of 6 people."

"And among those six, only two of you—you and Oden—are the undisputed cores of your teams, the key reason your Devil’s Mountain team fought its way into the finals."

In the East finals, Durant eliminated Gordon’s team with a decisive 3-1 series score.

Over 4 games, Durant averaged 42.2 points, an incredible performance.

In comparison, Oden also put up terrifying stats in the 5-game West finals, averaging 35.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 3.4 blocks.

Ryan Mcken pushed up his glasses, a peculiar glint in his eyes. "In other words, you stood out from 872 people to become the cream of the crop. And these 872 people, they weren’t just any kids. In middle schools and high schools across the country, they were the best players at their schools, the sports stars everyone looked up to."

"They were all what ordinary people would call geniuses!"

"But you, Kevin Durant, a phenom from Washington, defeated all those geniuses from across the country to become the most brilliant of them all."

"So I want to ask you, what do you think made you succeed and ultimately stand out?"

This was clearly a wrap-up question.

Durant was stunned for a good half a minute before he spoke.

"I don’t know."

Durant slowly shook his head. Just as Ryan Mcken had said, every kid who was chosen was a star at their own school—the kind of athletic prodigy in high school who had girls fawning over them and enjoyed all sorts of special privileges.

And yet, so many of them were eliminated one by one, leaving only him to emerge victorious and stand on the final stage.

Durant spent half a minute reflecting on the past four months, but he couldn’t find a suitable reason.

But after a pause, Durant added, "Maybe it’s because I worked harder."

"Yeah, it was hard work."

A light sparked in Durant’s eyes.

’Growing up poor with a skinny frame, I wasn’t someone people had high hopes for.’

’It was my mother who had to plead with the director at the youth center just to get me a chance to train.’

’All those years, in rundown gyms, in messy backyards, on the dark and desolate Devil’s Mountain, I relied on hard work to persevere and get to where I am today.’

’For the past four months, unlike many other kids, I haven’t gone out to play, party, or enjoy the adoration of the team’s fans. I’ve just used every single minute and second possible, holed up in the gym like a sponge, trying to absorb every bit of knowledge from top trainers like Jim.’

’I spent these four months in grueling training.’

’So, the reason I’m able to stand on the final stage is because of hard work—working several times harder than anyone else!’

"I’m very grateful for this show, and for Dr. Chen. He gave me an opportunity to access more professional—or rather, the world’s best—training. He also provided me with a comfortable life, so I didn’t have to worry about my livelihood and could eat as much nutritious food as I wanted, which made my body much stronger."

"I have a dedicated trainer, I have teammates who work hard alongside me, and I have a coach who discusses tactics with us every day, figuring out how to beat our opponents."

"I also had very strong opponents. We played a total of 58 games—sorry, I might not have played that many myself."

"But I faced all kinds of opponents, and I learned how to defeat them."

"I started playing basketball when I was 7, and I’ve been playing for a full 9 years now. But I feel like I’ve learned more in these past four months than I did in the entire 9 years before that!"

"So I’m truly grateful for this show, and for Dr. Chen. He did something incredible, giving a lot of kids like me an opportunity we couldn’t even have dreamed of!"

Ryan Mcken nodded slightly.

Although the answer was cliché, it was exactly what he wanted.

They were all geniuses, but to stand out from so many of them, there could be only one reason: working harder!

"Kevin, are you going to win?" Ryan Mcken asked with a smile.

Durant smiled and nodded without hesitation.

"Of course!"

On October 31st, just two days before the start of the new NBA regular season, nearly twenty thousand people filled the seats of the world-famous Madison Square Garden Arena in New York for a 3v3 kids’ basketball game.

Admission wasn’t free. The front-row tickets were even selling for the high price of several thousand US dollars.

The game was at 7 PM and would be broadcast live nationwide.

Starting from five or six in the afternoon, various sports stars, retired legends, and New York film and TV celebrities had already begun to arrive.

At both ends of the court, Durant’s and Oden’s teams had started warming up.

"Fuck, oh my god, Meryl Streep!"

"I’m going crazy!"

While warming up, Harden suddenly started screaming, jumping up and down on the spot in excitement.

Jordan, Russell, Larry Bird, boxing champion Mike Tyson, Tiger Woods, New York Giants legend Terrell Owens, and the legendary pop star Michael Jackson.

Chen Yu had astonishing connections.

And in New York, there was never a shortage of stars.

But the arrival of Broadway star Meryl Streep still left Harden uncontrollably excited.

He turned his head and saw Presti on the sidelines, looking at him with a knowing smile.

’He remembered!’

Harden had a sudden realization. Presti must have remembered the dream he’d talked about during the "Dream Big" segment.

"Kevin, if they can even get Meryl Streep to come, do you think the idols we listed on our forms will be invited too?"

After the final game of the East finals, the three of them had participated in another segment.

Each of them had received a card where they could write down one of their basketball idols, who had to be an active player.

According to the production team, there might be a surprise in store.

Harden, who was born in Los Angeles, wrote down Kobe without a moment’s hesitation.

Little Jordan wrote down Nowitzki.

As for Durant, he wrote down his childhood idol, Vince Carter.

Durant was standing near the free-throw line, balanced on one leg, slowly moving his body before taking a shot.

Then he switched to his right foot and repeated the same motion.

This was a warm-up exercise Jim had designed for him to develop his stability when shooting.

Durant was very focused and paid no attention to Harden.

Little Jordan, however, sidled up and said, "Doubtful. The regular season starts in a day. How would they have time to come at a time like this?"

The words had barely left his mouth when a tall figure appeared in the players’ tunnel in the distance.

"Dirk!"

Little Jordan instantly started screaming at the top of his lungs.

The person ambled over, already stopped by fans on both sides of the tunnel asking for autographs. It was none other than Nowitzki.

Even the focused Durant was startled and turned his head to look.

’Chen Yu really got Nowitzki to come.’

’What about Carter?’

Durant’s heart suddenly began to race. Before, when Chen Yu came to Safford to help with his treatment, he had asked him a question just as he was leaving—he’d asked if he had an idol and if he wanted to play with that idol.

’Since Chen Yu asked that, and then had me write down my idol, maybe I’ll actually get the chance to play on the same court with him.’

Durant suddenly felt a little dizzy—dizzy with happiness.