Time flew by, and June arrived. On the eve of the 2007 NBA Draft, Yang Shuai traveled to Manhattan, New York, and checked into The Westin New York at Times Square, the official hotel arranged by the NBA to accommodate prospects and their families.
It was only a fifteen-minute walk from the hotel to Madison Square Garden, the draft's venue—convenient in every sense.
On the afternoon of his arrival, Westbrook was scheduled along with the other prospects to attend the official NBA media availability, while Yang Shuai stayed behind at the hotel with the rest of Westbrook's inner circle.
Yang Shuai had assumed things might feel a bit awkward, as he had never met Westbrook's family before. In reality, the atmosphere was far better than he had anticipated.
Westbrook's parents and his younger brother, Raynard, were exceptionally kind—warm, even—toward Yang Shuai.
The primary reason was deep gratitude: it was Yang Shuai who had brought Westbrook to Wake Forest University, enabling him to enter the NBA after just one season. Before that, as a three-star high school recruit, whether Westbrook could ever reach the NBA had been a complete unknown—in fact, overwhelmingly unlikely.
Westbrook didn't return to the hotel until evening, and shortly afterward, he came over to Yang Shuai's room.
The interviews hadn't actually taken that long; each prospect only got about ten to fifteen minutes, and even with waiting time included, it wouldn't have exceeded two hours.
The main reason Westbrook had returned so late was that he had met with various teams afterward.
Westbrook had already attended individual workouts for quite a few teams; landing meetings at this stage signaled that those franchises were keenly interested in him.
"The Grizzlies talked with me for over an hour," Westbrook said, sounding a little downcast. "I could tell they have some interest in me, but not that much."
"You want to go to the Grizzlies?" Yang Shuai was surprised. From what he knew, many NBA players hated the idea of being drafted by or playing for the Grizzlies, given how rough and disorderly Memphis was as a city.
"They have the fourth pick!" Westbrook cared far more about his draft position than the host city.
"Russell, draft position isn't everything. A higher pick is always great, but fit matters just as much." Yang Shuai didn't actually think landing with the Grizzlies would be bad for Westbrook, but since Memphis wasn't heavily invested in him, there was no point dwelling on it.
Westbrook nodded, then added, "The Hawks talked with me for three hours. They're really interested."
"That's a good landing spot," Yang Shuai offered immediately.
The Hawks already had Joe Johnson and Josh Smith on their roster; what they lacked was a point guard and a frontcourt presence.
Conveniently, they held two lottery picks in this draft: the third overall pick and the eleventh.
In an era where big men still ruled the league, the third pick was almost guaranteed to go to a frontcourt prospect, leaving the eleventh pick for Westbrook.
Still, as Yang Shuai had noted, draft slot wasn't everything—going to the Hawks would give Westbrook plenty of playing time.
Besides, barring any surprises, Atlanta would use the third pick on Al Horford, and their rebuild was already nearing completion.
"Jeff said the same thing," Westbrook said.
By Jeff, he meant Jeff Schwartz. Westbrook had initially planned to hire Thad Foucher as his agent, but after Yang Shuai persuaded him, he went with the more prominent Schwartz.
So far, the move had paid off handsomely. Under Schwartz's maneuvers, Westbrook had surged from the lottery bubble into a projected top-ten pick, with top-five teams like the Grizzlies giving him serious consideration.
Seeing Westbrook's lingering anxiety, Yang Shuai smiled. "You should cut yourself some slack and relax. Think about how you're going to spend your money once you become a millionaire."
Westbrook blinked, then grinned and nodded. "That's actually not a bad idea."
After Westbrook left, Yang Shuai let out a long breath.
Even as just part of the entourage, Yang Shuai felt a sliver of tension hanging over the draft, let alone Westbrook himself. For him, this was destined to be a sleepless night.
When Yang Shuai woke up the next morning, sure enough, Westbrook had bloodshot eyes but was buzzing with energy.
When adrenaline takes over, excitement completely drowns out exhaustion.
While the schedule on the eve of the draft had been packed, draft day itself was comparatively relaxed.
For the entire morning, Westbrook's primary task was trying on his suit and perfecting his styling to make sure nothing went awry when draft night arrived.
During this time, Yang Shuai presented Westbrook with a red bow tie, explaining its meaning: red brought good fortune.
After that came visiting other rooms.
The draft prospects were all housed on two floors of the hotel, and many of them had already crossed paths in pre-draft camps or games.
Westbrook dragged Yang Shuai along, offering an excuse impossible to refuse: "You're going to be an NBA general manager one day. Shouldn't you get to know the rookies ahead of time?"
To be fair, even as a transmigrator, Yang Shuai couldn't possibly recall every lottery pick from this class. Plenty of them had flamed out, barely leaving a blip on basketball history.
Like Acie Law, a direct positional rival to Westbrook, or Julian Wright from Kansas, nicknamed 'JuJu.'
Right now, those guys drew even more buzz than Westbrook.
Of course, most were household names to Yang Shuai: Oden, Durant, Horford, Conley, Jeff Green, Noah... Whether viewed in the moment or in hindsight, 2007 was a bona fide marquee draft class.
Yang Shuai even ran into Yi Jianlian.
However, when Yi saw them approaching, he reflexively turned his head away, cutting any potential conversation short.
Around noon, after everyone had lunch at the hotel and took a brief rest, they boarded the bus bound for Madison Square Garden together.
The prospects had brief pre-draft interviews, while their entourages headed inside the green room.
Taking his seat, looking at the main draft stage set up before him and the dense sea of fans packing the arena, Yang Shuai felt a surreal sense of wonder.
When he had first transmigrated, he had fantasized about getting a golden finger like webnovel protagonists and riding it into the NBA as a player.
Nothing of the sort had happened, yet here he was, standing in the middle of the NBA Draft through an entirely different path.
What made it even more fascinating was that Westbrook's table sat in the far upper-left corner of the green room. It wasn't dead center to the stage, but it was closest to the media section. After walking across the stage and taking photos with David Stern, the drafted players stepped down to be interviewed right nearby.
He could even overhear Craig Sager and Reggie Miller chatting, debating who would go first overall: Oden or Durant.
Around seven-thirty, highlight reels of the top prospects began playing on the big screens. At eight o'clock, the draft would officially get underway.
Yang Shuai watched as every prospect, Westbrook included, took instinctive deep breaths. It was an undeniably tense, thrilling moment.
Yang Shuai was equally filled with anticipation.
Because of his arrival, the timeline had already shifted. He was eager to see which team would end up drafting Westbrook, who had entered the draft a year earlier than history intended.
As eight o'clock approached, the countdown began, followed immediately by a chorus of boos. Amid that distinctive 'welcoming ceremony,' NBA Commissioner David Stern stepped out from the doorway in the center of the stage.
Having lived through Adam Silver's NBA, Yang Shuai felt a genuine sense of nostalgia for Stern—a commissioner who, despite plenty of behind-the-scenes meddling, was still remembered fondly on the whole.
Just as the Rockets were a fixture of his youth, wasn't Stern one as well?
The first overall pick belonged to the Portland Trail Blazers, who were allotted five minutes on the clock.
Five minutes later, Stern announced their selection: Greg Oden.
When Stern made the announcement, he included the prospect's official height: Oden was listed at 2.13 meters.
Having crossed paths with Oden a few times, however, Yang Shuai felt he was 2.10 meters at best.
In the NBA, padding height was just like shaving years off an age back home—tacking on an extra two or three centimeters was standard practice.
Of course, not everyone did that. For example, Kevin Durant, selected second overall by the Seattle SuperSonics, was listed at 2.08 meters in shoes, yet he was practically the same height as Oden.
The third pick belonged to the Hawks.
At that moment, Yang Shuai noticed Westbrook clasping his hands in front of the bridge of his nose, head bowed, not daring to watch.
Theoretically, the Hawks were the first team with a realistic shot at drafting him.
"With the third pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, the Atlanta Hawks select... Al Horford, a 2.03-meter power forward from the University of Florida."
In this year's March Madness, Florida had successfully defended their NAA national title, and now Horford was drafted third overall—a storybook ending to college basketball.
Westbrook let out a heavy sigh. Although he had known the odds were slim to nonexistent, having the door shut for real still stung.
After the Hawks came the Grizzlies, another team that could potentially pick Westbrook.
In the end, though, the Grizzlies selected Mike Conley.
As Oden's teammate in both high school and at Ohio State, Conley had demonstrated the basketball IQ and poise required of an elite point guard.
In the NAA championship game against Florida, he had posted 20 points, 6 assists, and 4 steals, excelling on both ends of the floor. He was a high-floor pick with minimal risk.
Westbrook couldn't help rubbing his face with both hands.
Even after Yang Shuai's earlier reassurance, it was obvious he cared deeply about where he was drafted.
Yang Shuai reached over and patted Westbrook's shoulder; it was all he could do right now.
David Stern stepped out from behind the doorway once again. This time, he was set to announce the fifth overall pick.
"With the fifth pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, the Boston Celtics select... Russell Westbrook, a 1.93-meter point guard from Wake Forest University."
Chapter 39