It was actually done!
The moment Yang Shuai saw the official announcement, he threw his hands into the air, unable to contain his excitement inside his office.
Kobe and Garnett. He had never imagined he would live to see the day the two of them teamed up!
It felt like watching Michael Jordan join forces with Patrick Ewing—the sheer fantasy of it was off the charts.
Best of all, it had happened because he had pulled the strings behind the scenes. His sense of pride went without saying.
The news spread across the globe in no time, and the fans' reaction was even more explosive than Yang Shuai's.
After enduring the breakup of Shaq and Kobe and several years of defensive slugfests in the Finals, fans were desperate to see a seismic shift in the league's landscape. This monumental shakeup sent expectations for the upcoming season through the roof.
The morning after the trade was officially announced, Yang Shuai ran into Kobe early at Staples Center.
With his China tour behind him and his stay in Los Angeles secured, Kobe's offseason training camp was officially underway.
The instant he laid eyes on Yang Shuai, Kobe walked over with an ecstatic look and gave him a big hug.
Although Mitch Kupchak was the one who had handled the actual negotiations, the trade never would have materialized without Yang Shuai.
After pulling back from the hug, Kobe went so far as to invite Yang Shuai to his home for dinner.
Yang Shuai had intended to decline, as they weren't yet on such intimate terms. But just then, Kupchak walked in. Kobe turned to greet him with a broad smile, catching the general manager completely off guard and leaving him rather flattered.
Once their conversation wrapped up, Kobe made sure to remind Yang Shuai not to forget before heading out. A few steps down the hall, he turned back, flashed him a thumbs-up, and disappeared around the corner.
Kobe truly was the one looking forward to the new season the most.
***
When the workday came to an end, Yang Shuai boarded Kobe's private helicopter.
Yang Shuai had already experienced firsthand just how nightmarish Los Angeles traffic could be during his pitch to Russell Westbrook. For a long-term local like Kobe, it went without saying: a helicopter was the ultimate solution to gridlock.
Of course, for a transmigrator like Yang Shuai, sitting inside meant stiffening up involuntarily, his palms sweating the entire time.
As the helicopter circled before landing, Yang Shuai leaned toward the window and peered out. The first thing that caught his eye was the line of palm trees lining the road below.
A year ago, he had gazed at them from an overpass in the distance. Seeing them up close now, they looked even more like works of art than he had imagined.
Naturally, that paled in comparison to Kobe's mansion.
The estate sprawled over ten thousand square feet, the very definition of luxury in prime Los Angeles real estate. An open-air swimming pool, an outdoor basketball court—it had everything, right down to a pair of four-car garages packed with luxury cars.
Most striking of all was the main residence itself. Its exterior was composed of expansive glass panels and light-toned stone that gave off a warm golden glow in the evening light.
Having been nothing more than an ordinary working stiff in his past life, Yang Shuai found the sight genuinely breathtaking.
Still, his legs felt like jelly when he stepped down from the helicopter, cementing his resolve to take a cab back after dinner.
Unlike the bustling, crowded scenes Yang Shuai had watched in American TV shows, Kobe's villa, despite its vast size, was remarkably quiet.
Aside from Kobe's wife, Vanessa, and their two daughters, there were only a handful of domestic staff. Yang Shuai didn't even see Kobe's parents.
Yet he had barely settled into the living room for a few moments when a raspy voice drifted in from outside, carrying an infectious warmth that not even a Minneapolis winter could freeze over.
"Bean! Where's our assistant GM at? Let me see him!"
Before the words faded, a towering, lanky figure squeezed his way through the doorway.
"Squeezed" was no exaggeration: though the doorway was plenty wide, the man's immense shoulder width and wingspan made the frame look downright cramped.
Kevin Garnett wore a black training tank top, the muscle definition on his arms looking as if chiseled with a blade. Walking in, he resembled a mobile watchtower.
His gaze swept across the living room before locking onto Yang Shuai.
Before Yang Shuai could even rise to greet him, Garnett strode over, planted himself down, and clapped a heavy hand on Yang Shuai's shoulder.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Garnett leaned in, his sharp eyes burning with intensity as his grip tightened on the shoulder. "You just put two maniacs together!"
He pointed with his other hand at himself, then at Kobe, and burst into booming laughter. "The rest of the league is losing their damn minds!"
Kobe said flatly, "They already have."
"I know," Garnett said, easing his grip. He cleared his throat and lowered his voice, dropping into a mock Slavic drawl: "'Los Angeles traded a few dimes for a hundred-dollar bill. It's totally unfair... What's the difference? It's highway robbery!'"
Watching Garnett deliver an uncanny impression of Gregg Popovich, Yang Shuai couldn't help but chuckle.
He knew it wasn't just Popovich; front offices around the league—especially those of championship contenders—were having full-blown meltdowns.
Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert was already raging that the Grizzlies and Timberwolves were destroying small-market franchises.
Over in Houston, Leslie Alexander had gone so far as to call it a backroom "drawer deal."
Mark Cuban had even submitted a formal request for an investigation to the league office.
However, none of the four franchises involved were under league custodianship, meaning the NBA had no power to block it.
Not that David Stern had any reason to stop it anyway—the trade had instantly jacked the upcoming season's hype through the roof.
Just then, Vanessa emerged from the kitchen carrying a fruit platter. She froze in surprise upon seeing Garnett. "Kevin? Didn't you say you weren't coming to LA until next week?"
"Thanks," Garnett said, popping a grape into his mouth before jerking his chin toward Kobe. "Figured I'd head over early so me and this guy can start getting our chemistry down."
"You haven't even passed your physical yet," Kobe pointed out.
"Physicals are just a formality." Garnett pounded his chest hard. "I'm healthy. Healthier than anybody on this squad."
Watching Garnett's hypercharged energy, Yang Shuai realized he needed to revise his earlier assessment: this guy was actually the one looking forward to the season the most.
After all, Kobe had merely bowed out in the first round the past two seasons, whereas Garnett hadn't tasted the playoffs in three straight years!
At that moment, Garnett turned toward Yang Shuai, his grin fading into a look of genuine sincerity. "Seriously, Hanson. Thank you."
Garnett had been bantering wildly since the moment he walked in, so the sudden gravity of the moment caught Yang Shuai off guard.
"I just did what I had to do," Yang Shuai replied calmly once he recovered. "It's my job."
"No, without you, KG wouldn't be in LA," Kobe chimed in.
As Yang Shuai turned toward him with curiosity, Kobe finally shared some details Yang Shuai hadn't known.
As it turned out, after their conversation that day, Kobe had returned to his room and turned his phone back on, only to find a slew of missed calls from Garnett.
Kobe had kept his phone off specifically to avoid talking to management, never imagining he had nearly missed Garnett's calls.
At the time, Paul Pierce had been calling Garnett every single day. If Kobe hadn't connected with him, Garnett almost certainly would have landed in Boston.
It was precisely because Kobe returned the call and made his fierce determination clear that Garnett had set his heart on the Lakers and refused all other destinations—paving the way for the four-team trade that followed.
"To be honest, I never expected Memphis to jump in either," Garnett admitted. "Before that, Kevin McHale told me not to get my hopes up about going to LA." Throughout his time in Minnesota, Garnett had maintained open communication with the front office. While he lacked a no-trade clause like Kobe's, management had wanted to do right by him and send him to his preferred destination out of respect for all he had done for the franchise.
Yang Shuai had actually been somewhat surprised by that development as well. Without the Grizzlies stepping in to supply Pau Gasol, the Celtics never would have joined the deal. Nor would the Timberwolves have agreed, since McHale coveted Al Jefferson far more than Andrew Bynum.
It was no exaggeration to say that Memphis entering the fray had brought the entire chessboard to life.
Granted, the Grizzlies had historically traded Pau Gasol for Marc Gasol and draft picks anyway, but just like the Lakers' current pursuit of Trevor Ariza demanding a first-round pick, timing changed everything: a team's willingness to deal and their expected return shifted dramatically depending on the moment.
Right then, a thought struck Yang Shuai, and a certain name flashed across his mind.
"I think it might have been Jerry West," Yang Shuai offered, voicing his deduction.
When he had crossed paths with West during Summer League, he hadn't thought much of it beyond idle curiosity. But looking back, running into West multiple times meant the Logo had been watching Lakers games consecutively.
Or put more directly, West had been scouting Marc Gasol.
West's departure from Memphis had been fundamentally different from his exit from Los Angeles. The latter had been forced, while the former was driven by personal accountability: although he had helped steer the Grizzlies back into the postseason, they had failed to win a single playoff game.
So even after stepping down, he had done everything in his power to help the Grizzlies, at the very least ensuring their transition was handled properly.
"That has to be it," Kobe said quietly, his tone laced with absolute certainty.
To Yang Shuai, it was merely an inference grounded in facts. But hearing those words struck a completely different chord in Kobe's heart.
Years ago, it was West who had defied all opposition—even trading away Vlade Divac—to bring him to Los Angeles. Later, when the feud between Shaq and Kobe erupted and almost the entire organization sided with O'Neal, West was the only one who consistently stood by his side.
To Kobe, West was more than just a talent scout who recognized his gifts; he was a mentor, a coach, and a father figure all in one.
Regardless of what anyone else believed, Kobe knew in his heart that whenever he needed it most, West would always be there to give him that push.
Chapter 49