The next day, Hansen arrived at the arena a bit earlier than usual, just as he always did.
Before long, Jas and Mancias showed up together.
Upon seeing Hansen, the two n walked straight toward him.
"This is my trainer, Mike Mancias," Jas introduced to Hansen. "He used to be an assistant to Tim Grover. If you need any help, feel free to ask him."
Mancias reached out his hand to Hansen.
Hansen put down the dumbbell he was holding and shook hands with him, then shook his head:
"Thanks, but I know how to train myself."
They had previously agreed that he didn’t need to work on improving any off-the-court relationship with Jas, even if Jas seed to be extending an olive branch at the mont.
Moreover, he hadn’t looked up to Grover when he was in Miami, so why would he regard Grover’s assistant highly?
Besides, Hansen knew that throughout his career, Jas was hardly synonymous with technical prowess. How reliable could Mancias be?
Jas didn’t say much in return, at least Hansen had said "thanks."
Basic respect and a common goal were already enough for them.
Hansen finished his strength training earlier and returned to the locker room sooner.
By then, the locker room was quite crowded and bustling.
However, when Hansen appeared, the locker room quickly fell silent.
Varejao stood up as soon as he saw Hansen, pointed his index finger at him and said, "You’ve got so nerve showing up!"
But at the sa ti, Conningham also got up and stood in front of Varejao, "What do you think you’re doing?!"
"What am I doing? What are you doing, have you forgotten what this guy did yesterday?" Varejao didn’t expect Conningham to take Hansen’s side.
Considering that Conningham was also one of those who got crushed by Hansen on the court the day before.
"If you can’t match up on the court, do you resort to causing trouble off it?" Conningham’s voice rose,
"I acknowledge Hansen’s strength, and I respect it. Ask around this room, who doesn’t?"
No one answered, but no one disagreed either.
Their silence was because yesterday’s event had been too humiliating for most of them to discuss, and they didn’t disagree because Conningham was right.
A loss was a loss, and it had to be acknowledged.
It’d indeed be clownish to try and make up for an on-court loss with off-court antics.
"Forget it, Dante," Hansen said, motioning for Conningham to return to his spot.
He used to think Varejao was annoying, but now he just found Varejao pitiful.
Logically, among the Cavaliers, Varejao was the most loyal to Jas and had the closest relationship with him, sothing even O’Neal was aware of.
However, Varejao was completely in the dark about what had happened the day before.
Indeed, lackeys have no rights.
Just then, Jas and Mancias also arrived at the locker room.
Seeing the confrontation between Varejao and Hansen, Jas’s face imdiately turned dark: "Back off!"
Confused, Varejao still dared not disobey Jas’s command.
Jas entered the locker room and stood next to Hansen, then he spoke up: "From now on, anyone who sses with Hansen is ssing with ."
A simple sentence, yet it made everyone in the locker room widen their eyes.
Varejao especially started to question his entire existence.
What’s going on here?
Weren’t Jas and Hansen at each other’s throats?
Didn’t Hansen humiliate Jas and the rest of the Cavaliers just yesterday?
Now they really want to go out and see if today’s sun has truly risen from the west!
Seeing everyone’s reaction, Jas seed to be well-prepared and continued speaking,
"Our only goal this season is the championship; we cannot fail again. No matter how great our differences were in the past, they should be behind us now. Only by working together can we beco unstoppable, like a bundle of sticks — when fifteen are held together, nothing can break them."
Hansen looked at Jas with surprise. Since when did Jas have the ability to give such a locker room speech?
That was indeed a surprise to him.
But it wasn’t completely incomprehensible; after all, this wasn’t on the spot. With a strong team behind Jas, preparing a speech wouldn’t be too difficult.
Jas’s speech was very effective, and his persona seed even more elevated.
Letting bygones be bygones for the sake of championship — if this isn’t a leader, then who is?
Hansen didn’t care about that, he just sat down in his own place. It’s fine as long as Jas’s new persona doesn’t cause him trouble.
His thoughts were the sa as before, to get stronger quickly.
He couldn’t be entirely sure whether Jas would stay with the Cavaliers after a year, but one thing was certain: next season, they definitely wouldn’t be teammates anymore.
Their on-court clashes would be like sparks hitting the planet every ti.
If he wasn’t strong enough by then, he would truly beco a joke.
After Jas finished speaking, the locker room quickly livened up.
O’Neal also started chatting with Hansen.
During the days when Hansen was being targeted, O’Neal also didn’t have an easy ti.
On the court, he and Hansen were the most electric pair, and without Hansen, his performance noticeably suffered.
Off the court, since he was seen as part of the sa camp as Hansen by Jas, his interactions with the other Cavaliers were rely for show.
Now that Hansen and Jas’s relationship had softened, he was an indirect beneficiary.
He even went so far as to ask about Hansen’s birthday.
When he learned that Hansen’s birthday had just recently passed, he imdiately said he wanted to give Hansen a belated birthday gift.
Hansen couldn’t refuse such kindness, he just had to rember it and return the favor when O’Neal’s birthday ca around.
They had just finished talking when Jas approached.
Conningham, who was nearby, gave up his seat.
"Andre’s not really a bad guy. If you need, I can ask him to co over and apologize to you," Jas said as he sat down.
O’Neal, who was sitting beside him, showed a look of surprise. You say this kind of thing directly in the locker room?
"No need," Hansen shook his head.
Varejao was just a man who followed orders, and if he really made him apologize in front of everyone, Varejao would completely lose face and couldn’t stay with the Cavaliers anymore.
Of course, the most important reason was that Varejao had already been kicked out of the starting lineup by Hansen and O’Neal, so he no longer posed any threat to him.
As long as the guy didn’t cause trouble for himself in the future.
"I thank you on his behalf," Jas said with the air of an elder brother.
Hansen smiled. Looking at Jas, he wasn’t sure how to describe his feelings at the mont.
Perhaps, this is just Jas after all.
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