This photo doesn’t represent much, at most it shows that Tatum took a picture with Jas when he was young, but what Hughes wanted to express, Hansen already understood.
"Back then, I played in Cleveland, and Jason was allowed into the arena and even the locker room, he got along well with LeBron."
Hughes’ next words also confird this: Tatum had a deep relationship with Jas.
Hansen glanced at the photo again, he felt an inexplicable discord at first glance, and after realizing what Hughes intended to convey, he found the source of that discord.
The Kobe fans and LeBron fans are completely opposing groups, yet Tatum was wearing a Kobe jersey while posing with Jas.
This guy is truly an anomaly!
Hansen returned the photo to Hughes: "I’ll talk to Jason."
Hearing this, Hughes’ eyes were full of gratitude, and he sincerely said: "Thank you!"
For Tatum right now, without any change, there are just two results: One, continuing to stay with the Kings and face criticism; or two, being deed a half-scratched lottery ticket and used as trade material to another team.
But neither result is favorable for Tatum.
The forr goes without saying, the latter carries great uncertainty, just like Jokic who rapidly grew under Hansen’s favor, if a new team is less patient with Tatum, he might blend into the crowd.
This is also the reason Hughes is genuinely grateful because theoretically, a third possibility exists: Tatum can make a change.
This year’s Christmas showdown scheduled two gas, one in each conference, and they are both focus matches.
The Eastern Conference matchup is between the Cavaliers and the Celtics, while the Western Conference is the Pelicans against the Kings.
The East involves a battle between two rivals, while the West is a classic dialogue between Hansen and Jas.
Compared to the Eastern matchup, the Western ga has more fan attention this year.
Because the Pelicans’ strength this year clearly surpasses the Kings, and after heading to the Kings, Hansen got the [True King] nickna.
Where there’s a true king, there must be a false one; the origin of the King moniker traces back to high school when Nike gave it during their eting with Jas amidst competition from Reebok and Adi to sign him.
In other words, regardless of being self-proclaid or widely recognized, Jas has been the King for 16 years, but now it’s the mont of true versus false King.
Thus, this ga’s external focus is unprecedented.
On the day before Christmas Eve, Hansen first invited the entire team to his family estate for a barbecue party.
Compared to Cleveland, since the estate here has an artificial lake, the lakeside barbecue party had a much more intense atmosphere.
During the party, Hansen had Conningham and Guy carry a big box of items, which when opened, included a complete set of electronic products from a certain East University brand.
The value of this Christmas gift wasn’t particularly high, but Hansen wasn’t just gifting because this was the brand he endorsed.
Every NBA player isn’t an isolated entity; they’re surrounded by many spotlights. Displaying these products equates to free advertising.
This was suggested by Wilkinson, who learned plenty of marketing techniques from his years at UA.
While other team mbers munched on barbecue chatting about the gifts, Hansen specially called out Tatum to go to the living room with him.
"Hughes ca to see , he said you have a good relationship with LeBron?" Once seated, Hansen was direct.
Tatum was stunned, not expecting Hansen to be so straightforward.
After regaining composure, he nodded but wasn’t sure what else to say.
After all, everyone knows about the animosity between Hansen and Jas, or rather it’s no longer called animosity, it’s more like hatred.
Hansen chuckled.
After eting Hughes, he roughly understood Tatum’s attitude towards himself, and why the two couldn’t generate any chemistry.
Now seeing Tatum acknowledge it, these things were completely confird.
Being a transmigrator, so of his insights ca from his past life, subjectively labeling Tatum as the dia had portrayed, as a Kobe fan.
Subconsciously, he would think that as a Kobe fan, Tatum would have no connections with Jas.
But the photo Hughes gave implied Tatum is an anomaly, he admired Kobe but also saw Jas as his idol.
This is quite normal, Kobe more as an existence in televised images, while Jas was an NBA superstar Tatum could frequently interact with during his youth, and Jas was soone who excelled in appearances.
This also explained why Lue and Hughes said Tatum seed "childish," because his actions were essentially a form of resistance.
Your idol is constantly insulted and humiliated, yet you now find yourself on the sa team as that person.
Theoretically, you know that person is stronger and more worthy of admiration, but there’s always an underlying dissonance in your heart.
After all, the childhood idol, much like the girl you liked as a child, is like your white moonlight, she might grow up and change, yet deep down you still don’t want anyone speaking ill of her.
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