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### A "Bathwater" Blessing and a Brother's Bold Request
When it came to his younger brother's lofty ambitions, Zack didn't disappoint. Before leaving New York, he sent a beautifully wrapped gift box straight to Kevin Durant. And just to make sure "KD" didn't think he was pulling his leg, Zack even thoughtfully included an autograph from Scarlett Johansson herself: "Wishing you happiness, Kevin."
Would a bottle of bathwater, free of additives, truly bring Durant happiness? Zack wasn't sure. But the very day he left New York, Zack got a text from Durant that could only be described as, "Understanding fate is easy, defying it is hard."
"Boss, if you can get her bathwater, can you figure out a way to get me a couple of her personal items?"
"What do you want her personal items for?"
"I want to smell them..."
The moment Zack received Durant's outrageous text, he pretty much understood why the NBA in later years was always hesitant to make him the face of the league. You see, to encourage stars to play for their country, David Stern during this era would always find ways to compensate NBA players who were willing to represent their nation. Unfortunately... Durant, as the US men's basketball team's top weapon on the international stage, who always gave his all for his country, would never get to enjoy this special perk. Why? Because Durant's vibe was just too wild. So wild, in fact, that Zack even wanted to find a way to distance himself.
But after cooling down, Zack realized that, compared to most players in the league, Durant's genuine personality actually resonated with him. So, Zack decided that the next time Durant visited the Bay Area, he had to show his "little brother" a thing or two. After all, since Durant was currently sporting the "Zack the Second" aura, there was no way Zack, his "old man," could let him tarnish his reputation in public. That's right, even though he was only a few years older than Durant, Zack already considered this "Zack the Second" his own "flesh and blood son."
---
### The East Coast Gauntlet and the Cost of Victory
Zack, having left behind a beautiful memory and legend at Madison Square Garden, ultimately led the Warriors to a 6-2 record to cap off their eight-game East Coast road trip. The mighty Boston Celtics, bristling with talent, were cut down by Zack's second 50-point triple-double of the season at TD Garden. In that game, facing the Celtics' stifling interior defense, Zack repeatedly attacked from the mid-range on both sides of the court with his increasingly refined perimeter game. Towards the end of the second quarter, he executed a super low, wide double-crossover in front of Al Horford, sending him tumbling to the floor right in front of his beautiful girlfriend, Miss Universe Amelia Vega. That night, Horford, who wanted to play a great game under his girlfriend's gaze, simply collapsed.
Thankfully, the thoughtful Amelia had already prepared a Golden State Warriors' No. 30 jersey beforehand. After the game, seeing her dejected boyfriend, who had only managed 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 fouls, Amelia quickly tied up her hair and slipped on the Warriors' jersey. "Honey," she said to Horford, "does this make you feel any better?"
Better? More than just better! Looking at Amelia's "attack speed gear" and her "attack speed hairstyle" that could make countless men's hearts race, Horford's frustration from being bullied by Zack on the court instantly transformed into motivation to "discuss life" with Amelia.
---
### Off-Court Battles: Duncan's Heartbreak
However... in the NBA, not everyone is as lucky as Horford to have such a beautiful and understanding girlfriend. Take Tim Duncan, for example. After leaving San Antonio, he prematurely discovered that his wife, Amy, had been having a long-term affair with a fitness trainer.
"You know, I invested in that gym," Duncan recounted later. "I always found it strange that even after I left San Antonio, she'd still go back there to work out. I mean, I invested in a gym in Boston too, but she just had a soft spot for that one in San Antonio. So, I hired a private investigator. And sure enough, she had already betrayed me. But what I didn't expect was for her to accuse me first, file for divorce, and demand nearly a hundred million dollars in settlement money in court."
"And because I've always had mostly male friends around me..." Duncan continued, "You know what? She even slandered me, claiming I was gay."
The night Zack led his team to victory over the Celtics on the road, hearing about Duncan's recent messy ordeal, Zack vaguely recalled Duncan's distracted demeanor at the previous All-Star Weekend. But as someone who'd been through similar experiences, Zack was confident Duncan would win this upcoming legal battle. Zack remembered that, with plenty of evidence, Duncan would not only win custody of his children but would also only have to pay his ex-wife $7 million to finalize the divorce. While $7 million is no small sum in any era, for someone of Duncan's wealth, getting rid of this "green hat" for $7 million was practically a steal.
"I'll never believe in love and marriage again," a heartbroken Duncan, publicly humiliated by Amy, lamented that day.
Hearing this, Zack chuckled, "Welcome back to the single life, my dear senior."
"The Green Giant" Duncan still needed time to win his upcoming lawsuit. And during the team's subsequent East Coast road trip, the league's carefully scheduled back-to-back games for the Warriors led to losses against the Bulls and the Wizards. While losing to the Wizards at least meant losing to a team contending for a playoff spot in the East, losing to the Bulls was purely due to the exhausting schedule.
On paper, this Bulls team, with solid players like Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich, Joakim Noah, and Anderson Varejao, wasn't weak. But alas, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2008 draft was Adidas's heavily invested "Son of Chicago," Derrick Rose, a move to counter the Nike empire. Even though NCAA rules dictated that Rose couldn't officially sign with Adidas until he declared for the draft, just as Nike wouldn't wait for James or Zack to declare before recruiting them, Adidas wasn't going to wait three months to build buzz for Rose.
In Zack's memory, the Bulls would historically win the second-lowest lottery odds in NBA history, securing the No. 1 pick with a 1.7% chance and using it to draft the Chicago-born Rose. Yes, the Bulls' main goal this season wasn't even to tank. They just needed to stay out of the playoffs. Because as long as they didn't make the playoffs, the league would find a way, under the guise of fairness and transparency, to hand them the No. 1 pick that would ensure they drafted "the Chicago Rose." Zack knew that the 2008 No. 1 pick was a foregone conclusion for the Bulls; no one else could snatch it.
---
### MVP Aspirations and Management Mayhem
It's just like this year. Nike executives had hinted to Zack multiple times: as long as he could lead the Warriors back to the top half of the Western Conference, Nike would pull all their strings to secure him the regular season MVP trophy. Privately, Nike executive Lynn Merritt told Zack, "Given your current roster and the continuous injuries you're facing, I think it's going to be very difficult for you to repeat as champions. But that MVP trophy, that's definitely yours."
This season, Zack's stat line was absolutely insane. As of February, Zack was averaging 36.8 points, 14.0 rebounds, 8.7 assists, 3.9 blocks, and 1.4 steals for the Warriors. It's a well-known fact that once Nike's god-making machine starts, it doesn't stop. So even if Zack couldn't lead the Warriors to a three-peat this year, Nike would do everything they could to ensure he got that MVP trophy to boost his historical standing.
However, Zack didn't agree with Merritt's assessment: "The Warriors will definitely return to the top half of the Western Conference before the regular season ends, and our goal this season is still to repeat as champions."
Compared to the optimistic and confident Zack, Merritt was a realist. Davis's season-ending injury and Wallace's unexpected injury had already had an irreversible impact on the Warriors' overall strength. And in the fiercely competitive Western Conference, Zack couldn't play like a demigod every single game. Of course, to avoid dampening Zack's high spirits since that New York night, Merritt ultimately said, "I believe you have the ability to do all of this. After all, you are the Messiah of the Bay Area."
---
### March Madness and a Heart-to-Heart with Nash
After finishing their eight-game East Coast road trip, time quickly marched into the even more demanding and brutal "Suffocating March" schedule. Since teams face a more condensed schedule around this time each year, and playoff contenders vying for higher seeds push even harder, this is typically the period with the most frequent injuries and accidents in the NBA. In early February, the Los Angeles Lakers, who had been fully healthy, were now riddled with injuries.
So, in their third regular season matchup against the Warriors at home in March, with Lowry, Ellis, and Marc Gasol all out due to injury, Phil Jackson was even forced to play Kobe Bryant at point guard. Sun Yue, drafted by the Lakers last summer, got 7 minutes of playing time in this game. He went 0-for-2, totaling 0 points, 1 rebound, 0 assists, 1 block, 0 steals, 2 fouls, and 1 turnover for the Lakers.
Although Zack had given his all in the "God's Chosen Training Camp" before, and Kobe had been very supportive of Sun Yue in Lakers' daily practices, it was clear that even with Zack and Kobe teaming up to push him, it was hard to save Sun Wukong's rebellious spirit. Zack knew that Sun Yue's talent, even in later generations, was in a league of its own among Asian perimeter players. But his perplexing lack of drive meant he was destined not to survive in the NBA.
That night, two short-handed teams battled back and forth at the Staples Center. Before the game, at a Japanese katsu restaurant called "Kobe-Gyukatsu," Zack, who had once again encountered the Asian girl who looked remarkably like Airi Suzuki, eased the growing pressure on his shoulders with a delicious "Kobe beef katsu" meal.
This season, Malone, who always trusted Zack, boldly encouraged him after seeing Zack's good form that night: "I'll support you no matter how you want to play. If you want to shoot fifty times, even better." As Zack remembered, Malone was the kind of coach who was always more anxious than his star player during games. In later years, he would often get furious when Nikola Jokic was one or two stats away from a triple-double, criticizing Jokic's indifference to stats: "Joker, did you not eat enough, or did you drink too much soda? Don't you know a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and every statistic is capital for you to compete with other stars in the future?"
Malone liked his star players to put up more impressive numbers. Because that also meant his success as a head coach. But to extend his dominance in Los Angeles, Zack was destined not to fulfill Malone's wish for him to take fifty shots in this game. On the court, Zack, who was frequently double-teamed after pick-and-rolls, dished out a total of 18 assists that night. Kwame Brown, with his help, put up star center numbers of 25 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks.
However, Josh McRoberts, who filled in for Murphy this game, continued his terrible rookie season performance. This versatile big man, who spent last summer lifting weights, only had a 39% field goal percentage and a 20% three-point percentage this season. McRoberts's ice-cold shooting touch meant he couldn't showcase his basketball IQ or playmaking abilities on the court. After all, if everyone knows you can't shoot, why not just leave you alone at the top of the arc like Draymond Green in later years?
Fortunately, Barnes, who was deeply in love this year, rediscovered his shooting touch. In the fourth quarter, as the Lakers and Warriors went toe-to-toe, Barnes went 5-for-7 from the field, including 3-of-4 from three, becoming the second-leading contributor to Zack's conquest of Los Angeles.
The final score: 110 to 105. After the game, looking at Kobe, who had an empty 40 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists for the Lakers, Zack grinned, "Kobe, do you know what the happiest thing in the world is?" After a pause, Zack added, "Of course, it's eating, sleeping, and beating Kobe!"
On the court, every time he visited Los Angeles, Zack's main goal was to beat Kobe. And off the court, after triumphantly conquering Los Angeles again, Zack, who had someone buy him a Lakers No. 24 jersey, had that very "Airi Suzuki" who he had such a fate with, wear the jersey that night. However, even after enjoying this delicious meal, Zack's mood was hard to lift. Because he knew that, compared to the Warriors, the injury-plagued Lakers were only temporarily short-handed.
---
### Tough Love for a Rookie and a Call to Greatness
The next day, rookie Josh McRoberts, who hadn't heeded Mike Malone's advice during the offseason and spent months lifting weights, resulting in poor shooting touch in his rookie season, became Zack's bullying target. After dumping a week's worth of accumulated smelly socks on McRoberts, Zack's face turned cold. "This is punishment for your terrible performance, and your final warning. Josh, if you can't understand your role on this team, you'd better get out early."
Facing Zack's blatant "bullying," McRoberts obviously didn't dare openly defy the supreme authority within the Warriors. But this bullying was just the beginning. Because useless players should do useless things. So, in the Warriors' subsequent journey, McRoberts had to take on various errands for the team and carry bags and shoes for all his teammates.
This also made McRoberts start to suspect if Zack's targeting of him was related to his college days playing for Duke. Given the long-standing rivalry between Wake Forest and Duke, McRoberts's suspicion wasn't unfounded.
However, Grant Hill, a fellow Duke alumnus, told McRoberts, "Josh, Messiah isn't as narrow-minded as you think. If he really disliked you because you were a Duke player, you probably would have been traded by the Warriors already." Hill knew that Zack had always been concerned about McRoberts's growth. It's just that the Warriors' less-than-satisfactory performance this season had quietly pushed Zack to become more like Michael Jordan in his prime. In games, Zack, who had to lead the charge for the team, couldn't act like a kind older brother, coddling underperforming teammates in practice. And as for being a good guy who'd rather suffer himself than let his teammates face any hardship... in Zack's opinion, let whoever wants to play that role do it; he wasn't going to make himself miserable. If McRoberts was performing so poorly and wasn't even willing to do the tasks expected of a struggling player, then in Zack's mind, there was no place for him on the Warriors' battleship, which was always aimed at the championship.
"If I want to be a good guy, I might as well play house!"
After knocking off the Lakers on the road, the Warriors immediately rushed to Phoenix. Before the trade deadline, Suns General Manager Steve Kerr, who made trades just for the sake of it, had successfully dismantled the Suns from a championship contender into merely a strong team. The Suns, who traded Shawn Marion to the Dallas Mavericks for Josh Howard and Jerry Stackhouse, had been playing terribly since the trade, as if nothing was going right.
The most direct evidence? After bringing in Howard and Stackhouse, they had only won four games but lost ten. Kerr, who initially thought Howard could shore up the Suns' weakness in ball-handling and attacking, never imagined that Mike D'Antoni's system would rely so heavily on Marion. On the court, without Marion's extensive off-ball movement and diligent help defense, the Suns suffered devastating blows on both ends. Furthermore, the declining Stackhouse was no longer the player he once was. In Dallas, Stackhouse was used to being a spot-up shooter, always getting open looks alongside Dirk Nowitzki. But in Phoenix, when he came off the bench and pushed the pace with Leandro Barbosa, he was not only inefficient but also consistently became the team's offensive dead-end.
---
### A Fateful Conversation: Zack Courts Nash
However, "trade wizard" Kerr was clearly not going to take the blame for this utterly failed trade. As a renowned "teflon" GM in later years, as the Suns' recent record declined, Kerr immediately shifted all the blame to head coach D'Antoni. This once-famous Suns team was clearly on the verge of complete collapse. Why? Because Kerr, desperate to deflect blame, had given D'Antoni an ultimatum: if the Suns didn't make a breakthrough this season, D'Antoni would be gone.
For Steve Nash, a two-time NBA regular season MVP, this was undoubtedly his darkest hour since returning to Phoenix. After the game, Zack, who shared Nash's plight, both complained about the "brain-dead" team management. The Warriors' indirect self-destruction due to President Lowell wanting to save the owner money led to Artest's reckless behavior and Davis, who wanted to prove himself, increasing his injury risk through high-intensity training during an offseason when he most needed rest, ultimately leading to his season-ending injury. The Suns, on the other hand, had completely lost their chance at a championship this season due to Kerr's idiotic trade.
Zack didn't believe this Suns team, having lost its former system, could make it to the end of the playoffs. Nash, who also didn't believe the Suns had a chance to win the championship, couldn't help but frown. "Looks like I need to seriously think about my future this summer."
Hearing this, Zack nodded. "Steve, don't let that damn loyalty hurt you."
Nash chuckled. "Even though the Suns did draft me back then, I don't owe this city anything."
"Steve, if you're thinking of changing teams this offseason, I strongly suggest you choose the Warriors," Zack said. "You know, I've always admired you. In my mind, you're just incredibly strong."
"Warriors fans once cursed me to never win a championship. Are you sure you want to team up with a cursed player?" Nash said, thinking Zack was joking.
But the next second, Zack said, "Then we can just use this opportunity to break the curse. Trust me, fans are the most genuine people in the world. As soon as you decide to join the Warriors, they'll immediately sing your praises."
Zack's serious expression silenced Nash. Because after realizing that Zack wasn't joking, Nash realized that in that future Warriors team, he might actually have the perfect opportunity to play his game. Brown, Zack, Wallace, Richardson... and with his passing, just imagine that beautiful, inspiring picture.
---
What do you think of Zack's bold attempt to recruit Nash? And given the current state of both the Warriors and Suns, do you think a Nash-Zack team-up would be a good move?
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