One Year Left to Play-Chapter 40 - 12: Champion!

"Dunk King:

Goal: Special contract player Zhang Hao won the McDonald’s All-American High School Slam Dunk Contest. (Completed)

Reward obtained: Bronze Medal: Dunk Master.

Due to the special contract player Zhang Hao not achieving perfect scores on all dunks, the additional reward was not obtained."

There was no time for Zhang Hao to be happy about receiving a medal or upset about not getting the 15 days of lifespan. Seeing Pierce and Aprile Clark rushing over, Zhang Hao decisively bypassed Pierce and celebrated with Aprile Clark in an embrace.

Pierce froze with his arms outstretched... feeling like a million alpacas were rushing through his mind...

After a moment of excitement, the award ceremony began. NBA’s first Slam Dunk Contest champion Larry Nance presented the McDonald’s All-American High School Slam Dunk Contest championship trophy to Zhang Hao.

There was also an envelope, which contained a prize. Zhang Hao felt it; it wasn’t thick, he estimated it to be a few hundred US dollars.

Looking at the different expressions of the high school athletes, Julius Erving, who was over the age of confusion, smiled and said to them, "You all have great talent, but you’re still too young now. Don’t limit your vision to this competition. Of course, this competition is great, but it’s because of you that it’s great.

If one day you appear in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, I hope I’ll still be a judge. If I were twenty years younger, I’d love to compete with you..."

Hearing the words of this legend, Zhang Hao, who was initially extremely excited about winning the championship, felt his proud joy diminish somewhat. It wasn’t a blow; instead, it stirred a sense of anticipation, making him less excited about this small victory.

"Yeah, it’s just a high school dunk contest..."

Over there with Carter, his feeling of helplessness was more like frustration. He had never experienced setbacks in this regard before, leading to feelings of dejection.

Julius Erving’s words woke Carter up suddenly.

He was still young! Unable to beat Zhang Hao now didn’t mean it couldn’t happen in the future.

Desmond Mason felt like a million alpacas were running through his mind—saying it as if he could beat these two monsters in a few years.

The others had various reactions. Dean Grove and Jonathan Simon were both aspiring to enter the NBA. During this McDonald’s All-American weekend, they deeply felt their own level of ability. They were always regarded as talents, yet they seemed not as outstanding, or at least not as much as they believed themselves to be before. But hearing Julius Erving’s words, they suddenly understood.

In basketball history, there have always been players who were great in high school but fizzled out by college, and also those who quietly accumulated and only revealed their potential in college.

There are even cases where undrafted players made it big in the NBA and earned lucrative contracts.

They had endless drive, because they were young!

"...I truly hope you all can enter the NBA and appear on the stage of the Dunk Contest again," said Julius Erving, a legendary torchbearer of NBA history, and named: "Aix, Vince, I should’ve given you tens, but... save it for the NBA."

After saying this, Julius Erving and a few old teammates, old rivals, left together.

Watching Julius Erving’s departing figure, Zhang Hao said to Carter, "In the new century’s NBA Slam Dunk Contest, let’s compete again!"

It’s currently 1995, and Zhang Hao’s current goal is to live longer. Being a player is at most a matter of ten or so years. He wants to finish college, preferably in a field related to coaching, video editing, sports academy... all are acceptable.

If they study for four years in college, they can enter the NBA together in 1999, which is Zhang Hao’s thought.

Carter’s fighting spirit was reignited: "See you in the NBA Dunk Contest!"

Desmond Mason felt overlooked and really wanted to shout: "And me!"

Julius Erving’s words became the driving force for Zhang Hao to want to work even harder.

Everyone was still young.

The future was boundless.

Perhaps there would be another chance to meet on the court!

...

...

The reporters invited by McDonald’s pushed everyone else aside, including Carter, to surround and interview tonight’s champion, Zhang Hao.

This scene was a first in Zhang Hao’s two lifetimes. The barrage of questions from the reporters made him dizzy and he absentmindedly thanked his classmates, teammates, coaches, and the organizer McDonald’s... and then it was over.

The elaborate show he had imagined if he actually won the championship... his mind went completely blank.

After the dizzying post-victory interview, Zhang Hao was taken by McDonald’s to a lounge at the Great Western Forum Arena.

Leaving the reporters’ hubbub, Zhang Hao finally came back to his senses from the "big stage" excitement.

The producer from McDonald’s informed Zhang Hao that he would need to shoot a short advertisement for McDonald’s as part of the agreement, which he knew about when he registered. McDonald’s planned to select several players from the All-American participants to shoot the ad. No money would be received; if they wanted to play NCAA, they couldn’t take money, only All-American Game, Three-Point Contest, or Dunk Contest bonuses.

After setting a shooting schedule, there wasn’t much else. McDonald’s next move was to take advantage of the resources created by this dunk contest to promote among student groups and unexpectedly beneficially tap into the Chinese community.

As things were about to be wrapped up, a staff member came in and whispered something to the producer, who seemed quite excited. He asked Zhang Hao to wait a moment, then followed the staff member out, bringing back a cameraman and an Asian-looking person who seemed to be a reporter into the lounge.

Upon seeing this person, Zhang Hao immediately recognized him. It was Xu Jicheng, who would become very famous in the domestic basketball commentary scene in the future.

"Aix, this is a special correspondent from the sports news department at China’s Xinhuanet. He wants to do a special interview with you..."

The producer briefly explained Xu Jicheng’s intentions. Zhang Hao was quite surprised—a reporter from China came to interview him for participating in a high school event, and it’s from Xinhuanet no less.

Because Zhang Hao knew that domestically, people were unaware of American high schools, and even two decades later, it wasn’t well understood. For instance, future Jeremy Lin wasn’t widely known in China before declaring for the draft, except by some fans who particularly followed the NCAA. Many only became aware of Jeremy Lin during his ’Linsanity’ phase.

Though Jeremy Lin was incredibly strong in high school, just like Zhang Hao, he was part of the California high school team and even won once, California High School Player of the Year. However, similarly, Jeremy Lin didn’t receive a basketball scholarship until he was a freshman at Harvard.

For a reporter to interview a high school student in those days from China... even though he won the McDonald’s All-American Slam Dunk Contest, it’s still just a high school contest. There might be some who read about him in newspapers or saw McDonald’s advertisements, but the influence wouldn’t be particularly significant.

After all, it’s just a high school competition.

McDonald’s erected a backdrop where Zhang Hao was seated. Although this interview would only get a small piece in the evening sports paper, McDonald’s contextually emphasized the McDonald’s All-American, which previously had no news coverage in China.

Once everything was set up, the interview started.

"Hello, Aix, I am Xu Jicheng, a reporter from Xinhuanet. Thank you for accepting our interview..."

Xu Jicheng spoke in English.

With only one person interviewing, Zhang Hao felt much calmer, responding in Chinese: "My name is Zhang Hao, I can speak Chinese. I came to the United States to study when I was 15."

"..."