Chapter 2206 - 26: Born Killer

Chapter 2206: Chapter 26: Born Killer

February 16, 2007, All-Star Weekend, the weather in Las Vegas is great, not too cold or too hot, the sun continues to favor this city.

Unlike the continuous rain in Portland, Las Vegas, located in a desert region, only has about ten days of rain a year. For those who hate rain and humidity and love sunshine and dryness, this is a great place to live.

In winter, the highest temperature here is 18 degrees Celsius, and the lowest is around 0 degrees. In a place with low humidity and dry air, this temperature feels quite nice, and many people can wander outside with just a jacket at noon without worrying about the biting cold wind.

Many players in the League like to come to Las Vegas to play. Besides basketball, various entertainment options are readily available—fine wine, women, gambling tables—everything is in abundance.

In the summer, this place becomes the city of basketball. The summer league, various amateur matches, basketball training camps, etc., all take place here.

More and more players choose to start their off-season training here in Vegas, unlike cold and old New York, or crowded Los Angeles.

The facilities here are newer, bigger than those in Los Angeles, with more gathered professionals. In the next ten years, this place will gradually replace Los Angeles as the true holy land of basketball.

In this basketball holy land, the Holy Temple is the newly built Gump Stadium, named after the greatest player in history.

From around seven in the morning on the 16th, black Mercedes sedans kept heading toward the Gump Stadium hotel, all coming from Las Vegas Airport.

Each car carried a player who disembarked from the plane to participate in this NBA All-Star game—Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Paul Pierce, Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol, and others.

One person per car, including players’ family members and friends, before the All-Star game, a count was done, and sufficient vehicles and security were provided.

In the past All-Star games, there was no such treatment; upon arrival, players had to find their own way to the hotel, have agents arrange, rent a car, or drive themselves.

This time in Vegas, the host made unified arrangements.

Kobe and his wife Vanessa sat in the spacious, luxurious back seat of the car, holding their younger daughter Gianna Bryant, alongside with the older daughter Natalia snuggled up, watching the Las Vegas street scene outside the window.

Gianna, less than a year old, was still a baby, oblivious to everything.

The older daughter Natalia, already four years old, leaned against her dad, whispering, "Daddy, I’m a bit scared."

Kobe held and kissed his daughter, saying, "No need to be scared; they are here to protect us; this is Uncle Gump’s city."

What scared Natalia was the armed security on the car; each car had two to three, looking sternly and attentively at the outside situation.

In the car behind, sat Kobe’s nanny, and Kobe, Vanessa’s parents.

After the 9-11 incident, the NBA strengthened security measures to prevent terrorist attacks.

Before this All-Star game, Glory suddenly received information from abroad that some organization would create terror events during the All-Star game.

Thus, the FBI intervened, coming to Las Vegas to investigate, the city’s security level raised, Glory Team dispatched professional protection to transport stars and their families.

Soon, Kobe’s family arrived at the hotel; a large number of reporters awaited, and after a flurry of photos, they were escorted to their rooms and advised, "Do not move around randomly; follow the official event arrangements."

After news of possible terror events broke, some suggested canceling this All-Star game.

But because the interest involved in the All-Star was too large, and with Glory promising the best security to ensure no terror attacks occur, the League office agreed to continue holding it.

Some stars wanted to use this to boycott the All-Star, but couldn’t form a joint effort, moreover who withdrew, there were people ready to replace them; you don’t play, others will.

Every All-Star exposure is crucial for increasing players’ commercial value, especially for newcomers and retired veterans.

Newcomers need popularity, while veterans need to eat a warm meal, and so those core stars who wanted to boycott the All-Star game suddenly lost motivation.

Upon arriving in Las Vegas, seeing the heavy security forces, countless Mercedes, escort SUVs, those with the intent to cause trouble lost half the spirit.

After settling into the hotel, with strict security checks every step and patrol every ten steps, private connections became extremely challenging.

Kobe stayed in the room; previously, he, Pierce, McGrady, Carter, Hill, and others indeed considered organizing and boycotting during this All-Star game.

As per the original plan, a media meeting was scheduled for the evening. By then, they were supposed to discuss sending one representative to speak out about players’ demands, such as not reducing the proportion of players’ income in labor negotiations.

Also, resolutely resisting hard salary caps, further reducing constraints on free agents, and other demands; if management disagreed, or unwilling to sit down and negotiate properly, these key forces would unite to boycott, not appear in the All-Star event.

But now, at the hotel, even wanting to go out is difficult, with people watching everywhere.

Though there are mobile phones, telephones, and texting, but selecting representatives and boycotting such significant matters must be done face-to-face; making a few calls won’t suffice.