The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 244 - 155: League Tremors, Crisis PR_3

Chapter 244: Chapter 155: League Tremors, Crisis PR_3

His teeth were basically all shattered; he’d have to get porcelain veneers.

What was worse, he was also having a slight issue with his tear glands.

The doctors couldn’t find anything, but he could feel it himself:

Whenever he got emotional, he’d feel a heat in his eye sockets and couldn’t help wanting to cry.

"Damn Huaxia people, I will make sure they pay!"

That was what he said after leaving the hospital.

But now, restless and looking over at Richie Paul, he couldn’t help feeling the heat in his eye sockets, "What do we do now?"

Danny Ferri didn’t respond to him; he was busy communicating with someone from Nike, hoping they’d lend a hand.

The Nike representative was well aware of the entire situation and was speechless.

The game yesterday had been terrible, and just overnight, a bullying incident... If they didn’t handle it themselves and had the audacity to come asking them for help.

Who signed LeBron in the first place?

For years they’d been pouring money and resources into him without seeing any return.

And crisis management, asking them at Nike?

Their own image problems were handled like "ostriches" and where would the solution come from?

"If it comes to it, just don’t take any interviews for a while, wait for the storm to pass." was the final advice from the Nike representative.

Richie Paul hung up decisively and cursed in his heart:

Idiots!

It just so happened that after Danny Ferri finished his call with David Stern, he got a reply from the big boss. He glanced at the text message and said to LeBron, "The big boss wants me to prepare a press conference, he hopes you will attend too."

LeBron was somewhat troubled.

Ferri said, "We’ve thought it through for you, you just need to say that you weren’t holding Zhu back to help Jeff, but trying to separate the two of them, and that your actions were misunderstood by Zhu. However, you can understand his agitation at the time, and therefore you have no grudge against him. You’d also like to apologize to Zhu for any misunderstanding caused."

And then?

LeBron, confused after hearing this, looked at Danny Ferri, waiting for him to continue.

But Ferri had finished speaking.

So, I got beaten for nothing?

Ferri ignored LeBron, he understood what LeBron wanted to express. But at a time like this, preserving one’s reputation could be considered the best crisis PR outcome. Any further delay and the label of "bully" would be firmly stuck on LeBron.

It wouldn’t just be LeBron’s image taking a hit, the Cavaliers would suffer too.

But Ferri couldn’t convince LeBron; he could only pin his hopes on Richie Paul.

Richie was a smart man; he understood the situation. After half an hour of convincing, LeBron finally agreed.

The Cavaliers’ press conference went smoothly, LeBron apologized to Zhu Fangyu as Ferri had suggested, then, following Richie Paul’s instructions, he declined to answer any other questions. This included why he didn’t stop the lunch box incident involving Jeff and Zhu; he chose to remain silent. freēNovelFire.com

Because he couldn’t swear on his mother’s life over a lie.

If he admitted seeing the incident, then his previous remarks would have been invalid.

In that moment, he was less than a high school student, one might even think he had just graduated kindergarten, utterly lacking the ability to take care of himself.

Danny Ferri then announced, "We will indefinitely suspend Jeff McInnis until he shows a proper attitude of reflection. The Cavaliers are a team with excellent traditions, we absolutely do not allow, nor will we condone the occurrence of any bullying incidents."

Upon learning of Ferri’s punishment, McInnis knew he had been sold out, become the "scapegoat." Already not high in the team’s ranks, and now indefinitely suspended, his professional career was likely over...

I’m not having an easy time; I won’t let you have an easy time either!

He went straight to his Facebook, ready to drag LeBron down with him:

"LeBron was aware of everything from start to finish, just like Zhu said, he pretended not to see!"

"LeBron wasn’t trying to break up the fight at all, he just helped me grab Zhu’s hand. If this was a misunderstanding, why was LeBron the one who got beaten the worst? Because when I took Zhu’s lunch box, he saw it, but he didn’t stop it, he hates Zhu, no, he hates Huaxia people, including Zhu and Su Wan!"

The "dog-eat-dog" drama gave the already dissatisfied reporters more reason to harp on the issue.

The label of "bully" now seemed hard to shake off in the short term.

As LeBron’s situation became increasingly precarious, Zhu Fangyu added fuel to the fire: "I hate dishonest people, and I’m very clear that I’ve got no misunderstanding, I will not forgive these people. But right now, I just want to leave as soon as possible!"