Champion Creed
Chapter 374 - 374 151 Want to split the cake

374: 151: Want to split the cake?

Or just smash the cake (asking for monthly tickets!) 374: 151: Want to split the cake?

Or just smash the cake (asking for monthly tickets!) Dominique Wilkins returned to the locker room in a glum mood.

As a veteran, a once-domineering superstar, he was respected everywhere he went.

Especially last season in Europe, he was the jewel in the queen’s crown, held with utmost care by everyone.

It’s not hard to imagine the downshift in feelings, from daily victories and cheers in the spotlight to coming home and seeing a full staff of maids bowing to him, to now being verbally abused by a youngster grabbing his jersey.

In other words, suddenly no one was pampering him.

No wonder Wilkins was in a bad mood.

After finishing his extra shooting practice, Roger returned to the locker room, glanced at Wilkins, and didn’t say much.

It was as if nothing had happened on the court.

Wilkins expected Roger to say something to repair their relationship, like “Dom, sorry, I was impulsive,” “Hey, you know, I did it only for the win, no hard feelings,” or something along those lines.

But Roger said nothing, he just took off his jersey on his own and had the masseuse get ready before heading to the shower.

He showed no remorse!

Meanwhile, Derrick McKey tried to console Wilkins:, “Don’t take it to heart, Roger isn’t targeting you, he’s like this with everyone.

He’s a good teammate, but very strict about basketball.”

McKey’s words didn’t make Dominique Wilkins feel any better.

A good teammate?

A good teammate would grab his jersey in public?

He realized that not a single word written about Roger in the newspapers was true.

You can’t truly understand someone from the media!

Wilkins slammed the locker door shut, deciding in his heart: he needed to leave this godforsaken place!

He could never play alongside someone who didn’t respect him!

Once he got home, Wilkins immediately called his agent Kauffman:

“Tell Orlando to cut me!

I know my contract says I need to play at least 60 games to get the guaranteed money, but I don’t give a damn anymore.

I accepted those ridiculous 600,000 a year, not to be treated like dirt!”

Steve Kauffman wasn’t surprised by the call.

Knowing Wilkins’ proud character, he didn’t even need to ask what happened to guess it:

“We might not care about those 600,000, but we can’t ignore the reputation of a superstar.

If we leave now, what do you think the media will say about us?

‘Deserves this coward never winning a championship; he just can’t handle training in a championship team’.

Also, this is really our last chance at a championship.

Think about it, Dom.”

“So I should endure that asshole shitting on my head?

You have no idea what he did to me!”

Steve Kauffman truly didn’t know what Roger had done, but that didn’t matter: “I told you before, Dom, we’re next to a fierce lion.

Why not treat him like air?

Then just do what you need to do in training and games?

We didn’t come to Orlando to make friends.”

“Damn, fucking damn it!

I really don’t know why I should tolerate all this!

Is a championship really worth it?” Dominique Wilkins was breaking down, and his agent was right, this was his last chance at a championship.

If he threw a tantrum and left now, no NBA championship contending team would want him.

After all, contending teams least like instability.

A role player who comes and goes as he pleases, who would risk signing you?

A player who is still ringless at 37 is like a woman who remains unmarried after forty, hardly anyone willing to take over.

If he’s not fighting for a championship in the NBA, where could Wilkins go?

Back to Europe to delude himself?

To tell himself “I’m still a superstar,” living in a dream?

Whether enduring all these is worth a championship, only Wilkins himself could answer.

He hung up the phone without further ranting to his agent.

Before the new season began, he would consider whether a championship was truly worth it.

News of the conflict between Roger and Dominique Wilkins during practice soon spread across the media.

In the NBA, almost everything that happens in training and games is impossible to keep inside.

Of course, Roger wasn’t going around calling out “traitors” like Jordan would.

Because the team’s trainers, masseuses, or even the janitors picking up towels at the sidelines could leak this for a few hundred dollars.

What team loyalty, in front of them, isn’t worth as much as a few hundred dollars.

As one of the most watched teams in the league, conflicts between the lead star and a teammate were definitely hot topics.

After Shaq refused to return to the team, the fiasco between Roger and Wilkins piled on, causing continuous negative publicity which greatly upset the Magic management.

They had met the demands of Roger and Shaq, paying them 40 million dollars a year—while this season’s salary cap was only 24 million.

And how did Shaq and Roger repay the team?

One openly refusing to rejoin, the other doing whatever he wanted on the training ground.

John Gabriel was thinking about joining Jerry Krause at the “Superstar Persecution General Manager’s Support Group.”

Gabriel felt he and Krause would definitely have a lot to talk about.