Rebound: A 2nd Chance

It was late as the sun had already gone down. Marvin was in his room eating a dinner that the hotel had delivered to his room.

As he was about to pick up another slice of steak his cameraman asked him a question "So training camp was a little different today. What are your thoughts?"

Marvin looked at him with a face that screamed 'Bruh, did you really just ask me that?' He put his hand on his head and sighed.

"This years training camp looks like it's gonna be different than last years I can tell you that. That boy a dog man. He gon be a problem."

The cameraman asked "Who specifically are you talking about?" Marvin stuck his fork into a piece of steak and brought it to his mouth.

After chewing for a bit he answered "I'm pretty sure you know who I'm talking about. His nickname's Young Buckets so I already knew that he could score.

But what I wasn't expectin was for him to bust my ass on the defensive end. For a little dude he was all up in my jersey.

He didn't try to hide or avoid the physicality he welcomed that shit with open arms. Even when I didn't have the ball he was pushing and shoving, frontin me, he was givin it everything he had man.

There wasn't a possession where I could establish good post position. It didn't matter if it was the high post or the low post he made it a real battle.

And don't let his face trick you. That boy look like a soft ass pretty boy but when it come down to it he play like a ugly dude you feel me?

I'm talkin bout he out there talkin nonstop shit, he all in your face, he bumpin and pushin you, and he ain't takin a break on a single play.

He play like he got the biggest chip on his shoulder man. I know dudes that are fightin for a rotation spot that ain't got the same kinda fire that he got."

- - -

Back at their hotel room Jason and Kyle sat at the table in the corner while all the other guys watched something on the TV.

Jason shook his head "I don't know why you guys are so interested in seeing what kind of food they give me for my diet. You ain't missing out on much."

Kyle chuckled "If it's enough to make YOU sick of eating then it has to be something out of this world Jaya."

3D nodded his head "For someone that eats even more than me it has to be something crazy for you to all of a sudden start hating food."

Jason sighed "It's not that I hate food now. It's just that.... I hate the food that they prepare for me. Plus it's a lot of food."

Just as he had finished saying that they heard a knock on their door. Jason stood up and went over to the door.

After seeing who it was through the peep hole Jason opened the door. Afterwards one of the hotel workers pushed a cart in with multiple trays of food on it.

After the worker left Jason began to take the lids off of all the trays. Kyle along with all the other boys watched on in amazement as dish after dish was revealed.

Jason sighed as he looked at the wide spread of food in front of him. Danilo pointed at the food "Bro, how many calories is that?"

Jason sadly replied "I had two 2,500 calorie meals back at the training facility so this is probably around 3,000 calories."

Everyone was stunned silent after hearing Jason say that. Kyle asked "You're eating 8,000 calories a day?"

Jason once again sighed as he nodded his head "We started off with 6,000 calories a day but Dr. Patricia said that it wasn't doing anything for me.

That's why they decided to kick it up to 8,000 calories a day." Jason then picked up his fork as he stabbed it into a piece of grilled chicken.

Although the food was under seasoned the technical abilities of the chef were clearly discernable as the chicken was perfectly cooked.

However, even though the chicken was perfectly grilled with a crispy layer on the outside while being moist on the inside as soon as the food went into his mouth all Jason could feel was wet and soft meat getting ground up in his mouth.

Jason brought his hand to his mouth as the urge to throw up threatened to overtake him. As Jason began to shovel more and more food into his mouth tears began to form in the corner of his eyes.

Kyle and all the other guys stood there awkwardly as they watched Jason force himself to eat the food in front of him.

They had originally asked to see what kind of food they had him eat for his training when he told them about his training regiment.

Some of them had imagined that Jason was getting special treatment because of his status as a player that regularly appeared on TV.

But after seeing how brutal it actually was to have to eat 8,000 calories a day that thought left their minds in a hurry.

Jason picked his head up as he took a break from the food. He opened up a bottle of water and drank all of its content in one go.

He looked around to the guys in the room before putting on a small smile "Sorry, I know it's gross. But after eating this stuff day in and day out it just becomes unbearable.

Like even though I know what the food tastes like when I put it in my mouth the only thing I can taste is rotten eggs and expired milk."

All of the guys shook their heads "Don't sweat it man." "Yeah, you can't help that it tastes nasty." "You want some of the pizza that we ordered?"

Jason shook his head "Doc told me that as long as I finish the food that they send to the hotel I'm free to eat whatever I want outside of that.

But to be honest even the thought of eating stuff on top of the food that they send is enough to get my stomach churning."

Everyone nodded their heads in understanding. Kyle smiled as he tried to change the topic "Well at least we have one thing to look forward to tonight."

Rudy laughed as he added "Yeah! Even though the first part of Nike's docu-series doesn't come out until tomorrow the trailer for it shows tonight."

- - -

In another part of New York. A group of Asian guys were standing around as they waited for their orders in a boba shop.

All of the guys appeared to be in their early to mid teens. They also seemed to be from well off families as all of them were dressed up in designer labels.

One of them was scrolling around social media when he saw something that made him want to take a closer look.

After a few minutes he looked to the other guys in his group "Yo check it out. Nike is doing their training camp again."

The other guys all laughed "And?" "Bro you're the only one who cares about that kind of stuff." "I don't even know why you're so into basketball. It's not like you can play haha."

He rolled his eyes "I might not be able to play but at least I'm not a generic car tuning douchebag unlike you assholes.

And besides, this year is different. There's actually a Asian guy that's going to be attending Nike's training camp."

Everyone looked to him in surprise "No way." "Are you serious bro?" "Asian guy, please. He's probably half Black or something."

He shook his head as he held his phone out for all his friends to see "Nah, he's like a legit Asian American dude. His name is Jason Yang."

A couple clips played showing Jason. The clips included snippets from his interviews as well as small clips of his highlights.

One of the guys sneered "Why the hell does he talk like that?" another person added "Yeah, you can tell he's trying so hard to be Black haha."

"If he wants to fit in with them so bad why doesn't he just start sagging his pants and walk around with a durag on his head hehe."

He put his phone away as he rolled his eyes at his friends "You guys are just a bunch of haters. The dude is living the dream.

I'm surprised you guys have never heard of him. He's kind of a big deal back in California." He then turned to one of his friends.

"You okay Nate? You've been real quiet for a while now. I thought for sure you would have something to say about this. The guy even has the same last name as you."

Nate blinked a few times before putting up an awkward smile "Yeah uh my bad. I think it's pretty cool. It's not everyday that you see a Asian kid on TV for basketball."

After he said that Nate pulled out his phone and typed in 'Jason Yang's parents.'