NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 191 Trip to New Orleans

On February 13, the Hawks suffered a back-to-back road loss to the Raptors, marking their fourth consecutive defeat.

After a four-game losing streak, their record stands at 33 wins and 18 losses.

After this game, the NBA will enter All-Star Weekend, and the players will have a short vacation.

For Jia Fei, the mood was somewhat depressed, as he did not expect that his first All-Star Game journey would end with a four-game losing streak.

But sometimes there's just no way around it. It's not that he's not trying, but with Horford and Antic both injured in the paint, it's incredibly difficult to improve their record and surpass the Heat and Pacers. There aren't that many weak teams in this league, and with their recent excellent performance, other teams are starting to take them more seriously. Catching opponents off guard is becoming increasingly difficult, and he's now frequently receiving All-Star level defensive treatment.

On February 14th, Valentine's Day, Jia Fei boarded a plane to New Orleans, the venue for this year's All-Star Game.

St. Louis is a port city in southern Louisiana, USA, and also the largest city in the state. Known as the "Crescent City" and the "City of the Water," it boasts attractions such as St. Louis Cathedral, Southern Oak Estate, and Jackson Square.

Jia Fei's deepest impression of New Orleans wasn't St. Louis Cathedral or Southern Oak Estate, but rather the New Orleans Hurricane and New Orleans chicken wings...

Eating chicken wings in the middle of a hurricane must feel amazing!

Jia Fei was accompanied to New Orleans by his good friend Art Mayork.

Art Mayork wanted to go because he wanted to experience the All-Star atmosphere; he had nothing to do in Atlanta, and he could also help shield Jia Fei from reporters.

Jia Fei was both amused and exasperated. He thought that if Art Mayok couldn't play in the NBA anymore and didn't want to play overseas, he could hire him as his bodyguard and assistant, so that he would at least have no worries about food and clothing.

Art Mayork, as an inside player, is all muscle. Although he doesn't have any martial arts skills, his physique and build alone are enough to take down at least two or three average adult men.

Upon arriving in New Orleans, Art Mayor seemed to remember something and asked Jia Fei, "Jia, isn't today Valentine's Day?"

"How did you know?" Jia Fei asked, then realized it was a pointless question. How did they know? It's common knowledge, not some state secret.

Art Mayor's answer left him speechless: "I didn't know either. You know I don't have a girlfriend and I never celebrate this holiday. I just saw a couple kissing at the airport, and the woman was asking the man for a Valentine's Day gift!"

"How come I didn't see it?" Jia Fei laughed.

“You were looking at your phone just now! It’s normal that you didn’t see it!” Art Mayork said seriously.

Jia Fei: "Uh..."

“Jia, is it alright if you don’t go with your tennis girlfriend?” Art Mayork asked with concern.

"Tennis girlfriend..." What is this all about?! Speaking of which, he was quite troubled. He had just been chatting with her, and she wanted him to go to Europe to be with her, but he was supposed to be attending the All-Star Weekend. How could he go to Europe? Should he skip the All-Star game?

He suddenly felt that she was becoming increasingly unreasonable, almost like a completely different person from when they first met. He was truly praying that her injury would heal soon so she could go back to competition; otherwise, staying at home recovering from her injury, she was always overthinking things and her mood was unpredictable, leaving him speechless.

“I can’t stay with her. I can’t just skip the All-Star game! I can’t miss such a great opportunity!” Jia Fei said.

“Yes, Ja, I will always support you!” Art Mayor had a look of “a scholar would die for one who understands him.”

"Nonsense, if you don't support me, are you going to support someone else?" Jia Fei laughed and scolded.

Upon arriving in New Orleans, Jia Fei and Art Mayor checked into a hotel.

The All-Star Game will be held from February 15th to February 17th, with the NBA All-Star East vs. West game, the main event, taking place on the 17th.

Jia Fei only participated in the main event of this year's All-Star Game; he did not participate in any of the other individual events.

On the 15th, Jia Fei attended the All-Star Media Day, where he saw many media reporters. Most of them were from the United States, but there were also reporters from other countries. Among them, he also saw Zhou Ling'an, a female reporter from China.

Although Jia Fei was just a young star participating in the All-Star Game for the first time, he received more attention at the scene than many veteran stars. This made people feel that "the younger generation surpasses the older generation" and also made them sigh at how rare a person of Asian descent is in the "black and white" NBA.

Jia Fei was surrounded by reporters with their cameras and microphones, who bombarded him with questions. Some were about basketball, others about his personal life, and of course, his relationship with Sharapova was inevitably mentioned. He felt like he wasn't participating in an All-Star game, nor was he a basketball player; he felt more like an entertainment star.

Zhou Ling'an clearly wanted to interview Jia Fei as well, but she couldn't squeeze past the burly male reporters, which made her very anxious. As a Chinese reporter covering the NBA, interviewing Jia Fei at this year's All-Star Game was her top priority.

To her surprise, after the interview ended, Jia Fei offered to give her a private interview, which made her laugh heartily and was extremely excited.

Some journalists from other countries also wanted to interview Jia Fei, but Art Mayork turned them away.

Zhou Ling'an is considered one of the earlier female reporters to work in the NBA. In 2011, at only 24 years old, she graced the cover of FHM magazine and was ranked among the top 20 of the world's 100 sexiest women. Because of her sexy figure, she was dubbed "China's Kardashian."

She exercises regularly and takes good care of herself, so she looks amazing and is in great spirits.

"Hello!" Jia Fei shook hands with Zhou Ling'an.

"Hello Jia Fei, I'm so lucky to be able to interview you!" Zhou Ling'an laughed heartily, and it has to be said that as a female reporter, she does have her own unique charm.

"Let's use Mandarin!" Jia Fei suggested.

“Okay, okay!” Zhou Ling’an readily agreed.

The interview officially began.

"Jia Fei, Chinese fans are very interested in you. I heard you grew up in the United States. Do you still have relatives in China?" Zhou Ling'an asked.

Jia Fei's thoughts drifted into the distance... Family, what a familiar yet unfamiliar word!

"No!" Jia Fei replied.

"This is your first time participating in the All-Star Game. What are your thoughts?" Zhou Ling'an continued to ask.

"I'm very happy. I've always wanted to be an All-Star player. I'm also very grateful to the fans who voted for me; without them, I wouldn't be here at all," Jia Fei said honestly.