You should cross the mountains like a brave man

Chapter 990 Keep Goodbye In My Heart At The End

For professional players, the most difficult thing is not to say goodbye, but after saying goodbye, they cannot adapt to life without competition.

More than 90% of players have thought of coming back after retiring, no matter how old they are or why they retired.

Some have even written a comeback manifesto, and just want to wait until a special time to make it public.

The world in 2023 may seem to be no different from the world in 2013, but if you push the time forward three years, it will be a different scene.

The new crown has poisoned the world, hundreds of millions of people have been diagnosed, and tens of millions of people have died. The residual poison has not been eradicated so far.

It was also at this time that Wei Xia finally couldn't bear the loneliness. After announcing an indefinite truce in 2020, after three years, he finally came back.

His comeback is not a "return of the king", but a real farewell.

Wei Xia only signed with the 76ers for one season, and he wondered if he could still play.But the 76ers are very different from three years ago. Although there are still a few familiar faces, the competitiveness no longer exists.

Cousins ​​left his prime with an Achilles injury and was traded in the summer of 2022.

The head player of the 76ers is Pascal Siakam, who lost his aggressiveness after signing a big contract.

They are a team that is difficult to reach the playoffs, welcome back an old man who has been away from professional basketball for three years, will there be any changes?

No, nothing will change.

Wish is old after all, his truce is not the same as Jordan went to play baseball, he didn't keep moving, so most things had to start from scratch.

In the first month of the new season, he struggled.

Later, he slowly found the state of the game, using his skills, experience and skills to maintain an average of 20 points per game + 45% shooting rate.

After the New Year, he announced that he would officially retire at the end of the season.

Thus, a belated farewell tour began.

He is like Bob Cousy in 1963; Havlicek in 1978; Dr. J in 1988; Michael Jordan in 1998, wherever he goes, fans who come to say goodbye to him will fill the arena.

He is a controversial figure. Most Americans do not agree with his three views and political stance, but he is undoubtedly the greatest basketball star of the 10s.

Loving him or hating him is just a choice.

Sports have an extremely strong cohesion in American society. When such a great athlete comes to the end of his career, what he has done is no longer important to fans.

"Wish is like LBJ, Kobe, MJ, Larry Bird, and 'Magician'. He is the kind of player who only comes out once in ten or 20 years. If you are lucky enough to witness his career in his best years, you should feel honored."

In Wei Xia's curtain call, his opponent was his old club, the Los Angeles Lakers.

James is still in his 20th season with the Lakers.Wei Xia is the only player in this league who can be regarded as his peer. They compete with each other and each wins and loses. In the past 20 years, they have each left their own names in the history of the NBA.

Wei Xia is about to cross the finish line, and James still has the dream of competing in the NBA with his son Bronny.

In the end, the 76ers won the game.

At the last moment, Wei Xia used a simple jumper to establish the victory and scored 34 points, leaving a successful end to his career.

That night, he and James exchanged jerseys.

They still hate each other, but anyway, this is the last time they will fight.

"Wish, I have enjoyed the confrontation with you these years. Without you, the NBA is not so interesting." James opened his heart.

Wei Xia said sincerely: "This is my honor, LeBron."

At this point, the 40-year-old Wei Xia ended his career.

2005年进入联盟至今，如果去掉2008-09的报销赛季，以及2021-2023期间的休赛，他满打满算只打了15个赛季。

He won six championships, was elected FMVP 6 times, was elected MVP 5 times, was selected to the All-NBA Team 11 times, was selected to the All-Defensive Team 13 times, scored 4 times, and was elected DPOY 3 times-he is synonymous with offense and defense.

His controversies, his accomplishments, have kept many from looking fairly at what he did.But even an arrogant American couldn't possibly rank his place in history behind anyone not named Michael Jordan.

That night, Wei Xia gave a retirement speech at the scene.

His speech was not long or moving, and it was interrupted several times because of his jokes.

"19 years, I didn't expect it to be so long."

He finally said: "I have done what I should do; I have tried my best to achieve what I should have achieved; I have no regrets. It has been a long road. I am glad that I have arrived here smoothly, thank you."

Wesha's speech lasted less than 10 minutes.

Originally, the 76ers planned to make a heartfelt tribute video like the Spurs retired GDP one by one a few years ago, and then invite all the people who are of great significance to Wei Xia to sit in a row and tell stories in turn, and finally Wei Xia will say goodbye.

This proposal was rejected by Wei Xia.

He didn't want to make it so complicated, and he didn't like the American tradition of telling stories on any occasion. Moreover, only they themselves knew the meaning of those stories.

It's like, he definitely didn't want to hear Kobe proudly saying that day that he kicked Wei Xia's ass every day.

It's like Kobe doesn't like that Wei Xia always warms up by making Kobe walk out of the arena in a handstand in the Rookie Challenge.

At the end of the speech, Wei Xia's child ran to his side, and his wife Elaine hugged and kissed him: "Felix, you are the best in history in my mind."

Wei Xia was so satisfied that he didn't know what to say.

Kobe was also there, and he and Wei Xia exchanged glances.

No need for extra words, they nodded to each other.

Kobe knows that Wesha has done his best to complete his career, just like in 2018, fans all over the world know that Kobe used up all the oil in his body to win his sixth ring.

It was a story without regrets.

The same goes for today's story.

Some people may still wonder if Wei Xia would have achieved more if those three years hadn't been stolen.

But this is a question that has no answer.

It's destined to be one of the many interesting "what ifs" in NBA history.

No one can really control their own destiny, especially in the 21s of the 20st century, some people lost the general election that they were sure to win, some people were deprived of a good life by the new crown, some people are still confused, and some people have finished their journey.

In this way, silence is better than sound, keep the goodbye in your heart, don't say goodbye, Wei Xia doesn't need it, because he may choose to come back at the age of 50.

Don't laugh, this is one of his middle-aged dreams.

(End of this chapter)