This is just Brian Carter overthinking it. The physical fitness test results have to be entered into the NBA’s official website—after all, even if Brian Carter only signed a contract for a single game, he still counts as an official player.

But as for the skills tryout... there’s no need for that. The Suns never intended to keep Brian Carter; the whole thing was just a publicity charity event.

An event like this, where Brian Carter joins the Suns players for a scrimmage, is much better for filming. Brian Carter isn’t some celebrity—who would want to watch footage of him doing skill drills?

Ever since he heard about the afternoon’s schedule, Brian Carter has been a bit dazed.

How did it just jump straight into action?

Not even a moment to mentally prepare!

He’d just had lunch together, had a great chat with Shaquille O’Neal—one of the NBA’s all-time top ten stars—and that excitement Brian Carter felt had eased up a lot.

But suddenly being told to play a scrimmage with a bunch of NBA players—Brian Carter was honestly left bewildered.

After Brian Carter changed into his short-sleeved training gear for the scrimmage, still in a daze, and finished warming up with the help of the trainer, it was almost three o’clock when the Suns’ “intra-squad training” started splitting into teams.

This time, there were no TV crew members directing things; it really felt just like a regular Suns practice. Gentry was organizing the teams and explaining some rules for the scrimmage.

Teams often do this kind of thing at the end of the regular season, so everyone was already experienced.

Brian Carter was assigned to the starting group, “replacing” Steve Nash. His group also included Jason Richardson, Grant Hill, Louis Amundson, and Amar’e Stoudemire.

The bench group was made up of Goran Dragić, Leandro Barbosa, Matt Barnes, Stromile Swift, and Robin Lopez.

Nash had started resting after the Suns lost hope for the playoffs, already sitting out several games. Of course, he wouldn’t play in a scrimmage—he was busy getting treatment for the back injury he’d picked up in his younger days.

O’Neal, even at 37, would be way too much for this kind of game. You can’t use double-teams in a scrimmage, and just recently O’Neal had dropped 45 points on the Raptors, going 20-for-25, making Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani’s frontcourt duo call him “daddy.” As long as O’Neal has the stamina and there’s no big body to match him one-on-one, he’s still unstoppable.

“Let’s see, on our side: Jason Richardson, ability rating B+; Grant Hill, ability rating A-; Louis Amundson, C+; Amar’e Stoudemire, ability rating S.

On the other side: Goran Dragić, ability rating C+; Leandro Barbosa, ability rating B-; Matt Barnes, ability rating B; Stromile Swift, ability rating C; Robin Lopez, ability rating C+.

Wow... the difference between the lineups is huge! With this group, I could probably win twenty or thirty games in a year just by following them. If you put the bench group in the NBA, they might break the Nets’ record for the fewest wins in history.”

Brian Carter looked at the ability ratings for both sides and felt like this was a setup for a total blowout. Stoudemire alone could probably crush the other team.

“Noah, if you can’t control the ball, just throw it up—I’ll be waiting in the air for your pass.” Two-time dunk champion Jason Richardson came over and patted Brian Carter on the back as he spoke.

Stoudemire, Amundson, and Hill also came over to encourage Brian Carter, and the bench group came over to greet him as well.

Whether it’s for show or not, when a basketball enthusiast comes to join the team for an event, the players are always a bit more welcoming. People who turn sports into their profession through talent and hard work are rarely bad people. Compared to Americans, Chinese people tend to look younger, and Brian Carter’s slightly boyish appearance could fool some college seniors, but in the NBA, where everyone looks older, he just seems more sympathetic.

“What should I do? I’m kind of excited...”

Chapter 0013: You Can Only Watch My Back

Of course, that’s only if Brian Carter is just an amateur player here for a “charity event.” If there’s real competition, people at the same position might not be so friendly.

Gentry originally wanted Brian Carter to show off his skills in shooting drills and other tryouts, but the owner and the TV station wanted a scrimmage right away, so Gentry had to go along. Still, he was planning to talk to Brian Carter after practice about becoming the team’s shooting trainer.

A trainer and a shooting assistant are a tier apart; for now, they could only offer Brian Carter a trainer’s contract. If Brian Carter performed well as a trainer, staying in the NBA wasn’t out of the question.

From the videos taken by onlookers before, Gentry thought Brian Carter’s fundamentals looked solid—his ball-handling and spot-up shooting in the videos showed the results of hard work, and his form was solid.

Gentry didn’t expect Brian Carter to do anything special in the scrimmage. Dragić is a very talented point guard—if Brian Carter could beat Dragić, Gentry would be shocked.

Suns’ lead assistant coach Dan D’Antoni acted as referee. The staff cleared the court, set up the scoreboard—everything was pretty official, just like a real team scrimmage.

Dan D’Antoni went over the rules again, mainly for Brian Carter’s benefit. The college game format is a little different from the NBA’s.