Sports Medicine Master System-Chapter 42: Hardaway

After that slip of the tongue, Ewing had clearly learned his lesson. He didn’t rush to commit, only promising to discuss the feasibility of establishing such a department with the Players’ Union and the NBA.

But you could tell his mood had improved considerably. His attitude grew much warmer, and he held Chen Yu back to chat for a while.

"Chen, your speech on TV was awesome. You were right, the Magic’s medical staff are a bunch of butchers. Just look at poor Penny and what they did to him. That’s a garbage team. You couldn’t pay me enough to play for them."

Ewing ranted, a wide grin on his face.

The mention of Hardaway made Chen Yu think of Boston.

’It’s been a week, hasn’t it? I still haven’t heard anything.’

To his surprise, the very next day, just as he arrived at the airport to head back to Orlando, Chen Yu got a call from Boston.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Chen Yu asked about McCardel.

"He’s recovering great. He’ll be playing in the game against the Cleveland Browns today. Chen, your medical skills are superb," Boston complimented.

Chen Yu thanked him, breathing an inward sigh of relief.

Throughout his recovery, McCardel’s mind had been set on this game against the Cleveland Browns.

Boston continued, "Chen, my agency has another client... I imagine you can guess who. So, if you’re available, could I invite you to Phoenix?"

Chen Yu silently clenched his fist but kept his voice even. "I can. I happen to be free right now. I’ll get to Phoenix tomorrow to meet with you."

After hanging up, Chen Yu gave an excited pump of his fist.

’This whole incident has earned me some renown, but I don’t have a real track record yet.’

’Hill, Hardaway... if I can heal them, my reputation will be set in stone.’

’And on the Players’ Union side, if Ewing pulls this off, I’ll become the head of that department, just as we agreed.’

’Then, I’ll have the official title to match.’

’Despite the setbacks, everything is looking up. I’m getting closer and closer to my dream.’

Filled with excitement, Chen Yu immediately went to change his flight.

At the same time, he mulled over Hardaway’s condition.

Chen Yu carefully reviewed the news reports.

Hardaway’s issues were all in his knee, starting with cartilage damage and later a torn ligament, for which he had undergone minimally invasive surgery.

According to the reports, he was apparently the first NBA player to have minimally invasive surgery.

’That kind of procedure wasn’t even common in hospitals at the time.’

’The main issue was that the technique wasn’t mature enough. Without an open arthrotomy, it’s very difficult to debride the torn tissue completely. If you just suture it tight, the site won’t heal perfectly.’

’But the most important part is the rehabilitation.’

Chen Yu was familiar with this type of surgery, having performed it himself. It appeared to involve a small incision and a short recovery time, but in reality, when it came to ligament regrowth, the rehabilitation period should have been no different from that of an open procedure.

Chen Yu read in the news reports that after his minimally invasive surgery, Hardaway had returned to the court without much time off.

’That has to be why his torn ligament never healed properly.’

’Add to that the recent removal of cartilage... for someone in his condition to make a full recovery, it would be truly impossible without the miraculous power of the system.’

Chen Yu glanced at the system, his eyes falling on [Sports Medicine].

Surgery fell under the [Sports Medicine] category.

Chen Yu currently possessed two uses of a Silver Level healing effect and one of a Bronze Level, all of which could be applied directly during surgery.

’If his ligament also needs to be repaired, then with the cartilage reconstruction, I can use up both charges.’

’A forty-percent boost from the Silver Level isn’t bad at all.’

’It’d be even better if I could acquire a technique related to ligament repair.’

’The bonuses from techniques were stackable.’

Of course, surgery was one thing, but rehabilitation was even more important.

In orthopedics, the saying goes that a procedure is thirty percent surgery and seventy percent rehabilitation. Chen Yu figured that if Hardaway decided to have surgery to reconstruct his cartilage, his current season would be a complete write-off.

But he was still young—just a year older than Hill. Spending a full year on rehabilitation in exchange for a nearly healthy body was a worthwhile trade-off.

After changing his flight, Chen Yu gave Hill a call.

The Magic’s management had originally scheduled an injury evaluation for Hill today to assess his recovery.

But now that Billings had been fired with lightning speed, the assessment was, of course, canceled.

Hill, however, planned to hold a press conference that day to publicly announce his own rehabilitation plan.

The Magic had been very cagey about the whole thing up until now.

Chen Yu’s original plan had been to rush back to Orlando to attend this very press conference. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

When the call connected, Hill immediately apologized again.

"Grant, you’ve apologized more than enough over the past couple of days. You should be focusing on your recovery, not letting this stuff get to you." Chen Yu then explained that he was heading to Phoenix.

This meant he wouldn’t make it to the press conference.

Hill didn’t seem to mind. "Don’t worry about it. Some things are best handled by me alone anyway."

His tone was resolute.

Announcing the rehab plan was part of it, but the main goal was to respond to the media and voice his displeasure with the Magic’s front office.

Chen Yu nodded and reminded him to stick to the rehabilitation plan.

Tamia’s voice then came over the line. "Don’t you worry, Chen. I’ll be watching him. If he skips a single exercise, I’ll make him regret it."

Chen Yu chuckled to himself. ’I was right,’ he thought. ’Hill is completely henpecked.’

That same day, Chen Yu arrived in Phoenix.

Phoenix was bright and sunny, the climate arid. As Chen Yu stepped out of the airport, the sunlight washed over him, and he suddenly felt a sense of complete relaxation.

It felt just like being back in Miami.

In fact, it was even better than Miami.

Miami, after all, was on the coast. Hot, yes, but it also got a lot of rain and was humid.

Phoenix was different. It was a desert city, and its climate was much drier.

’Not a bad place to recover from an injury.’

Chen Yu mused to himself.

If he recalled correctly, Phoenix was the sunniest city in the United States. A climate like this was actually very beneficial for recovering from injuries.

Orlando was full of lakes and was equally humid.

The next day, Boston picked Chen Yu up from his hotel, and they drove to Hardaway’s suburban villa.

As they chatted on the drive, the topic of the Magic’s management came up.

"Gabriel is probably going to be fired," Boston said, feeling a hint of wistfulness. He had dealt with Gabriel many times. The man was resourceful and had earned Devos’s deep trust.

But he never would have dreamed that he would ultimately lose his general manager position because of an obscure doctor.

Chen Yu was blunt. "He had it coming."

’With all the crap he pulled, he should’ve been kicked to the curb ages ago.’

Boston laughed. "You’re right. He had it coming."

Gabriel wasn’t blameless in how Hardaway’s situation had turned out, either.

Half an hour later, the car arrived.

Chen Yu let out a small noise of surprise, noticing a crowd of reporters outside the villa’s main gate.

Noticing Chen Yu’s gaze, Boston sighed. "Don’t get me started. Last month, Anfernee did something stupid on impulse."

Just last month, Hardaway’s girlfriend, Latasha, flew in from Memphis to Phoenix to demand more child support, and they got into an argument. Later that night, Hardaway wanted to, you know, get intimate with Latasha, so he ’invited’ her into the house with a gun.

The next day, as soon as Latasha left, she went straight to the police.

The whole affair left Hardaway utterly disgraced.

"He was just injured and in a bad mood," Boston added as an explanation.

Chen Yu gave an awkward smile. ’Threatening your girlfriend with a gun to get her into bed,’ he thought. ’This superstar really is a "man of passion," isn’t he.’