Chapter 4: Three-Point Contest with The 'Chef' Curry

The next morning.

At 4 a.m., long before dawn, Tang Lei was already up. After washing up, he drove straight to the Warriors' training facility.

After parking and arriving at the gym's entrance, Tang Lei woke up the security guard, who was dozing off inside. "Excuse me, I'm here for training. Could you please let me in?"

The security guard rubbed his eyes, glanced at Tang Lei, then at the pitch-black sky outside, and asked, "Who are you?"

Tang Lei: "┐(´-｀)┌"

He had heard stories of security guards not recognizing their own players before, even Jeremy Lin, who sparked "Linsanity," had faced this. But he hadn't expected it would happen to him.

"I am TANG," Tang Lei responded, slightly annoyed but not wanting to waste time. He explained that he was part of the Warriors.

The guard seemed to recall that there was indeed a player with an unsecured contract named Tang Lei, so he let him in, though his expression was displeased, as if Tang Lei had interrupted his nap and put him in a bad mood.

Tang Lei ignored him and walked straight into the gym, turning on the lights. On non-game days, team practices usually began at 10 a.m. A few players might show up after 8 a.m., but it wasn't common.

Looking up at the various championship moments hanging in the gym, Tang Lei felt a surge of motivation.

Despite the Warriors winning three championships in the past four years, it wasn't a three-peat. Without a three-peat, they couldn't be considered a dynasty, and thus not truly great.

Since the 20th century, aside from the Lakers' Shaq and Kobe-led three-peat, no other team had achieved such an honor—not even the Miami Heat's Big Three at the height of their dominance.

The Warriors were just one championship away from establishing themselves as a dynasty.

But Tang Lei knew that in the normal timeline, the Warriors would fall short. He saw this as his chance to make a name for himself and prove that even an Asian player could make it in the NBA.

Without wasting any more time, Tang Lei warmed up and set up the shooting machine. This machine returned the ball automatically, shooting it back to wherever the player was standing, making it a very efficient training tool.

As the machine buzzed to life, a basketball shot out. Tang Lei, standing at the top of the arc, caught it, jumped, raised his arms, and released the ball.

Bang!

The three-pointer clanked off the rim. Previously, Tang Lei's three-point shooting percentage during training hovered around 50%, and even after adding his attribute points, it might only reach about 60%.

So, missing a shot wasn't surprising. This was precisely why he needed to improve his three-point shooting—it was a glaring weakness.

In the current era of small-ball, without a reliable outside shot or the ability to stretch the floor, a player would inevitably be phased out.

The shooting machine quickly fired another ball his way. The machine held five balls at a time, and whether or not a shot was made, it would continue to fire balls at regular intervals.

Tang Lei caught the next ball, jumped again, raised his arms, and shot.

Swish!

The three-pointer went in cleanly. At the same time, a virtual screen appeared before his eyes.

[Three-point mission: 1/888.]

[Mission reward: +3 to three-point attribute.]

Seeing this clear progress, Tang Lei felt even more motivated and continued his training with renewed vigor.

An hour later, he had made over 150 shots. While his efficiency wasn't amazing, it was still acceptable. As he got into a better rhythm, his shooting percentage began to improve.

After two hours, he had made over 350 shots. By the three-hour mark, he had crossed 500.

However, after three hours of continuous shooting, Tang Lei's stamina began to decline, and his efficiency dropped. But he didn't stop.

Gradually, the sky outside began to lighten. Before long, a bouncy young man walked in—it was none other than Steph Curry.

Seeing Tang Lei already drenched in sweat and working hard, Steph was a bit surprised. It wasn't even 8 a.m. yet, but Tang Lei had clearly been training for quite a while.

"Tang, you're here early. Want to have a three-point contest?" Steph asked with a smile as he walked over. He liked to warm up with three-point shots before team practice, as part of his usual routine.

"Sure!" Tang Lei felt a little flattered that the star player had invited him to a shootout. His earlier fatigue vanished, and he became more energized.

Shooting drills could get pretty dull, so having someone to compete with would definitely make things more interesting.

Once Steph adjusted his shooting machine, the contest began. The result was unsurprising—a one-sided affair.

Steph's three-point shooting was on a historic level, his training accuracy surpassing 90%. It was said that during one session, he once hit 94 out of 100 shots, including a streak of 76 consecutive makes. Truly inhuman.

On average, Steph made two shots for every one that Tang Lei made.

Despite this, Tang Lei didn't feel discouraged at all. In fact, he enjoyed the competition.

Perhaps it was the influence of Steph's shooting rhythm, or maybe it was muscle memory kicking in, but as Tang Lei's stamina waned, his shooting percentage actually improved.

Earlier, he had been making one out of every two shots, but now he was making two out of three, or even four out of five.

"Nice, keep going," Steph encouraged him as he continued shooting.

"Okay!" Tang Lei replied, his confidence growing with each shot. His makes quickly climbed past 600, 700, 800…

Before they knew it, an hour and a half had passed. By this time, the rest of the team had started to arrive.

Seeing Steph competing in a three-point contest with a fringe player like Tang Lei was surprising to some, but no one said anything. Steph had always been known for being approachable and easygoing.

"Tang, I think that's enough for now. You did great," Steph said as he stopped. Over the past 90 minutes, he had made at least a thousand shots. His efficiency and accuracy were simply terrifying.

"I'll just shoot ten more and call it a day," Tang Lei replied. Despite taking short breaks throughout the session, his stamina was nearly depleted. But with just ten more shots left to complete his three-point mission, he wanted to push through.

If his shooting ability wasn't as good as others, he would just have to make up for it by working harder.

Swish!

Swish!

Swish!

With the final shot bouncing off the rim and then rolling into the hoop, the system's voice sounded in his mind at the perfect moment:

[Congratulations, host, on completing the three-point mission. Your three-point attribute has increased by +3.]

"Whoosh—" Tang Lei let out a long breath. His legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the floor, utterly exhausted.