Everything is going well and the players are excited for the upcoming tournament.

Two days before the tournament begins, the players are ready to leave for Philadelphia, where their first phase of the tournament will be played at the Wajovia Center Arena, home of the Digital People.

However, just as the team members got on the bus and were about to go to the airport, Sandek made an impromptu announcement.

"DeMar won't follow us to Philadelphia, he's having some problems at home."

When this was announced, the team members were all stunned.

Although DeRozan is only a freshman, he is the team's No. 3 scorer behind Harden and Xu Yong.

And more importantly, the Devils' current rotation is very tight, and suddenly there is such a scoring strong point, which has a very big impact on strength.

Xu Yong and Harden glanced at each other, and both shook their heads.

During the morning training session, DeRozan was still talking to them about the game, and in the afternoon, he didn't see anything unusual about DeRozan.

It seemed that something happened so suddenly that DeRozan didn't have time to talk to them, only to say hello to Sandek.

However, Xu Yong noticed that Harden's face was very worried.

After the car started, Harden couldn't help but take out his phone and call DeRozan.

But the phone was busy, so he had to put the phone down.

"Can't you just put things at home aside? What happens if the team leaves the team at this time? ”

"That's right, it's going to be a tournament soon, and their family is really calling, knowing about the situation."

"Okay, maybe something unexpected happened, don't you know that Demar has been with you for so long?"

Teammates in the back row were talking.

Originally, the time, place, and people all caught up, but now there is one less main general, and it is difficult to be calm with anyone.

"Shut up!" But at this moment, Harden suddenly got up and shouted directly at his teammates behind him.

This made several people behind him stunned.

At first, it was only the team's two benches that were discussed, but in the end it was Ayers who persuaded him.

And more importantly, Harden usually has a mild personality, and it is the first time they have seen Harden so angry.

The atmosphere inside the bus suddenly became very tense.

Fortunately, Harden didn't continue to say anything, and after the yelling, he sat down again and continued to try to call DeRozan, but the other end was already turned off.

Xu Yong was also a little worried at this time, because Harden's reaction really shouldn't be an accident at DeRozan's family.

Harden put away his phone after sending DeRozan a final message.

"Don't worry, DeMar should just have a dead phone." Xu Yong opened his mouth and said persuadingly.

Harden nodded and turned his head out the window.

He was silent all the way until the plane landed in Philadelphia, when Harden turned on his phone and received a call back from DeRozan.

After the call, Harden breathed a sigh of relief.

"What happened to DeMar?" Xu Yong also asked at this time.

"Xu, can you imagine the daily stress that a person has to face every day when his father has severe kidney disease and his mother has lupus erythematosus?" Harden didn't answer Xu Yong, but asked Xu Yong a question.

Xu Yong was stunned, of course he could hear what Harden said should be the situation in DeRozan's family.

Then he shook his head, he was born into a happy basketball family, he may have heard of DeRozan's family, but he really can't relate to it.

However, he somewhat understands why DeRozan is depressed later and why he looks sunnier than he thought now.

If you can't make an effort to stay optimistic in this environment, it's easy to get depressed and choose to go to extremes.

DeMar wanted to go to the University of Southern California, which is only a 20-minute drive from Compton so he can go home to take care of his parents. By this time they had already boarded the bus to the hotel, and Harden continued as he sat down.

At this time, the carriage was exceptionally quiet, not only Xu Yong was listening, but the other teammates of the team were also listening.

DeRozan has never spoken to anyone else about his family.

"But Aunt Diane, DeMar's mom, she told DeMar to make the choices she wanted to make, and after watching our game with UCLA last year, DeMar went back and shared with her for an hour, and she could feel the anticipation of DeMar."

Xu Yong nodded, it turned out that this was the reason why DeRozan chose to come to Arizonada State University.

"Aunt Diane was hospitalized, she didn't tell DeMar, and her condition suddenly deteriorated, and her aunt called DeMar." Harden went on to explain why DeMar left so suddenly.

At this time, in the back row seats, the two bench players who had been talking about before unconsciously lowered their heads, and Ayers was also ashamed.

Harden and DeRozan are young, and they know DeRozan's family background, so he is so emotional when he hears "something happened".

"Relax, everything will be fine." Xu Yong said with relief.

Harden nodded, DeRozan just called him to report that he was safe.

In the second day's training session, Sandek made a big change in rotation and also made a change in tactics.

DeRozan's absence has had a big impact on the Devils.

Especially since tomorrow is the game, there is only one day left for them to adjust.

Although the players could understand it psychologically after listening to Harden's account yesterday, it happened so suddenly that the drop in morale was difficult to avoid.

Back in the locker room after training, Xu Yong knew what he had to say as captain.

If they are upset because of morale problems, it will become a regret for all of them.

After seeing Xu Yong get up and seemed to have something to say, the originally noisy locker room suddenly fell silent.

"Guys, I know that DeMar's sudden absence will have a big impact on the team, but I'm sure he'll be back when he's taken care of things, and you've been with DeMar for a season, and you believe that, right?" Xu Yong looked around and asked.

The players nodded one after another, and DeRozan gave them the feeling that he was as easy to get along with as Harden and as sunny as Xu Yong.

"So it's not that it's causing us problems, it's giving us one more reason to win, and we're going to keep winning, all the time, until DeMar comes back." Xu Yong then said in an accentuated tone.

The journey of basketball cannot always be smooth sailing, and those sudden situations, injuries, conflicts, etc., are all part of this journey.

He can understand this because in the Jordan story he watched at the beginning, when the second-in-command Pippen only scored 8 points in the whole game, when he was sick with the flu, but Jordan still led the team to victory in the end.

And he was able to say such things because he himself was part of this situation in his last life.

So when they encounter this situation, all they have to do is face it head-on and then get over it.

The tournament will last more than 20 days, and they will miss DeRozan for a while if he is injured.

And what they have to do is not to be eliminated before DeRozan "returns from injury".

Harden got up, stretched out his hand, and then spoke, "For Demar." ”

Seeing this, the other team members also folded their hands one after another.

"For Demar!"

Neat shouts echoed through the locker room.