Chapter 28 Hairstyle

Ginobili, with a brace on, was wearing a suit on the sidelines. When the game ended, he grabbed Tang Tian with his uninjured right hand, shouting and cheering, looking extremely excited.

This was normal. In both games, Tang Tian had been the highest scorer off the bench, which meant his performance filled the scoring void left by Ginobili’s injury. How could he not be excited?

Duncan was also there to pat him on the head and offer encouragement at the first opportunity.

Tang Tian enjoyed the gentle treatment from the old Spurs duo, but his heart skipped a beat when he saw Ginobili's thinning hair.

If he remembered correctly, "The Maverick" used to be a long-haired youth who chased the wind. Now his hair was so sparse, could it be from Duncan's constant head-patting?

Speaking of which, he'd only played four games for the Spurs, two preseason and two regular season, but he'd already been patted on the head no less than three times!

This wasn't impossible!

But Duncan's head-patting was definitely a sign of encouragement, and he couldn't refuse or dodge it.

No, it seemed he needed to find an opportunity to get a haircut.

His hair got wet and clumped together after sweating, which not only affected his appearance, but also interfered with his vision during the game when sweat dripped down.

After finishing their stint in Los Angeles, the Spurs returned to San Antonio.

They would be playing their home opener of the season there, which was also the last game of December, against the Golden State Warriors.

With a day off in between, Tang Tian planned to take Green with him to get a haircut after their daily training session.

"No, Tang, I don't want to change my hairstyle yet," Green declined, though.

He then went to Joseph, who pointed to his buzz-cut curly hair, indicating that he didn't need one either.

Well, it seemed he'd have to go alone.

He looked around the locker room and finally noticed that Leonard had relatively long hair.

Leonard was a bit aloof, so he just asked casually.

"Okay," Leonard surprisingly agreed.

Superstars usually had their own personal hairstylists, who charged a hefty fee.

But they, as rookies, weren't so particular. There was a barber shop right inside the arena, so they went straight there.

The barber recognized them. Tang Tian was still very popular, and the barber even asked him for an autograph before starting.

Leonard's current hairstyle was cornrows with small braids.

Cornrows were popularized by Allen Iverson, representing the inspirational example of children born in poor areas, and were once all the rage among players.

"Melo" Anthony had also worn it for a long time.

But after Iverson declined, fewer players wore this hairstyle. Leonard had been wearing it since college, making it a rarer sight.

This hairstyle was quite troublesome to maintain. Leonard was just there for maintenance, but even that took as much time as Tang Tian needed for a whole new style.

There were many hairstyles in the NBA: afros, cornrows, dreadlocks, Mohawks, and dyed hair were all considered normal.

More exaggerated styles included hair carvings, African tribal styles, and mop-heads...

Basically, any men's hairstyle you could think of, you could find on the NBA court.

Tang Tian had originally just wanted to get his hair permed straight, but he suddenly changed his mind when he got to the barber shop.

Cornrows, dreadlocks, and afros were too American in style, obviously not suitable for him, but he couldn't just get a regular perm either.

Because he couldn't be low-key!

He needed more Gold points to become stronger. How did he get Gold points?

With the rookie contract being signed for two years, his salary was temporarily fixed, so he could only rely on off-court endorsements. To get good off-court endorsements, he needed popularity.

The "Godfather" series during the offseason was a perfect example.

Although he was performing well now, he could foresee that his performance would decline after his opponents targeted him.

At this point, hairstyles and shoes would be very effective in maintaining popularity.

He had the barber bring him the hairstyle catalog, and after flipping through it, he finally chose a Mohawk variant.

What? No concept of the professional term?

That was the commonly known rooster comb in later generations!

Iman Shumpert, Jimmy Butler, and Jeremy Lin had all worn this hairstyle.

This hairstyle was not only eye-catching, but also had a benefit: it could make him look taller!

His height was fine for guarding small forwards like Caron Butler, but he was at a disadvantage against those with long arms and wingspans like Durant.

If his height wasn't enough, his hairstyle could make up for it, perfect.

After choosing the hairstyle, he had the barber start working on it.

Both of them started getting their hair done. Leonard didn't say a word. It was already a bit cold in the middle of winter, and this made him shiver.

Tang Tian turned his head and couldn't help but want to tease Leonard.

"Do you know what 'doing hair' means in our country?"

Leonard shook his head.

"There used to be a female celebrity who would go to get her hair done every now and then, and it would take half a day each time. You know, it takes a long time for a woman to get her hair done, which is no problem, but later, the media caught her actually having an affair with a man," Tang Tian said.

He had a deep impression of this incident and was speechless at the time.

After the big news broke, "doing hair," like "the sun is high in the sky" and "knowing the difficulty and going forward," became a household term.

"See, we're getting our hair done now," Tang Tian said with a smile, looking at Leonard.

"Oh," Leonard nodded, his face without any expression.

"..."

Tang Tian suddenly felt that he might as well have asked Duncan to get his hair done with him.

This guy really was a blockhead.

He wondered what this guy had gone through to have such a personality.

After more than two hours, both of their hairstyles were almost done.

Tang Tian got up and looked at his own. His hair had to be at least thirteen or fourteen centimeters long.

If he added his hair, he would instantly become 2.1 meters tall!

Not bad, this method was really good.

When they returned to the locker room after getting their hair done, all of their teammates showed shocked expressions.

They didn't expect Tang Tian, who seemed so steady, to have such a wild side.

"Tang, you're going to be the focus of tonight's game," Green couldn't help but laugh.

Focus?

Wasn't that what he wanted?

The Warriors were still Monta Ellis, Curry, and David Lee's team, and their performance hadn't changed much from last season, starting the season with two straight losses.

Before the game, Tang Tian went over and greeted Thompson.

Thompson was currently a backup for Ellis and Dorell Wright on the Warriors, and his playing time and stats weren't as good as Tang Tian's.

"Shit! What the hell did you experience in San Antonio!"

Before Tang Tian could tease him, Thompson couldn't help but say when he saw Tang Tian's hairstyle.

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