182 Lekki Conservation Center

Time Freeze!!!

Pushed his big ass off me as he went down a little bit. Time unfroze but I was rising higher and higher while Tope was getting lower. Tope was confused by this and knew that he had been pushed. I cocked back my arm and slammed it as hard as I could and then hung on the rim. Tope fell hard to the ground as I looked down on him and gave him the same smile he did to me, as I said payback is a bitch.

Ohhhhhh!!!!!

The whole team said in unison, as they ran up to cheer me on for winning the game and in such a fashionable sense. I had taken down their captain who was always cocky and thought that he could never lose. Tope had even talked trash about me when I was there and when I wasn't there, saying that he could beat me anytime and day and now that he's lost he was sitting down in shame.

I went to pick him up and said you did good, let's get this win together, I'm going to need your help. It seemed like something had changed in his mind as he looked at me with more respect. I didn't want to downplay him like I said before because I needed him to step it up with me during this Olympics run, so pushing him down any further would break his game and that would only hurt the team.

After celebrating a little the guys went back to practicing. I told Coach I didn't feel like playing after that game, I just wanted to see who was worth being on the starting lineup to play alongside me and who could be a backup as I would need a six man to come in the game when things shifted

It hurt me that I had to learn more names than I had to again and this time it would only be temporary because after the Olympics I probably wouldn't play for this team again since I'm not originally from Nigeria. 

After seeing how they all played I decided to put together a list of the starters and the bench for the coach. I let him know my plan and he agreed to work with me as he said he would be waiting for the list. I decided to leave but just when I was about to leave Tope ran up to me and asked if I wanted to hang out with them, they wanted to show me around.

I thought this would be interesting to bond with them so I agreed

They told me that the first place we would be going to is Lekki Conservation Center.

We braved the longest canopy walkway in Africa, which will allow us to experience the forest from a different angle!

I enjoyed my time bonding with my teammates as we talked throughout the whole trip. Tope and two other guys really went into details with me and could not stop talking as they rapped the whole entire time about their lives and their dreams

Tope wanted to join the NBA one day that's why he worked day and night to be the best and I believe he could one day but he just had to work on his shooting but he was physically ready for the NBA just not mentally, I mean who am I to say that, I'm not even in the NBA yet so how would I know if I'm mentally ready so I didn't comment on anything they said and simply nodded my head listening to everything they told me.

Later on during the walk that's when they asked me how I feel about being the number one draft pick. I was surprised that they knew this but then I remembered that I had been all around the news and I was the talk of the sports world. I simply shrugged and said I'll take it as it comes and I'll put my heart on the court once I get there. I don't know if I could win a ring in my first season but I'm certainly going to try to do that, Even if I join the worst team in the NBA. 

They were amazed by how confident I was to get a ring on my rookie year so Tope asked me to hook him up with a team when I get to the NBA. I laughed and said if he does well in the Olympics, teams will automatically look at him and might notice him. They might even send for him to come train with them or offer a few days contract to see how well he does with the team.

I can see his eyes light up after I said that as it seemed like he had gained a whole new perspective on the Olympics and I just knew that he was going to overwork himself now to be in the gym 24/7 and train harder. I told him about his shooting and that he should work on that because once he gets a pass he has to make it if he doesn't want to go in the post.