Goodbye No. 8, goodbye Team Liu! Liu Wei tearfully retired and ended his legendary basketball career

On the evening of November 2, before the first league match between the Shanghai men's basketball team and Tongxi began, Liu Wei, the legendary defender of the Shanghai men's basketball team, ushered in his own special moment - from Yao Ming, who has long been the chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association, to his old teammates Liu Peng and Jia Xiaozhong, many familiar faces seem to bring Liu Wei's retirement ceremony back to ten years ago, but this night in the Yuanshen Gymnasium, there is only one protagonist.

"Recently someone said I was thin, and I didn't realize it until I saw the video of my baby fat." 25 years ago, 14-year-old Liu Wei joined the Shanghai men's basketball team, with green writing on his face and some baby fat, he sighed that this is the first time in 25 years that he has held a microphone in the Yuanshen Gymnasium, thanking the fans and the team in this way, "Thanks to the 25 years of basketball career, but also let me believe that love and hard work is the way to never change." ”

At the ceremony, Yao Ming presented Liu Wei with the "Rock Award of the Chinese Basketball Team", and the video produced by the Shanghai men's basketball team for Liu Wei evoked various memories of the past, those glories have passed, and Liu Wei is also facing the transformation from a player to a team leader. "In 1997, when I was playing August 1, my roommate Chairman Yao suddenly cramped in the middle of the night, and the two tossed around for more than an hour before falling asleep. It happened to be such an episode that Yao Ming thought we could win the game, and we really won August 1 for the first time that day. Along the way, those high-fives on the pitch, the hugs and roars in the dressing room, the cakes painted on the faces at those birthday parties, and the tireless cries and 'molds' of the fans. From this moment on, I will also integrate with you and inspire the Shanghai Sharks as you have given us. ”

When he said this, Liu Wei's eyes flashed with tears, and his No. 8 jersey will forever flutter above the home of the Shanghai men's basketball team, representing the glory and glory of Shanghai basketball. He ranks first in CBA history with 18,259 career minutes, fourth in CBA history with 10,147 points, second in CBA history with 2,591 assists, and fifth in CBA history with 930 steals. Those numbers won't change again, and while Mr. Li had hoped he'd played another season to top the CBA's all-time assists list, Liu Wei just wanted to go with the flow, as he put it, "The record is for being surpassed." ”

Whether or not that person will appear in the future will not hinder Liu Wei's greatness, this greatness does not need cold numbers to prove, and Liu Wei's basketball career is far from over, but it is just a change of identity.