1994: I Took Over the Nuggets and Chose Kobe to Build a Dynasty

In a Manhattan hospital room in 1994, Lin Chen opened his eyes amid excruciating pain. He had been reborn as the sole heir to a venture-capital family, having just lost his father, with a $20 million inheritance and a small venture-capital firm on the verge of shutting down. A devoted NBA fan and finance professional in his previous life, he clearly remembered that the Denver Nuggets were being dragged into the abyss by the Schlenk family's chaotic management, and that in 1996 they would miss out on Kobe Bryant, becoming the laughingstock at the bottom of the Western Conference.

With a deep understanding of both capital and basketball's future, Lin Chen resolved to rewrite his fate. He combined Soros's “sniper-style speculation” with Buffett's “deep value investing”: first, he took early positions ahead of the Mexican peso devaluation and Netscape's IPO, doubling his capital in three months. Then he exploited financial loopholes in the Schlenk family, using debt-backed collateral and exposure of regulatory violations as weapons to gradually dismantle their control of the Ascent Group. In 1995, he took over the Nuggets in a show of force, ending the team's troubles with a “hollow interior and sieve-like defense.”

At the 1996 NBA Draft, he brushed aside doubts that “high schoolers can't adapt to the NBA” and used the tenth pick to select Kobe Bryant. He created a personalized training program and business empire for Kobe, helping him rise from a struggling rookie to the league's number one player. On the court, he assembled a star-studded lineup of Penny Hardaway, Dikembe Mutombo, and Ray Allen, leading the Nuggets from the bottom of the Western Conference to three consecutive championships and building a “Nuggets dynasty.” Off the court, he created the “Chenxing Sports Empire,” bringing together broadcasting, player representation, and real estate, and turning $20 million into a business empire worth hundreds of billions.

From crushing rivals with capital to laying the foundations of a dynasty, from Kobe's raw beginnings