Clint Capela was brooding by himself in his locker. Most of his teammates had already left the arena, but he had stayed, trying to figure out where it had all gone so wrong. It was also not lost on him that he might never again play in this arena again as a member of the home team.
Suddenly, his phone rang. He absentmindedly answered it, not checking to see who the caller was. “Hey, it’s Clint.”
“I bet you guys really wish you still had me around, don’t you?” said the voice on the other end.
Clint furrowed his brow in confusion, trying to place the voice, and finally he figured out who it was. “Shut up Dwight.”
Dwight laughed at Clint’s annoyance. “Those three-pointers were bricking all night, my man. That’s tough. Almost as tough as catching STD’s from all my baby mamas that you’ve been having relations with.”
“It’s not my fault, I wasn’t the one out there chucking threes,” Clint replied surlily. “And I’ll have you know I’m totally clean.”
“If I was still there, they would’ve been able to get guaranteed points the entire game just by dumping the ball to me and having me overpower all their undersized bitch bigs. They couldn’t quite do that with you though, and once they figured out how to stop the pick and roll, your impact on the game was completely negated. I kept telling James, there’s a reason I don’t want to run pick and rolls.”
“Thanks for the sympathy,” Clint said. “At least I’m not a team cancer and habitual child support avoider. And I shouldn’t have to remind you that the last time you sniffed the Finals it was because you had nutted all over your own face on accident.”
“That doesn’t even really make sense, but okay,” Dwight said. “Good effort though. Enjoy signing with a new team and averaging seven points per game because you don’t get to play with two all-time-great passers anymore.”
Clint closed his eyes to stave off an oncoming headache. “I’m hanging up now.” He ended the call before Dwight could get in any more words. For a long time after that, Clint sat there in silence, wondering if everything Dwight had said was true.