Tomas Satoransky was digging through his duffel bag, looking for the second sock of his pair, when he noticed Wizards coach Scott Brooks walking towards him. Scott had a very deliberate look on his face as he walked towards Tomas, so Tomas quickly switched from his “locker-room vulgarity” personality to his “taking things seriously for coach” personality.
“Tomas, you probably heard about John,” Scott began.
Tomas had indeed heard the news. John Wall was going to be out for the rest of the season thanks to a surgery. “Yeah. Too bad about that.” It was too bad, but Tomas knew that his minutes were likely to see a large increase thanks to the new hole in the lineup.
Scott verbalized the thoughts that Tomas was having. “You’re going to need to step up, Tomas. Not just on the court. But in the locker room as well. Don’t tell the other guys, but I think you’re the only one who can drag us up and out of this toxic environment that’s festering.”
Shrugging, Tomas replied, “For sure, coach. I’m just trying to set a good example here.”
Scott was about to say more, but the door to the locker room suddenly banged open. “Brad, I’m coming to kick your ass!” screamed the voice of John Wall. Tomas looked over and saw a suit-wearing John hobbling as fast as he could towards where Bradley Beal was getting ready for the game.
“Now’s your chance. Set a good example,” Scott whispered urgently to Tomas. “We’ve let them do this for too long.”
That much was true. John and Bradley regularly beat each other to a pulp before games, and nobody ever stepped in to stop them. It was just a fact of life: the two star players hated each other to the point of one regularly instigating physical violence with the other. So Tomas reluctantly got up and walked over to where the fight had already begun, not getting too close in case a stray fist came his way. “Guys…guys…”
“SHUT UP SATO!” Bradley screeched as he tackled John to the ground and began slamming his knees into the side of John’s head. “JOHN HAS DISRESPECTED ME FOR THE LAST TIME!” Further proclamations of his disdain for John were interrupted by John’s fist connecting with Bradley’s jaw, sending him sprawling to the floor. Scott was yelling something to Tomas, but he had trouble understanding it over the sounds of the fight. He took a few steps closer and put a hand on John’s shoulder, but when John wildly kicked at Tomas’ shins, he immediately backed off.
“You want surgery, I’ll give you surgery!” yelled Dwight Howard, who had emerged from somewhere to join the fracas. Using the full weight of his body, he stomped with two feet on John’s injured leg.
“AAAAHHHHH!” John yelled, rolling on the floor in agony and clutching his aggravated injury. Dwight laughingly gloated over his foe for a bit, but was then blindsided by a chair thrown by Bradley. Eager to avoid getting hit by any airborne furniture, Tomas returned to his locker, having failed at his task to fix the Wizards’ broken locker room.
Scott was crying on the floor. “Don’t worry coach,” Tomas said awkwardly, patting his coach on the shoulder in consolation. “At least John and Dwight can’t sabotage us on the court.”