Duncan Robinson blearily opened his eyes to find himself in a wholly unexpected place. The bright light surrounding him dazzled his freshly-opened eyes, and he had to shield them with his palm just to be able to see anything. Somehow, he had ended up in some kind of large hall constructed of marble whose walls extended endlessly in both directions. The magnificent columns and grandly arched windows rose towards the sky until they disappeared into the silvery-gray clouds. Nearby, an ornate fountain’s burbling waters provided the only sound in the entire place.
Getting to his feet, Duncan noticed that he was completely naked. The clothes he had been wearing before were gone. He verified this by looking around for his comfortable hoodie and sweatpants. Only a smooth marble floor, uninterrupted by stray articles of clothing, could be seen.
Seeing nothing better to do with his time, given that there was no life or activity in the hall other than himself, Duncan began to walk. Despite the surreal oddness of the situation, Duncan felt a pervasive sense of contentment taking over his thoughts. To spend eternity here, surrounded by a peace that was almost luxuriant in its stillness, would not be such a bad outcome.
After some time, Duncan saw a man clad in a white robe walking towards him. Duncan was so at ease that he forgot about his nakedness until the man was handing him an identical white robe. Duncan slipped it on and asked the unavoidable question while he tied it shut with a length of golden rope: “Where am I?”
“You are in the Hall of the Thirty Point Scorers,” answered the man.
Once the place had been given a name in his mind, Duncan remembered the events of his mortal life that had preceded his arrival here. “I just scored thirty-four…” he whispered to himself.
“And this is your reward,” the man said. “A place of ultimate…well, I wouldn’t call it ‘happiness’, but ‘peacefulness’ is a good way to put it. A place of ultimate peacefulness, that is what the Hall is for all those lucky enough to find a respite among its glorious environs.”
“You must have scored thirty in your life, too,” Duncan said.
The man smiled and nodded. “Yes. If you look in the NBA record books, the name ‘Carlos Delfino’ will be listed there among those who scored thirty or more in an NBA game.”
Duncan was about to say more, but something had caught his eye. A tall, dark figure had just emerged from the distant mist.
“Hey Bam!” Duncan yelled, waving at the faraway figure.
“Hey Duncan!” Bam Adebayo yelled back, waving in response. “What is this place?”
“Carlos here was just explaining it to me! Come over here and-”
“No way,” Carlos interrupted, standing in front of Duncan to block his view of his teammate. “You’re not supposed to find each other here. This place is infinitely large for a reason. It’s supposed to be a place of silent, peaceful reflection. Not a place for friends to raise a ruckus.” Carlos grabbed Duncan by the shoulders and steered him away from the newcomer.
Suddenly, there were running footsteps from the opposite direction of where Bam was confusedly standing. “Oh man, I’m glad I found somebody! This place is nuts! It goes on forever!” Duncan turned around to see Kendrick Nunn standing next to him.
“Yeah, the Hall of the Thirty Point Scorers is infinite, I guess,” Duncan replied, and now Carlos was looking very flustered indeed.
“The overseers can’t know that you’ve encountered each other! Oh, I’m going to be in trouble. So much trouble. They’ll fire me,” Carlos rambled. “And I’ve run out of robes too. Oh, the Great Ones will unleash a fury unrivaled in this or any other dimension! You must separate at once!”
Spontaneously, the walls of the Hall rearranged themselves so that, instead of only two directions to choose from, there were three. The clattering sounds of marble bricks falling down and reforming seemed very loud.
“Go! Go! I will take care of the others,” Carlos commanded, glaring at Duncan and pointing down the new hallway. “If you ever want to come back here again, you will go. Now.”
Duncan was sad to leave his teammates, but found himself eager to regain the solitude and quietness that the Hall had provided him upon his initial arrival. So he walked, and walked, and when he turned around, there was no indication that there was anybody else in the Hall at all.
Seeing a marble bench up ahead, Duncan sat on it. Despite being made of stone, it was very comfortable. As his eyes grew heavy with impending sleep, he thought of his teammates Bam and Kendrick, and hoped that their experience in the Hall was just as fulfilling as his own…