Zion Williamson opened his eyes from…not sleep, exactly, but something close to it. When he saw nothing but gleaming silver clouds above his head, he blinked once. Nothing changed. He closed his eyes and opened them again after a few seconds. Still no change. Somehow, he had sleepwalked and ended up outside.
Or had he? Wherever he was, it was very bright and very quiet. And, now that he moved his eyes around a little bit, he could see grand stone walls, like those of a castle, rising up from the floor that he was lying on. What exactly was going on?
Zion sat up. The floor below him was perfectly smooth, polished marble which extended so far into the distance that he couldn’t see the end. There were windows breaking up the endlessness of the stone walls, but there appeared to be nothing beyond them. The place had a very palatial feel to it, and Zion felt very relaxed there, but he couldn’t figure out why he was there and not back in his locker room celebrating with his teammates.
Suddenly, it occurred to him. He was in heaven. Surely there could be no other explanation.
Disappointed that his mortal life had ended so abruptly, probably due to some undiagnosed cardiac condition, but happy to have found everlasting peace, Zion got to his feet. If this was heaven, he wanted to meet God. Or Jesus. Or at least an angel. So far, he hadn’t seen any signs of activity other than himself, but there had to be other people around.
After walking for some time, Zion saw a figure approaching him from the hazy, light-filled distance. Excited to finally encounter another being, Zion rushed forward to greet the man. As he got closer, he could see that the man had dark hair and wore a white robe. That could only mean one thing.
“Jesus! It’s so great to be here with you in heaven! It’s exactly like the Bible said!” Zion gushed, going in to hug his lord and savior.
But the man he thought to be Jesus Christ, Son of God, stepped away from the hug. “Sorry to disappoint you, but this isn’t heaven.”
Zion’s smile of exultant joy turned into a frown. “Well, it’s obviously not hell,” he said, confused. “Jesus wouldn’t be in hell.”
“That you are correct about,” said the man. “You are in the Hall of the Thirty-Point Scorers”.
Taking a few seconds to process this information, Zion finally said, “So I’m not dead?”
“You’re not dead,” confirmed the man who claimed not to be Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
“That’s good, I guess,” Zion said. For some reason, his own death hadn’t bothered him as much as it should have. “If I’m not dead, can you fix my knee for me? It hurts pretty much all the time.” As Zion made this request, he realized that his knee was not presently bothering him, but when he looked down at it, it was bloody, swollen, and cut open to expose the bones and tendons.
The man rolled his eyes. “I should explain more. You are in the Hall of the Thirty Point Scorers, an other-dimensional realm reserved for only the most elite scorers that the NBA has to offer. My name is Carlos Delfino, and I am the appointed Guardian of the Hall.”
“Aw man, I thought you were Jesus,” said Zion. “I could have really used some miracles of healing on this thing.”
Carlos looked down at Zion’s exposed knee and recoiled slightly. “I see that. Unfortunately, my powers in the Hall, while supernatural in nature, do not extend to healing the visitors of the Hall. However, you will find it very relaxing here, and your stay will not be wasted.” From somewhere, Carlos pulled another robe similar to his own which he handed to Zion.
Zion used it to cover up his nakedness and then spoke again. “I really wish you were Jesus.”
“That’s what they all say,” Carlos said with a sigh. “I’ll leave you to it. Eventually you’ll have to return to your mortal life, but the flow of time is frozen here, so no rush.”
Zion found a bench nearby and sat on it. His disappointment at not being in heaven, and of not receiving a cure for his ailing knee, was falling away, leaving only contentedness in its wake. The pervasive light which was not quite sunlight was warming his body in a very pleasant way. For the first time since his basketball career began, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to fully relax.