“Which some people would probably call ‘old-man stuff,’ ” Sam Winston said.

“But you always tell me that the fundamentals never get old,” Lucas said.

“You just have to adapt them to the times,” Gramps said. He smiled. With his white hair and white beard, when he smiled he always reminded Lucas a little bit of Santa Claus. “You know I didn’t like the three-point shot when they first shoved it down my throat. And I can’t say as I love it even now. But I’m smart enough to know that if all you do is look back, you’re going to get left behind, no matter how much you love the game.”

They were both dressed in hoodies and sweatpants. Gramps was wearing one with USPS on the front. Lucas was wearing the purple Lakers hoodie that Gramps had bought him to replace the one from the Cavs he’d given Lucas when LeBron James was still playing in Cleveland. LeBron, even though he was the one getting older now, was Gramps’s favorite out of all the modern NBA players. He’d become one of Lucas’s favorites too.

Gramps said it wasn’t LeBron’s size or his strength that made him love LeBron’s game so much. It was his unselfishness. It hadn’t helped the Lakers very much in his first season in Los Angeles. But the point Gramps kept hitting with Lucas was that the best player in the NBA was also the best teammate.

“He never takes a shot if his teammate has a better one,” Gramps said.

“My coach always tells me that’s the first rule of offensive basketball,” Lucas said, knowing he was about to quote Gramps to Gramps. “If you’re open, shoot the darn ball. If you’ve got a teammate more open than you, pass it and let him shoot the darn ball. Or her.”

Gramps smiled again.

“And who said that first,” Gramps said, “even if nobody but me remembers?”

“Coach Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics,” Lucas said, feeling as if he were answering a question in class.

“And who was Red Auerbach?” Gramps said.

“The greatest NBA coach of all time,” Lucas said. Now he smiled. “Even if Phil Jackson came along later to win more championships.”

That was another thing Gramps was big on: having Lucas understand the history of the game. Looking back, he told Lucas, would help him understand how basketball had changed.

“I know people act as if those old Boston Celtics that Red coached played their home games at Jurassic Park,” Gramps said. “But I’m going to tell you something right now: Red Auerbach loved Michael Jordan and he would have loved LeBron.”

Lucas didn’t care if his friends didn’t love basketball history the way he did. Gramps cared; that’s what mattered to him. And if he did, Lucas did.