•Prologue•

A wizard.

The Future.

A generational talent and a player who would revolutionize the game forever.

That was Trent Jackson.

He had been called it all. As one of the top players in the Americas he was known worldwide and even had his own fan pages. He never paid attention to any of that though. Only keeping to himself and always improving his game.

That was what he was best at.

Basketball was his first and only love. When no one was there for him, he always had a basketball he could count on.

And now, he boarded a travel bus on his way to one of the most iconic arenas in the whole entire world. A place that birthed many legends and championships.

The Staples Center.

He could feel his heart pound through his chest as he set his hand right above it. Excitement coursed through his veins causing him to squeeze his fingers. His body could not stop shaking.

The noise his teammates created with their bantering and arguments was filtered out. At this moment he could only think of how far he had gone. From the ghettos of New York to a world stage. Akin to a movie.

"What's up? Is the star player nervous?" His coach smirked and elbowed him as they were seated next to each other.

Trent elbowed the old man back, much softer. He was still his coach after all.

"Come on coach, you know that word doesn't exist in my dictionary. Just a little excited is all."

"Yeah? It looks like we'll be there in about fifteen minutes. Hope you boys are ready for this championship game. It's a lot of pressure, but I'm sure we'll pull through. Especially with the team we have this year."

Trent nodded. His coach was right, the team this year had come far. From being ranked 25th in their state, to being the second ranked team across the states.

Their dedication to the game, sacrifices, blood, and sweat had gotten them here. A place they could have never even dreamed of. But Trent had a vision, and he would execute it with style.

He knew despite his team's obnoxious loudness and their giddy nature; they were actually nervous. That's who they were, always trying to put up a brave front even faced with an impending threat.

East Winds Highschool basketball team.

He loved them, and they could be said to be his second family.

His brothers in arms.

And now, it was time for him to take them to the top. This was his duty. He would make sure they showed everyone exactly what they were capable of.

-

"Wow..."

He had entered the gigantic Arena. Coming inside, his eyes nearly hanging out from their sockets.

"Don't you think there's a little TOO much people?" Said one of his teammates.

Trent had to agree. Bright lights that would blind even a blind person, thousands of people seated in the arenas that had come to watch them play, and the beautiful floor he couldn't wait to step on.

So, this was staples center...

As they finally made their way out the short hallway and onto the court in their warmups the crowd erupted into thunderous cheers. Cameras began to flash from all angles, and videos were taken of the players.

Celebrities from all walks of life were seated towards the front, just before the court. College scouts crossed their arms, their eyes observing every single player. Their cold gazes even froze a few players on Trent's team momentarily.

Then finally, on the other end, another team exited.

Claps resounded again.

A team of giants. The number one ranked basketball team in the nation. All but one of their players in their starting lineup were over 190cm. They wore black and yellow warmups.

Montverde Academy.

The average height was a few inches or so taller than East Wind, even so, Trent didn't care and neither did his team. As they stepped on the court to warm up, both teams had a brief stare down.

"Alright! That's enough you all." Coach woods snapped his fingers to signify for his team to huddle along with several assistant coaches. "Today, I won't tell you guys to get in layup lines or any of that shit. You guys decide how you want to warm up, just make sure you stretch while you are at it."

He paused for a moment, staring each and every single player in the eye as his own reddened. "I love you boys, and I'm sure y'all know that. This is the last game I will ever have with some of you guys, and it's been amazing watching your growth to the team you've become today."

"With that being said. We came with one goal, and one goal only. And that's to what, Captain?"

"Ball out!" Trent said.

"Exactly," Coach woods nodded. "It doesn't matter if we win or not, it's a blessing to even come this far as small of a school we are. Go out there and have some fun, you hear me!"

"""Yes coach!"""

"Alright, get out there and warm up properly. We'll go over our game plan once the locker room situation gets situated, no pun intended. Winds on three. One, two, three!"

"""Winds!"""

Including Trent, the team ran onto the court, grabbing a ball per person off the rack towards their side.

Trent put in his ear buds and made it so that no sound came through from the outside. He was in a world of his own as he dribbled from one side of the court to the other, while occasionally sneaking glances at the Montverde team.

Dariq Whitehead.

Cade Cunningham.

Scottie Barnes.

Moses Moody.

Day'ron Sharpe.

These were just the few that stood out to Trent, there were even more talents on their team he would not overlook. Montverde was the pinnacle of what could be called a high school super team. But he was not afraid.

He had never felt such a deep connection with basketball than now. He was ranked number one at his position of point guard, putting him even above big names like Cade Cunningham and Sharife Cooper.

A part of that was his almost never-before-seen ability to handle the ball. He was compared to the likes of Kyrie Irving and Jamal Crawford, some even saying he had already surpassed those legends.

He wasn't a perfect player, but he always kept mistakes to a minimal. Despite being 6'1 and on the shorter side of athletes, he was a force to be reckoned with whatever court he stepped foot on.

He used his forearms to wipe the sweat that accumulated above his brows. Looking at the clock, he noted there were ten more minutes left of warm up time.

Good. That was more than enough.

He moved behind the basket, practicing his form while simultaneously trying to dodge all of the launched basketballs.

After that, he then tried free throws, making seven straight and then missing one. He continued this until eventually making ten in a row. With five minutes left to go on the clock he moved behind the three-point line and began to shoot.

Each time, the ball dropped into the net. It was a good day. Everything was falling and he was in top notch condition.

"Aye," Jeremiah whispered in his ear, a childhood friend of his, "You see LeBron back there? He's even bigger than he looks on TV... Pause."

Trent raised an eyebrow and peeked behind him, near Montverde's side. It was indeed LeBron. A man who had entered the league dominating from the gate, he was in a class of his own.

He shrugged, "Yeah, that's cool."

"Thats it? Man, this is why you aren't popular with the girls, because your so damn boring."

"Yeah? Well, you don't really have to try when your number two and cat just gets thrown at you everywhere you go. Not that I would know anything about that, mind you."

Jeremiah wouldn't try to argue that. And he had remembered the last dozens of arguments he had gotten into with this friend of his, it just wasn't worth it. Especially this time around, if he loses an argument again it might translate onto the court.

"Tsk."

Trent chuckled and continued to shoot until inevitably the clock ran out.

-

-Montverde starters-

[PF: Dariq Whitehead]

[PG: Cade Cunningham]

[SF: Scottie Barnes]

[SG: Jesse Jones]

[C: Day'ron Sharpe]

-East Wind Starters-

[PG: Trent Jackson]

[SG: Jeremiah Peterson]

[C: Derrick Wildly]

[SF: Eh Tou]

[PF: Kelany Woods]

-

After teams were introduced and the audience had erupted once more, both team's starters were now on the court gearing up for the tip off.

The referee gazed back and forth seeing if both teams were ready and that there wasn't an uneven amount of people on the court. Not that it was likely to happen.

The two centers stood their grounds, waiting for the slightest movement of the ref and that time came in the next second as the whistle was blown and ball thrown into the air.

Both centers exploded from the ground driving upwards with the force from their legs. But only one team would win the tip off, and it was east wind.

Trent caught the ball that was tipped to him, immediately sprinting for the opposing team basket.

As he crossed half court, Scotties large frame and long arms took him towards the side lines.

That didn't stop him.

Trent slowed his pace for half a second, then did in and out dribble going right into a spin move towards Scotties opposite side.

A move Scottie hadn't expected.

"That was beautiful," A scout said.

As Scottie was left behind, Montverde's sharpshooter Jesse Jones stepped forward from the high post to guard Trent at the key.

Like he did before, Trent slowed his pace down, he got to the three-point line and put his other hand just over the ball as he bent his knees and eyes glued to the rim as if he was going into a shot.

Jesse leaped into the air, only able to watch in bewilderment as Trent blew right past him and penetrated the post before he could land.

'Shoot, he got me!'

He quickly followed behind, trying to trap Trent alongside with Day 'Ron Sharpe so that he had no passing lanes and couldn't attempt a shot.

Unluckily for the both of them, Trent had seen through this and timed at the exact moment that Jesse arrived to help, he spun again in between the two and threw it up for an easy two points on the left-hand side.

"Ohhh my goodness lady and gentlemen! What ELECTRIFYING moves by East Winds number eleven Trent Jackson!"

"Wow, simply incredible!"

Trent guarded the inbound pass, ignoring all of the overwhelming noise from the crowd.

Needless to say, the Montverde coach was not very happy as he paced on the sidelines, urging his players to push the ball forward. But East Wind was primarily a defensive team. Wherever the ball went, they followed, like hound dogs.

Cade finally got the ball signaling for Jesse to move out towards the wing, and Dariq to give him a screen. He gave the illusion he would use the screen but changed directions quickly driving to the right lane.

He then passed the ball over his head to the corner. Scottie caught the ball, muscling his way through the defense, and fed the ball to Day' Ron who floated it over Derrick and Kalany. It hadn't gone in the first time as he had to tip it in after his first attempt.

The score was tied.

In merely twenty seconds of play, the crowd was brough to its feet by the rapid firing of both teams.

Trent was going to take the ball from an inbound pass when he got an uncomfortable feeling in his chest. The feeling further cemented when he started dribbling. His brown face became pale and vision blurry.

"What's going on?" Asked an assistant coach.

The audience could also see the oddity on the court.

As cade poked the ball away to the side, Trent suddenly collapsed.

Silence.

No one had seen it coming. Not even Trent himself. And before anyone could react, Trent's coach was the first to sprint to the scene. The fastest he ran in years.

"Quick! Get the paramedics! Stay with me son!"

Trent could have answered, but his heart had long stopped beating...

-Separate Dimension-

At a park surrounded by trees, with the sun blazing up high, an old man in a dark green tracksuit was sitting on the bleachers staring at the orange ball on the court.

He shifted his gaze when blue particles started to form and then appeared a young man.

His skin brown and smooth, his dark eyes shining with curiosity. "I'm probably dead, right?"

"Well, no. You're not dead yet Trent. My name is God. Nice to meet you. Care for a little one on one? I've been awaiting your arrival you see."

God rose from the bleachers, picking the ball up from the ground and showing off his old man dribbles.

"Sure," Trent shrugged smiling. "But don't think I'll take it easy on you."

"Haha, please do take it easy on my old bones."

-

Trent hadn't taken the game seriously after finding out God was truly trash at basketball. But, that didn't stop the both of them from having fun.

With a score of 12-3, God finally ended the game saying he could no longer continue as his back was aching.

While seated, Trent dribbled back and forth underneath his feet.

"You remind me of a much younger me."

"Ha… right. I'm sure I do."

Silence covered the area momentarily.

"So, have you thought about it?" God suddenly asked.

"Three wishes right?"

Trent wasn't new to situations like this, he was a closet weeb after all. Though he would have never expected it to happen to him. Right as he was going to win a championship no less.

All of the relationships he had built.

People he had influenced.

He wouldn't be on earth for any of it. It left a pang in his heart, but he would never allow himself to cry.

What's done was done.

"Exactly. Three wishes," God replied, a nonchalant expression.

"I don't really have any wishes," He stopped dribbling. "I just hope the new world I'm dropped off in isn't anything crazy, you know. Just somewhere I can play basketball without worrying about evil big-headed aliens trying to take over the world."

God chuckled, "That's real humble of you. And don't worry, I'll make sure there aren't any aliens trying to take over the world."

Good stood up casting his wrinkled old hand over the confused young man. "Since you don't have any wishes in mind I've granted you a few things that will be useful in that world. The basketball players there aren't normal, so you will need these."

[Combo Weaver]

[Wizards Touch]

[Shadows World]

"What do these do?"

God smiled, conjuring a black cane from nothingness. "That's up for you to find out, my boy. I had fun today. If I was a few decades younger I definitely would have won."

"Of course, I don't doubt it."

"Hmph, youngsters… anyway, have a safe trip. Or as you would like to say, stay smooth."

An awkward silence.

"No?"

"No."

"I see. Just goodbye then. Goodbye will do."

"See you around old guy."