Caldwell-Pope admires how Aaron Gordon carried so much inside but didn’t let it affect his play on the floor. He was still going to show up, full effort, every possession, even helping the team to a second-place finish in the West before falling in the Western Conference semifinals in seven games in 2023-24. “He didn’t bring his grief to the locker room,” Caldwell-Pope says. “When he came to work, it was all about work. And when he left, you knew it was all about his family.” Gordon began to come to terms with what had happened. “Accept a reality for what it is,” Gordon says. He turned to his books, particularly on the subjects he’s passionate about, including metaphysics and astrophysics. These disciplines contemplate existence beyond the world we commonly know.

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