Bill Walton arrived at the San Diego Natural History Museum carrying a large black chair. It’s so large that it made even Walton, one of basketball’s dominating giants, look small. We were standing inside the building, near the skeleton of a dinosaur (Allosaurus fragilis, the sign said), watching him approach. I had come to San Diego to speak with Walton about his life: the magic rainbows interweaving over the bottomless, flaming abyss. It suggests an existence largely shaped by dark matter — all the things that didn’t happen, that never coalesced, that went missing.

---

Persons: Bill Walton, Walton, —, — Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul, Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O’Neal, Larry Bird — Organizations: San, San Diego Natural History Locations: San Diego