MERIDIAN, Idaho — Stand aside, Jimmer. Move over, Jabari. LeBron, you’ve been had. Kobe, you finish at the back of the pack.

I have a new favorite basketball player. He’s about 4-foot-3, 6 years old and his name is Sam.

And in the game I saw him play, he didn’t score a single point. On the court, that is. Off the court, he scored big-time.

Here’s the back story: Our friends Ryan and Elise have a son, Andrew, who plays on a Y-ball team for kindergarten-age kids. We’ve missed watching kids play sports since our children are long past that stage. So we asked Ryan, who coaches the team, if we could attend one of Andrew’s games.

Ryan said, sure, but gave us a warning.

“We’ll be missing our best player,” he said, “and without him, we’re not very good. He pretty much scores all of our points.”

But that didn’t matter to us. We just wanted to see little kids playing and having fun.

So on a snowy Saturday morning, we drove to a school gymnasium and watched the two teams warm up and begin the game.

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Ryan was right. His team didn’t play well, but the game itself was entertaining, part basketball, part rugby scrum. Just before halftime, one of his players found himself with the ball about five feet from the basket, and after a puzzled look of, “What am I supposed to do with this?” he hoisted up a shot, and to his surprise, not to mention that of every adult in the gym, it went in.

“At least you avoided the shutout,” I mentioned to Ryan, who nodded happily.

It was at halftime when the complexion of the day took a whole new turn for me and Sam jetted to the top of my list of favorite hoopsters.

The team was heaving up shots in a friendly chaos just before the game started again when one basketball ricocheted off the rim and smacked Andrew right in the face. It must have stung because he came right to the bench fighting tears and with a big red splotch on his forehead.

Clearly, his time on the hardwood that day was over. That’s when Sam stepped in.

He trotted to where Andrew was sitting and asked, “Did you get hurt?”

Andrew shook his head up and down.

“Are you feeling OK?”

Andrew shook his head sideways.

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Sam said. And he reached over and gave Andrew a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

Ryan called Sam’s name and asked him if he wanted to start the second half. Sam said no, he didn’t. He’d rather sit by Andrew and make sure his friend was OK. And that’s exactly what Sam did.

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Uplifting

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Six-year olds, like older kids, love to be on the court and play, even if they don’t have much of a clue. But Sam put that aside just to make sure his buddy Andrew was feeling better. It was only when Andrew perked up and the splotch faded that Sam went back in, near the end of the game. And he stole a glance or two at Andrew after he re-entered, probably to make sure things were still all right with his friend.

That Sam. He’s going places in life.

It’s pretty safe to say that Sam comes from a loving home, where his parents have taught him how to care and be kind. But my guess is that he also just came to this life with a great package — a good heart, empathy and the innate desire to watch out for others.

He may never make a junior high basketball team, much less play at the high school level or at college. But he’s got bigger things in life to accomplish than running around in shorts and tank-top jerseys.

So that’s why my newest favorite basketball player is a kid in kindergarten who didn’t do much on the court that day. But what a day he had on the sideline.

Jimmer, I hope you find a team that will allow you to showcase your talents. Jabari, may your season at Duke be magical. LeBron, you remain the best basketball player on the planet and lots of fun to watch. Kobe, may your latest injury heal quickly and you get back on the court soon.

And Sam, well, you just continue to be who you are. You’ve got other things to do in life.

Basketball is kind of a silly game anyway.

Donald S. Smurthwaite lives in Meridian, Idaho. He's written eight novels, the latest, "Road to Bountiful," published by Covenant. He likes to bake, sort of likes to run, and now that he's retired, he's trying to perfect the art of taking a nap.

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