Walton all-too familiar with pain son could face one day

The soft blue eyes well up, the commanding voice chokes to a halt in mid-sentence, and the head turns down and away from the conversation.

Bill Walton is nearly in tears.

"I don't want you to write this story. This is ..."

Walton stops and takes nine seconds to gather himself in silence.

The Hall of Fame center was nearly ruined by back problems, tortured by searing pain to the point he said he contemplated ending his life. Now his son has back problems. He continues to play for the Lakers.

Bill Walton encouraged Luke Walton to retire in the summer rather than risk a similar future of agony. Luke Walton refused.

This is ... so hard.

"No parent wants to see their child suffer and how that changes your life. Basketball is a glorious celebration of life, of health, of everything that's good, and there is no better example of that than what Shaq is going through right now with the Boston Celtics and how much the Celtics will mean to Shaq now and for rest of his life, and how much fun it's going to be on that last long run.

"You want that," Bill said. "You want that for everybody, to have the end be so great, and you really want it for your children."