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Ryan Gomes, 33, is playing for the L.A. D-Fenders in one last attempt to defy odds and return to the NBA

EL SEGUNDO – There are 51/2 minutes left in a 21-point basketball game between NBA D-League teams known as the Reno Bighorns and the Los Angeles D-Fenders, and Ryan Gomes has just been called for a reaching foul on a man a dozen years his junior.

Eyebrows raised, Gomes shoots a look at the referee. He is not upset, he clarifies. He only wants the ref to know that he committed the same foul four seconds earlier, and he should have called it then.

Gomes, 33, has always been honest, maybe as much as any other NBA player.