Caleb Houstan and the Art of Waiting

by someone who cannot dunk.

They never talk about the wait.
Not on First Take, not in the tunnel walks with overpriced headphones and matching suits.
But the wait—that’s where most of these boys live.
Not in the starlight.
In the shadows.
Where the clock ticks louder than the crowd.

Caleb Houstan knows the wait like a familiar ache.

This week, the Atlanta Hawks inked him to a one-year deal—league minimum. A gentle whisper of a transaction. No front-page fireworks, no love letters from the fans. Just another line in the transaction log. But the unglamorous truth is this: these are the deals that shape seasons. That push second units to glory. That stretch a floor wide enough for salvation.

Houstan’s 22. Born in Mississauga, Ontario, which means his first love was likely cold and orange—the way winters push you into gyms and jumpers. He came up slow and steady. Montverde Academy in Florida, then one year with Juwan Howard at Michigan. He started every damn game there—played hard, played tall, played quiet. 10.1 points. 4 boards. 35% from deep.

Solid. Unspectacular. But clean.

Drafted 32nd overall in 2022 by Orlando, where most careers either bloom or collect dust. And Houstan? He hovered somewhere in between. 168 games over two years. 23 starts. Last season, he gave them 4.1 points in just under 14 minutes a night. Not exactly thrilling stuff. But deeper beneath the box scores lies this: post-All-Star break, the kid shot 50.7% from three.

That’s not luck. That’s rhythm. That’s work no one sees.
That’s shooting till your hands go numb in an empty gym at 2 AM, no one there but the janitor and God.

▩ Player Snapshot: Caleb Houstan

Position: SF/Wing
Height: 6’8”
Weight: 205 lbs
Age: 22
2024-25 Stats (Orlando):
– 4.1 PPG
– 1.4 RPG
– 40.4% FG / 38.3% 3P
– 13.6 MPG in 58 appearances
– 50.7% 3P post-All-Star (19 games)

In June, Orlando declined his $2.1 million team option. Cold business. But predictable. They’re overloaded with wings—Franz Wagner, Paolo, Suggs, Anthony Black. All young. All crowded. There was no more space for Houstan’s kind of subtlety.

So he packed his bags and waited again.

Now he’s a Hawk. A one-year wing rental on a team reshaping itself. Atlanta’s got pieces: Trae still cooks, Jalen Johnson’s ready to burst, and they just stocked the shelves with shooters—Luke Kennard, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, Vit Krejci. Spacing, wingspan, and youth. Houstan is not a centerpiece here. He’s not even a guarantee.

But sometimes, the right note in the second verse is what makes the whole damn song sing.

The Canadian Wave:

Houstan isn’t alone. Canada’s no longer just a hockey nursery—it’s a basketball greenhouse. Look at the map:

– Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Hamilton, ON): First Team All-NBA
– Jamal Murray (Kitchener, ON): NBA Champ, playoff killer
– RJ Barrett (Toronto): Starter for Toronto
– Luguentz Dort (Montreal): Defensive menace
– Bennedict Mathurin, Andrew Nembhard, Dillon Brooks... the list swells like the northern tide.

And Houstan? He could be the quiet one who sticks. Doesn’t need to average 20. Doesn’t need to make All-Star teams. Just needs to show up, night after night, and knock down corner threes like prayers in a losing season.

The Poets Sidebar: “Three-Point Philosophy”
In the church of modern basketball,
the altar is the arc.
You don’t drive through bodies anymore.
You stretch the floor,
you wait in the corner,
and when the kick-out comes,
you don’t hesitate.
You let it fly like you’ve done it a thousand times in the dark
and a thousand more in your dreams.

There’s no promise Caleb Houstan gets rotation minutes.
Hell, there’s no promise he makes it past the trade deadline.
But this game still holds space for the quiet ones.
The ones who don’t beg for the spotlight,
but who know how to walk into it when the light finally hits them right.

Watch him this year.

Watch when it’s the second quarter, when the starters sit,
when the arena’s half-full, when the stakes are low—
those are the minutes that make or break a man.
That’s where Houstan lives.

He may be on a minimum deal, but make no mistake—
he’s playing like his next contract is hiding in the seams of every possession.

And maybe, just maybe,
he finds something in Atlanta that Orlando never offered:
clarity, consistency,
and one long, open look from the wing
with everything on the line.