The Los Angeles Lakers are now just days away from playing their first game in the NBA Finals after 10 long years. For L.A. veteran Dwight Howard, however, this is not his first dance.
Recently, the 34-year-old revealed the details of his conversation with the late, great Kobe Bryant after Howard's Orlando Magic team had just lost to Kobe's Lakers in the 2009 NBA Finals.
Howard, then just 23, reached out to the Lakers legend to ask some veteran advice about how he could take his game to the next level:
“What should I do to get better?” Dwight Howard recalls asking Bryant, via Shams Charania of The Athletic. “He was like: ‘What you mean? You’re already one of the best in the world. What do you mean? Continue to do what you’re doing, continue to play hard. Work on the elbow jump shot and bank shots.’ I was like, ‘Well, how many shots do you shoot in a day?’ He said he used to make 1,000 shots a day. That’s what I started doing: Shooting and making 1,000 jump shots a day. And the next year (2010-11), I was second in the MVP (race, behind Derrick Rose).
“I’ll never forget that. The reason why he said do that wasn’t because he wanted me to shoot all jump shots — it was more so the will.”
According to Dwight Howard, that was one of the most memorable conversations he had with Kobe, and as he described above, he certainly took it to heart.
On the other hand, these two did not exactly see eye to eye during their stint together as teammates with the Lakers. It was more of a clash of personalities more than anything, but they have since buried the hatchet.
Dwight Howard is now closing in on fully redeeming himself for the Lakers franchise following that forgettable stint some seven years ago. There is no doubt that he continues to keep Kobe in his mind and in his heart as he takes on one of the biggest challenges in his life in a few days' time.
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