The Los Angeles Lakers' affinity for football continues in the 2019-20 NBA regular season. Superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis are usually the ones pretending to throw pigskin during pre-game huddles, but their fellow veterans Rajon Rondo and Dwight Howard got into the act as well.

Prior to tip-off of the Lakers' match against the Dallas Mavericks at Staples Center on Sunday, Rondo and Howard messed around a bit and challenged the defense of Quinn Cook and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Howard got his money's worth, as he clipped both Cook and Caldwell-Pope while also bringing down Rondo in the process.

The Lakers, meanwhile, are certainly on a festive mood as they ended their uncharacteristic four-game slump on Saturday with a 128-120 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Both Howard and Rondo has been big for the Lakers this year, with the former holding the fort as the team's enforcer off the bench while the latter assisting James in playmaking duties for coach Frank Vogel's offense.

Howard is averaging 6.8 points and 7.0 rebounds entering Sunday's game, while Rondo is putting up 7.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game for the Lakers.

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