Rory & Mal Don't Know Ball | Dwight Howard

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Herd with Colin Cowherd – Episode: Rory & Mal Don't Know Ball | Dwight Howard

Release Date: June 21, 2025

In this episode of "Don't Know Ball," hosted by Rory and Trevor Ariza, former NBA players engage in an in-depth conversation with Dwight Howard. The discussion spans Dwight's illustrious career, his experiences transitioning into the NBA, his views on media recognition, pivotal moments like the 2009 Orlando Magic championship run, and his perspectives on the evolving landscape of basketball, including the recent sale of the Los Angeles Lakers. Additionally, Dwight shares personal insights on mental health and his international basketball ventures.

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1. Drafting and Transition to the NBA

Key Points:

• Dwight Howard was selected as the number one overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic straight out of high school.
• The transition from high school to the NBA was challenging due to the higher level of competition and media scrutiny.

Notable Quotes:

• Rory (03:07): "So with the first pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, Rory the Orlando Magic selected somebody out of high school who had a lot of promise..."
• Dwight Howard (05:53): "I woke up every morning at 4:00 clock, and I went to the track train every day. This was in high school."

2. Dealing with Media and Top 75 Exclusion

Key Points:

• Dwight discusses the difficulties of adapting to media attention upon entering the NBA.
• Expresses frustration over being excluded from the NBA's Top 75 list despite significant achievements and contributions to the game.

Notable Quotes:

• Dwight Howard (10:41): "Back then it was probably like the Skip Bayless. Like I would say, if I'm in a room with Skip, I'm gonna slap him."
• Dwight Howard (13:43): "I was pissed off... I know there's not guys better than me."

3. 2009 Orlando Magic Championship Run

Key Points:

• Recaps the Magic's journey to the NBA Finals in 2009, highlighting key performances and strategic decisions.
• Discusses the intense rivalry with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Notable Quotes:

• Dwight Howard (35:07): "Rory was like, well Dwight, you've always been well spoken, but it just seems more natural to have guys that played the game talk about the game..."
• Dwight Howard (36:04): "They wanted it so bad. We seeing all this stuff on TV... we are gonna destroy Cleveland."

4. Sale of Los Angeles Lakers to Mark Walter

Key Points:

• The podcast delves into the recent sale of the LA Lakers' majority ownership to Mark Walter of TWG Global.
• Discusses the implications of such a significant financial transaction on the future of the Lakers and the NBA.

Notable Quotes:

• Dwight Howard (65:04): "They probably broke the bank... They gave the Lakers 10 billion."
• Dwight Howard (68:36): "They handing it to me, but I'mma battle my ass off. I'm strong as shit, so hey, I'm going Prime, Dwight."

5. Playing Overseas in Taiwan

Key Points:

• Dwight recounts his time playing basketball in Taiwan, emphasizing the cultural experiences and personal growth achieved.
• Highlights the contrast between playing in the NBA and international leagues.

Notable Quotes:

• Dwight Howard (79:16): "Taiwan was amazing... getting my own basketball league, getting a gold card."
• Dwight Howard (80:25): "Seeing people coming from different parts of the world and they know who I am... that's an awesome feeling."

6. Mental Health and Motivation

Key Points:

• Dwight openly discusses moments of depression and the pressures of maintaining success in professional sports.
• Shares coping mechanisms, including traveling and gaining new perspectives to rekindle his passion for basketball.

Notable Quotes:

• Dwight Howard (76:30): "I've had days and those moments of depression. I just have to travel. Get away from my normal routine."
• Dwight Howard (77:50): "Sometimes traveling, you see how people live... I should just be thankful."

7. Perspectives on Modern Basketball and Technology

Key Points:

• Dwight comments on the evolution of basketball, including the increased athleticism and the role of technology and AI in the sport.
• Raises concerns about the integrity and entertainment value as the game becomes more globalized and technologically driven.

Notable Quotes:

• Dwight Howard (24:43): "It's a different ball game... it's upgraded system."
• Dwight Howard (60:55): "It's gonna be normal. Can we be, you know who's gonna be? It's like the rookies versus..."

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Conclusion

Throughout the episode, Dwight Howard provides a candid and insightful look into his career and the broader changes within the NBA. From overcoming the challenges of transitioning to the professional league straight out of high school to grappling with media recognition and personal setbacks, Dwight's narrative is one of resilience and adaptation. His reflections on the 2009 championship run and the recent managerial changes within the Lakers offer listeners a unique perspective on the business and emotional facets of professional basketball. Additionally, Dwight's discussions on mental health and his international experiences highlight the importance of personal well-being and cultural enrichment beyond the court.

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This summary aims to encapsulate the core discussions and highlights from the episode, providing an informative overview for those who haven't listened to the full podcast.

Transcript

[Dwight Howard]

This is an iHeart podcast, okay? Have you heard about this? Last year, Degree changed the formula for their Cool Rush deodorant. The fans rebelled and wanted the old scent back and Degree listened and that doesn't happen often. They admitted they effed up and are bringing the original Cool Rush scent back. And it's exactly how you remember it. Cool, crisp and fresh. There's a reason why it's the number one men's antiperspirant. And it's back in Walmart, Target and other stores now for under $4. You so try it and see what the fuss is about. Head to your local Walmart, Target and try to og Cool Rush for yourself. What up, y' all? This your main man, Memphis Bleak, right here.

[Rory]

Host the Rock Solid Podcast.

[Dwight Howard]

June is Black Music Month. So what better way to celebrate than listening to my exclusive conversation with my bro, Ja Rule?

[Ja Rule]

The one thing they can't stop you or take away from you is knowledge. So whatever I went through while I was down in prison for two years through that process, learn. Learn from it.

[Dwight Howard]

Check out this exclusion exclusive episode with Ja Rule on Rock Solid. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Rock Solid and listen Now.

[Ben O'Keefe]

Looking for your next obsession? Listen to High Key, a new weekly podcast hosted by Ben o' Keefe, Ryan Mitchell and Evie. Oddly, we got a lot of things to get into. We're gonna gush about the random stuff we can't stop thinking about. I am High Key going to lose my mind over all things Cowboy Carter.

[Dwight Howard]

I know, girl.

[Ben O'Keefe]

The way she about to yank my my bank account.

[Nyla Simone]

Correct.

[Ben O'Keefe]

And one thing I really love about this is that she is celebrating her daughters. Oh, I know. Listen to High key on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Dwight Howard]

I think everything that might have dropped.

[Ben O'Keefe]

In 95 has been labeled the golden.

[Dwight Howard]

Years of hip hop.

[Nyla Simone]

It's Black Music Month and we need the Talk is tapping in. I'm Nyla Simone, breaking down lyrics, amplifying voices, and digging into the culture that shapes the soundtrack of our lives.

[Ja Rule]

Like that's what's really important and that's what stands out is that our music changes people's lives for the better.

[Nyla Simone]

Let's talk about the music that moves us to hear this and more on how music and culture collide. Listen to we need the Talk from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Ben O'Keefe]

Blending Vice's signature dynamic storytelling with the high octane world of sports, Vice Sports brings An exciting and diverse range of programming that goes beyond the game. From action packed live events to gripping behind the scenes documentaries, to hard hitting investigative pieces and in depth program profiles of athletes, coaches, teams. Vice Sports captures the raw energy, drama and passion that makes sports truly unforgettable. Catch live events and other exclusive sports programs only on Vice TV. Go to vice tv.com to find your cable channel.

[Dwight Howard]

The volume.

[Nyla Simone]

No worry and mouth.

[Rory]

All right, Rory, we are back for another episode of don't know Ball. Yes, you know, show that we have now to talk to some people that know a lot about Ball. And today is a special day because this is our first.

[Dwight Howard]

First.

[Rory]

This is our first number one overall.

[Trevor Ariza]

Yeah.

[Rory]

Selection in his draft.

[Trevor Ariza]

That is true.

[Rory]

So with the first pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, Rory the Orlando Magic selected somebody out of high school who had a lot of promise, a lot of upside. I think ended his career being probably one of the most underrated big men that I've ever seen play the game. Definitely revolutionized the position.

[Trevor Ariza]

One of the most athletic, one of.

[Rory]

The most athletic big men we've ever seen in the NBA. And I probably have more respect for him today now that I got a chance to stand next to him. He's not as tall as I thought he was. So now I got even more respect for him because it's on the perimeter that's taller than him and they didn't, they couldn't do what he did. So we are joined today by Dwight Howard. Dwight, how you feeling, brother?

[Dwight Howard]

That's good. You right?

[Rory]

Listen, man, so when he walked, when.

[Trevor Ariza]

He got off the elevator, he was like, nah, he could kind of small.

[Rory]

You know what it is when you. No, no, definitely not saying that. But you know what it is, Dwight, when you, When I, I stand next to, you know, hanging out with KD and I stand next to kd, it's like, damn, I would think that Dwight is much taller than a Kevin Durant.

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah, KD's seven feet. He's six feet.

[Rory]

Yeah, but that's what I'm saying. A lot of people don't know that. Right. But on the court, because of aesthetically, you just look like.

[Dwight Howard]

I look like I was upset. It's crazy. When I played for the Lakers and Antwan Jameson was one of my teammates and I was standing next to Pau Gasol, he was bruh, you really ain't seven feet. Yeah, you like six, eight. For real.

[Rory]

That's what I'm saying.

[Dwight Howard]

I said, what you mean? He said, because pal, seven one and he killing you. Right now, he way talking, I was like, bro, it's just when I get on the court, I look tall. Cause I'm always jumping, touching the top of the backboard. But it's crazy. Like, yeah, I was one of the shortest centers to play.

[Rory]

I mean, one of the shortest. Me saying that is crazy. But the way you played the position, though, Dwight, now we, you know, me particularly speaking, saw you in high school, obviously knew the talent was there. Everybody knew you would be the number one overall pick. But that position, and I think that time the center position was kind of in a different kind of space. Yeah, we didn't have the, you know, the big dominant Shaqs was on the way out. You know what I'm saying? That was kind of the latter part of the career. So the big bulky you came in and the way you were running. A lot of people don't know this, but Shaq kind of played that way in his rookie years, in his early years in Orlando. He could run, excuse me, run the floor a lot better than people thought. But what you did at the position was like, no, he's like freakishly athletic at the center position.

[Dwight Howard]

It's crazy because when I got to the team, I wanted to get out on the perimeter. So I would always be trying to bring the ball up the court in practice. And coach would stop me from dribbling the ball. He would tell Steve Francis or one of the guards, no, we don't want you dribbling the basketball. And I'm like, well, what you want me to do? They just said, dwight, we want you to bring down the house. So I'm like, what does that mean? Yeah, dunk everything. And so I was playing the four, man, when I got on the Magic. And back then, it wasn't no stretch fours or fives, so it was always interchangeable. They saw how fast I could get up and down the floor and how high I could jump. So they said, you know what, let's put you at the center position. Let's get four shooters and then let's keep you in the pick and roll. Cause you're going to be faster than all the centers. They might be taller than you, but you can make up for that with your arms and jumping and stuff like that. So now we want you to put pressure on the rim. So every time, run as hard as you can, seal to the basket. If you don't have it, come set a pick a roll. We gonna get you on the lob, get you on a deep post up. So it was like easy Money for me?

[Rory]

No, but you came in and it almost seemed like right away you adjusted to the NBA game. Was that due to you think you always just being a fan of the game, watching the game closely, or did you come in knowing that I'm going to have to make some adjustments to my game? And how fast did you pick up that adjustment? Because I don't. Looking back, I don't think you really came out the gates, like, slow. You had like an adjusted period.

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah, I did.

[Rory]

But you had success early as well.

[Dwight Howard]

I think it was how I prepared to come into the NBA. So I woke up every morning at 4:00 clock, and I went to the track train every day. This was in high school. Every day I was doing this, waking up at 4 o' clock, going to the track. Then I would go to the court and lift or try to lift as much weights as I could, and then go to the court, obviously, and work out. I did this religiously. That became my routine. So I wanted to prepare myself for the traveling, for the getting up early, having to get on the plane ride and wake up and having to lift and do all that stuff. And also to maintain my body, you know, I had to train for that. Yeah, because I knew once I got to the NBA, it's going to be tons of things that could distract me. So I said, I need to work on being disciplined. So my first year, and it was going to be adjustment period. Kevin Willis was the one who woke me up. I tried to box him out one day and Chicken wing? Yeah, he pulled my arm down and it was stuck and I couldn't move. And I was like, yo, let go of my arm.

[Rory]

And Kevin Willis was an older guy.

[Dwight Howard]

He was a super vet, super duper vet, 20 year in the league. Chicken weighed my arm and he held it down. And I said, after that, I will not let nobody ever push me around in this league. I went that summer in eight weights. My first year was an adjustment period because now I'm playing against stronger, older and wiser men. AAU was a different type of game that we came from. High school was different. But now we're playing against all these savvy vets. It was more vets in the league back then. So, you know, with me coming in number one pick, you know, everybody got all these high expectations. Every big man is trying me. So now it's like I gotta come back with a plan. And the plan was to get bigger, stronger and faster. And it worked out.

[Trevor Ariza]

What was the media side like that? Cause, I mean, Even you know, high school. When did they cut that off? Right before the league?

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah, the next year.

[Trevor Ariza]

The next year? Yeah, so I thought so. It was a controversial time. And outside of being the number one pick, being a high school player as well, how'd you deal with the media shit, outside of dealing with grown ass men in the paint, man, I didn't.

[Dwight Howard]

Know what I was dealing with. I didn't know what was going on. Cause it's like all I knew was basketball and God, you know, I went to a church school. So every day I'm waking up doing what I'm doing with basketball. Now we mixing it with school and church. And this was everything that I knew. Now I go from this small school to the big world. Now I'm the face of a franchise. Now they're asking me to make sure to understand money and things I didn't know none of. So it was a big adjustment period for me and I was very thankful that I had to go through so many trials because it really made me better off the court, Made me better on the court. And the media, man, we didn't know how to deal with it coming in. I didn't have to deal with any negativity like that until that moment coming into the NBA. So it was like how do I deal with everybody always in my business wanting to know everything about my life that come with being famous and all these different things is now it's coming into play and it's not as easy to deal with if you don't have a strong faith or a strong firm foundation.

[Trevor Ariza]

Yeah, who pissed you off the most in the media at that time? I mean it wasn't like the first take era where it's like every show is opinionated pundit shit. But people still, you know, there's still opinions going on in sports media.

[Dwight Howard]

Back then it was probably like the Skip Bayless. Like I would say, if I'm in a room with Skip, I'm a slap him. That's how I was thinking back then. Like he always got something to say because people like that. I believe back in the day it started what we call with everybody having an opinion based off somebody who's never did this before. Like I could understand.

[Rory]

Do you respect it more coming from God? Cause I like what the NBA is doing now and you've done a great job with it as well. I think I caught one of the magic games and you was courtside talking and I was like, well Dwight, you've always been well spoken, but it just seems more natural to have guys that played the game talk about the game, to have you talk about the game, because y' all always see it from an angle. We obviously will never see it from and understand it differently. But is that something that you had to learn later on? Like, okay, these guys, they're just speaking about it, so I can't get so emotionally upset and you know, and take it too seriously, because they don't. They just doing their job.

[Dwight Howard]

It's hard not to, because people on the outside teams are also hearing this stuff too. So now it could put them in a position like, is this true or is it not true? Is this person or player. It's fucking like money. Yeah. That's how we're taking it. Cause it's like, yo, oh, I'm really out here grinding every single day. And now you're telling people I'm a cancer in the locker room. I'm lazy. I don't work hard. Like, you can't do that. That's not fair because my resume is showing otherwise. But now you're trying to tarnish that by saying this. So it's really not cool. So it's great for everyone to have opinions. I think we need to hear both sides of it from a player that has played and somebody who's just observing the game because maybe they could see something a little bit different.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

So I. I can understand that. But to have the actual players who played in that era, I think they should be the ones that are talking. So, like, now the. The guys who played with me are against me and stuff like that. I feel like they would be great commentators for games. The older guys, they haven't been out there. They haven't been a part of this new generation's game. So I feel like maybe their opinions could be bias based off when they played and how they played.

[Rory]

So now you have the career that you have, obviously, eight time, what, All Star NBA champion, all of these things. The one thing that I had an issue with was you being left off the top 75. And you've always had this personality where you're smiling. You know, things never seem to really upset you. I don't think I've ever seen you do any or say anything too crazy. But personally, how did you take that? Like, when you got the news that you didn't make the top seven, like, we not talking about cameras and media. I'm talking about Dwight Howard at home.

[Dwight Howard]

I was pissed off.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah. I was like, man, there's no way I put in this much work personally. And for the league to be left off. And I know there's not guys that's better than me.

[Rory]

Okay? That's the issue I had with it. I'm like, some of these guys. I get it. He was good. But I remember what this kid was doing in Orlando, and it looks totally different.

[Dwight Howard]

Totally different. So I was very pissed off, and I was like, man, this is not right. Cause it gotta be a bigger play. It gotta be something else. Because I know for a fact some of these guys don't have my resume.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

And they're on it.

[Rory]

That's a fact.

[Dwight Howard]

But as it got closer to when they. I think ESPN was doing a little coverage of the time when they were saying, it's like 10 players left. When it got down to 10, I said, you know what? They ain't gonna put me on it. Why do you think I could already sense it?

[Rory]

But why?

[Dwight Howard]

Because if I wasn't already on it by the time it got to 10 players left. Come on.

[Rory]

Okay.

[Dwight Howard]

I can't say it's 65 players better than me that done played.

[Rory]

Yeah, it would be hard for me to name 65.

[Dwight Howard]

So for that to happen, or 70 players, 65 players left, whatever. For that to happen, I'm like, yo, I'm not gonna make it. So watching on tv, like, damn, you.

[Trevor Ariza]

Would obviously know about NBA politics better than most for the length of a career you had. Do you think there's a reason why you were left off? Was it politics as usual? Is there a specific person or entity that.

[Dwight Howard]

Man, that's a tough one, man. I don't want to put nobody out there like that. I don't know. It gotta be. Yeah, it gotta be. Like, it's just the numbers don't add up and it doesn't matter. Like, it's the thing that people all say, well, he did this off the court. It has nothing to do with what happened when I stepped between them lines. You can't take that away from nothing. By rumors, stories, whatever. People are saying it has nothing. Talk about the real story. Let's put in the film and my stats and accolades to show if I was really taking the game serious or not. You can't go by Skip. And people said, oh, he was. He was just playing the game. He wasn't playing for real. Like, what, the numbers and stuff don't show that.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Trevor Ariza]

So then I'll ask for this list thing, because this just happens with podcasting. We go through every fucking complex music list, every rapper list, and we just had the. What was it? La Rappers that complex just put out. And we were debating, like, all right, yeah, there's legends on this list, but they're from an era that, like, you're only on there because you were in the beginning.

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah. Like, you start.

[Trevor Ariza]

You're not better than this other rapper. You just have a legend status because you were there in the beginning. Do you think that also lends itself to basketball?

[Dwight Howard]

Like, some people on there?

[Trevor Ariza]

Yeah. Like, yeah, you wouldn't. In my era, you would have got cooked. Like, you shouldn't even be on this top 75.

[Dwight Howard]

Like, it was somebody on there. What was his name?

[Trevor Ariza]

Sure, he's white, and his name was Bob Cousy.

[Dwight Howard]

That's his name. I played with him on 2K on live when I was in high school, and I was better than him. Ain't no way Dolph says his name. Dolph. I'm sorry. And I love young Dolph. Rest in peace. I'm not talking, but his name, Dolph says, bro, yeah, there's no way. Top 80.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

Get out of here.

[Rory]

No, I. Listen, it's. It's more names than that. On that top 75, where I was just like, yeah, I just don't. I don't see it. Like, not because, again, Orlando Magic, Dwight Howard, like, I went to games. I went to games with the guard. I went to games to nets games. Like, when those teams came into the city, there was like a. Oh, like, how do we stop him? It was Jameer. You know, it was other guys, but it was like, what y' all gonna do about him in the paint, though? So when you have that feeling in the arena for part of your career, there's no way you could say, yo, there's 75 players that had that as well. That's a feeling.

[Dwight Howard]

I know it's not. I just know it because I. Man, and it pissed me off. I remember seeing Sam Mitchell in the airport in Atlanta, and he was like, man, I just want to tell you, man, that top 75 shit still got me mad when he said that, I was like, man, yeah.

[Rory]

Van Gunner, your coach, he had some things to say about it. Like, a few people kind of spoke. I was like, nah, they got that one wrong. Like, not white boys.

[Dwight Howard]

But, hey, who are these people that actually. And how did they get the right to vote for these?

[Rory]

You've never had that conversation with anybody.

[Dwight Howard]

I'm saying, we have talked. They showed the list. But it's like, how are these people the ones who have the criteria to vote for these 75 people? What makes it. I think one of the people was a player.

[Rory]

Am I not mistaken?

[Dwight Howard]

He's playing now. How could he have the right to vote for who should be top 75 now and he's still playing. It should be players that I would say maybe wasn't superstars or all stars in the league, but played in all the. Who played in certain areas that can say, okay, now this guy, I played against him. Yeah, he was cold. Now, you know, like the 9th, 8th man on the bench. Who's all these guys that done played or witnessed the game. No, no disrespect to nobody, but like they're the ones that should be saying, man, that was a cold dude that played he top. You know what I'm saying?

[Trevor Ariza]

They knew how tough it was to go against that person.

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah.

[Trevor Ariza]

And it's funny, Peach and Ma were having a conversation off mic before you came here that I thought was very interesting of we're getting to the era of young kids that did not see Jordan whatsoever. So now it's going to be the way I view Wilt Chamberlain. Like I've heard about it, but I.

[Dwight Howard]

Don'T fucking know existed. Yeah, like, and that's my favorite player, so damn. Well, yeah, okay, but we're just getting that.

[Trevor Ariza]

How could they vote on the top 75 players ever? Like, they didn't actually watch them, they didn't play against them. How do you even vote for that?

[Dwight Howard]

Because the name, it's like for. For this. A lot of kids never seen Shaq play, but they're going to say he's the most dominant center, which is true.

[Trevor Ariza]

But also that goes with branding and Shaq continuing to be in the space as well. Like, his name is going to continue on.

[Rory]

But y' all got YouTube though. YouTube. Shaq. And then you tell me if I'm lying about what I'm saying.

[Trevor Ariza]

Oh, I agree with you on Shaq on that side, but I'm saying it's different to like, I was young, I caught the very tail end of Jordan. It doesn't resonate the same way as Kobe with me. I watched Kobe. I hate, hated Kobe. Rest in peace.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Trevor Ariza]

As I just hated him because I watched him kill every team I loved. Like, I know about it. Jordan. Yeah. I could watch the highlights and be like, oh my God, that guy's insane.

[Dwight Howard]

Oh, but he never watched.

[Trevor Ariza]

There's not a feeling of watching Kobe crush.

[Rory]

No, I crush us. I sat down in front of the TV plenty of Sundays and watched Mike.

[Trevor Ariza]

Yeah, but we have a 10 year difference.

[Rory]

So like Nothing, Nothing like it. These the greatest ever. I don't. Dwight, don't even look at me like. I don't care who your number one all time Michael Jordan.

[Dwight Howard]

I think don't say the. The goat got to be Kareem.

[Rory]

Okay, but you and I know why you're saying that. You're talking about just as far as basketball career, high school, college, I get. And I'm not mad at that.

[Dwight Howard]

Strictly basketball.

[Rory]

I'm not mad at that. I'm not mad at that. But Michael Jordan, what he did when he came in his 84 season to this day. And now y' all are supposed to be more athletic. Y' all are supposed to have more moves. Y' all supposed to. All these opportunities to score and do all these things and nobody can still get close.

[Dwight Howard]

Cause it's harder than 84.

[Rory]

You know what?

[Dwight Howard]

They're harder to score now if guys are more athletic, they're stronger, they jump higher, they're faster on offense. What about the guys on defense? It's the same thing.

[Rory]

Yeah, but I don't think that again, and this is why we had the show, I don't think that NBA players now put as much emphasis on the defensive end as they did when you were playing.

[Dwight Howard]

That's true. Because it was so let alone 84.

[Trevor Ariza]

Like Iverson's one example. Do you think Iverson would have an easier time scoring right now or the era he played in? I would say the era he played in.

[Rory]

No, right now he would have a way more time. Easier time scoring.

[Trevor Ariza]

That's what I'm saying.

[Rory]

Oh, okay.

[Trevor Ariza]

Way easier for Iverson to score right now.

[Dwight Howard]

Well, yeah, well, that's Iverson.

[Trevor Ariza]

This is one example.

[Rory]

That's what we talking about. If you was to drop Michael Jordan in this. I always say this.

[Dwight Howard]

Michael Jordan is Michael Jordan.

[Rory]

No, but listen, this is what I say. I say that if Steph Curry had the ego of Michael Jordan, just the ego. Steph Curry's game with Michael Jordan's ego, they would drug test Steph Curry every game.

[Dwight Howard]

But what kind of ego? What do you mean?

[Rory]

Because I say that because Steph is such a passive guy, he doesn't care to be. His talent brings that to him. But like he doesn't push that ego on to other players. Like he doesn't get at other players and dominate in the way that Mike did. Like, Mike would create an issue with a player just to be like, yo, I don't like the way he looked at me.

[Dwight Howard]

That's the era that we played in, though. I mean, that's the era of Michael Jordan. Like, they had to find the issue. Remember, it was no friends back then. People, like, they hated each other. They didn't hate, but they used to get mad at us for hanging out with each other. Like, why you hang with him? That's the enemy. It's like, no, we just hooping against each other. We supposed to be cool. I think that that was just the error. Cause I was looking at some stats. They said of Michael Jordan. They said he had a 48 inch vert. That's ridiculous.

[Rory]

You don't believe it.

[Dwight Howard]

That's hard to believe.

[Rory]

But why you don't believe that?

[Dwight Howard]

Cause, I mean, he would be touching the top of the whole backboard. Easy 48.

[Trevor Ariza]

He did the measurements at the dunk contest. We watched.

[Dwight Howard]

Who?

[Trevor Ariza]

You?

[Dwight Howard]

Me?

[Trevor Ariza]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

No, I'm saying Michael Jordan.

[Trevor Ariza]

I know, but I'm saying, you know, the exact measurements based on, I think.

[Rory]

The top of the bag. I think that's. We know it's exaggerated. A 48 inch. We know it's exaggerated. But if you go back and look at tapes of Michael coming out of North Carolina and just look physically the way he looked against everybody else, maybe.

[Dwight Howard]

Cause everybody else didn't have it, but now everybody else got all those same things.

[Rory]

It still don't look like that.

[Dwight Howard]

Because it don't. Because back then it was a whole different game. Like, now I'm trying to learn how to do the moves that the youngest is doing. Like the whole Euro steps, all these different moves. Like the going side step and coming back, then catching this, shooting and then take another side step. These.

[Trevor Ariza]

Learning how to travel.

[Rory]

Yeah, travel, okay.

[Dwight Howard]

But that's. It's the new age basketball. It's AI. This is AI Basketball. That's love.

[Rory]

I'm watching Halliburton and I'm like, yo, he picked up his dribble in the paint. He's at the 3.

[Dwight Howard]

How did he do that?

[Rory]

Like. And it's no whistle. I'm like, all right. Things change.

[Dwight Howard]

But that's how it is now. Like, everything is. It's a upgraded system. Like the way the players were back then. If they would have had the same type of training, the same type of facilities, they would have been able to do all the stuff that's being done now. But they was only going off what they had, which was simpler, which made the game easier. So to us, why Mike looks so cold? Because he won. Two dribbles into everything. That's what we like.

[Rory]

We want all.

[Dwight Howard]

Why you gotta take all them dribbles?

[Rory]

And do all that right to it.

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah, but that's the era that we grew up in. But now we looking at an era where they taking angles. Somebody take this angle away. Cause he's strong enough and he can get you to take that angle away. Now you gotta find another way to get to another angle. So it's just, it's a different ball game.

[Rory]

Where's Mike at on your all time list? Because I.

[Dwight Howard]

He gotta be two or three.

[Rory]

Okay.

[Dwight Howard]

I just have Kareem at one because I respect that.

[Rory]

If you would have had him going five, I'd have been like, all right, Dwight, we can't. What are you talking about? Players better than Michael.

[Dwight Howard]

No, you can't. But Kareem is just like, I'm not mad at that.

[Rory]

I'm never mad at nobody that has Kareem Abdul jabbar at number one.

[Dwight Howard]

How many points he got total? 39. 30. No points, 38.

[Rory]

Sounds something crazy.

[Dwight Howard]

All two, I'm saying, you know how hard that is to do. And he only had one shot.

[Rory]

Yeah, I get it. No, he dominated. He dominated every level of basketball. Without a doubt. I'm never arguing. Kareem Abdul Jabir.

[Dwight Howard]

And he did it with two names. Yeah, he might be the coldest then. Ain't no player colder than him. He did it as Lou Alcinda and he whooped Bruce Lee real ass. And then he got him in the go, bro. Come on, what's up?

[Rory]

I'll never argue.

[Trevor Ariza]

He was at 13,38,000 points. Yeah, is what he was at.

[Dwight Howard]

That's crazy.

[Trevor Ariza]

I mean, do you think with how the league is, it's better for the league moving forward? Like with it less physicality, people being more AAU style friends and shit. You think it's better?

[Dwight Howard]

Well, I just think that, see the game is global and they want more scoring, they want more entertainment. The world we live in, people get so distracted fast. So they have to do do things to keep it entertaining. And so I think it's in a great position. The only thing I see is it's oversaturated with talent and that it's not enough teams, it's not enough all star spots, it's not enough, it's not enough money to go around for all these players because they're going to continue to get better. And the only thing for the players I want them to start doing more is probably just playing more pickup. The younger players stop training to try to get to the league.

[Rory]

Everybody gotta train everybody one on one workouts and all of that.

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah, one on one workout.

[Rory]

The best way to play basketball is to play basketball.

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah. Once it go back to that, then the game itself is gonna regain the love and the passion that it used to have. Just think about how back in the day it was just us hooping. It just felt so good to get out there and hoop. You ain't got no money involved. Now the players, now they gotta worry about making sure they hit the parlay. What they call them. The parlays? Yeah, the parlays. All that. Like, people get mad about if somebody don't get enough rebounds or score enough points, that could put a lot of pressure on these young guys, you know what I'm saying? So then people wasting their money doing it. People gonna bet, do what they do.

[Rory]

They gonna always do that. Yeah, but how did you feel about the whole Nil? Like, do you feel like that's hurting college basketball? How do you feel about the transfer portal? Like, if Dwight Howard in high school had those options in front of him, how does that look for Dwight Howard.

[Dwight Howard]

Going to the league? Only because I wasn't going to the league for money. I wanted to go to the league just to. Cause I wanted to be one of the greatest to ever play. That was my goal. It wasn't, man, I gotta get some money so I could live. I always felt like God was gonna provide for me if I use my gifts properly. So I think the Nil can be a great thing. And also it could be a bad thing depending on how people use it. I know a lot of families will want to use it to take. Get themselves out of a situation. But also at the same time, what if you don't know what to do with this money and this fame and you giving up your name, image and likeness, like, and everybody's doing that now. I don't think that's a. That part is a great thing for these young athletes to give up. Your name, image and likeness, that's who you are. And if you're doing it at a young age, you know what I'm saying? It's like you won't stop. You have to keep feeding that beast. Oh, man, I gotta come back. My name, image and likeness is on the line. And that's a lot to give up you. You know what I'm saying? So that's the only part I don't.

[Trevor Ariza]

I mean, but if, hypothetically, if like, you know, KG and Kobe didn't prove that you could be successful right out of high school, because, I mean, Bron hadn't really been proven at that Point. Do you still. Brian was, what, a year?

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah. What? He right after me, right before me.

[Trevor Ariza]

I'm talking about at that point, KG and Kobe, we knew you come out of high school and be a superstar. Brian rookie of the year, great. But that was one year. Do you think you still wouldn't have taken that time to develop in college? Say, maybe one or two years?

[Dwight Howard]

How, like, okay, this is what I told my mom. I said, people go to college to learn how to make money and whatever it is that they're trying to make money in. This is what the NBA is for me. I'm making money in the thing that I want to do, but I'm not doing it for money. But guess what? If I could play this game every day and get paid for it, why not do that? You know? So she said, you right, son. This is what you wanted to do. So you go ahead and be the greatest that you could be.

[Trevor Ariza]

What were some of those conversations, like, with J.R. smith, Sebastian Telfair, like, at the McDonald's.

[Dwight Howard]

Just, like, they knew what I was gonna do. We know what you gonna do, bigfella. You going to the league. You better go to the league. And I'm like, y' all right? Like, if I got a chance to go top. If you get a chance to go top three in the NBA draft, you will be a fool to go to college.

[Rory]

You knew you was going one, though.

[Dwight Howard]

Yes. But I'm just saying, for anybody in general, like, if you get a chance to go top three and you know you can go number one. Come on, now.

[Rory]

Yeah, you.

[Dwight Howard]

That'll be like knowing that you got a box behind this door that's $100 million, and everybody in the world know it. And you say, you know what? I'm gonna go to college and go earn it. You just earned it.

[Rory]

Yeah, that's tough.

[Trevor Ariza]

It's just weighing with stuff. I mean, even, you know, I want no beef with Kwame Brown at all. I don't want to go back and forth on YouTube, but, you know, that always be in the back of my mind, too.

[Dwight Howard]

But what did he do that point?

[Trevor Ariza]

What year was he? 01.

[Dwight Howard]

He didn't do anything wrong. Like, see.

[Trevor Ariza]

No, I agree. It was a weird system with the.

[Dwight Howard]

Wizards and not even that, like, he made it out the rat race.

[Trevor Ariza]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

You know what I'm saying? That's how you can't take it. Like, man, he didn't have an awesome career. He did played over 10 years in the NBA. The average career in the NBA is three to four years folks. So for somebody to go past that now, maybe he didn't meet everyone outside of himself's expectations. Cause they had expectations for him, but he met his. He made it to the league. That's probably what his. Why was I gotta make it to the league? Everybody had a different reasons. Everybody loved ball for different reasons. You know what I'm saying? So I can't fault him for that. And just think about this. You coming into a league and your favorite player is on your team and it's Michael Jordan and he's Michael Jordan and you're 18, like, that's a lot on you. And then for this person to be on you, so heavy. You not understanding that's a lot.

[Rory]

I never really like took a second and thought about just that. Like you grew up looking at this figure that is like, so idol, this is the one. And now he's mad at me because I dropped the pass he just threw to me. And it's like I'm watching the greatest player ever. I'm just in the hall, I'm stuck staring at him like, Michael Jordan just passed me out.

[Trevor Ariza]

That I even. I was young, but I remember the media like this is. Jordan handpicked this draft pick. Even though he's on the team, Jordan is drafting him. Yeah, they were doing special. I feel like he went to Jordan's like, house in North Carolina. Like they made that.

[Dwight Howard]

He probably was so inspired. And then he probably felt shitted on right after that. Cause he was like, damn, man, I fucked up with Michael Jordan.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

That could probably sting a lot as a different type of pressure.

[Rory]

Absolutely. What is that pressure though? Like, knowing that you're the number one pick. Like, what is that? For me, it's just a different glow you got in the green room when everybody know you going number one.

[Dwight Howard]

I was afraid if I was going to go number one or number two for a second. And then I remember one of the guys said, hey, Ashley wasn't one of the players. I'm sorry, it's my agent, Aaron Goodwin. He said, dwight, as soon as they call your name, give your mom a hug and a kiss, shake your pop's hand. You can get ready to smile. So I said, oh, that mean I'm going number one as soon as he said that. Cause we're in the green room. And I think they do the green room a little different now. I don't know how it goes, but man, back then it was a little. It was treacherous. It was like we're in the garden, you know, the fans is everywhere. I think before they had all of us outside. It was a great experience, man. But being 18, looking back on it, it was a whirlwind. It happened so fast. Like, one day I wake up, I'm in this 16 student class. My senior class, school is super small. Next day I'm getting drafted into the NBA. All my dreams come true. Like, man, this is sick.

[Rory]

Yeah. So let's talk about the 2009 season. So the Orlando Magic, y' all beat LeBron, the Cavs to go to the finals. What was that? You had the closeout game yesterday. You had a crazy game, I think.

[Dwight Howard]

Right at 40, 41 and 19.

[Trevor Ariza]

Just a light. A light double.

[Rory]

Double. You saw how Dwight threw that out there. He said, you know, he's. And he still remembered, you know, 41, 19. That was light day at the office. You know, got a dirt.

[Trevor Ariza]

40 and 19 is.

[Rory]

40 and 19 is absolutely. But against that team, against that player in that moment to go to the finals, like in the. What do you as a player take us in that moment where you feeling in the zone, like, oh, I'm having one of those games. This is one of those. Like, what is that? How do you control that emotion?

[Dwight Howard]

You can't. It's just like one. You feel everything that's going on from the crowd. Cause we're in Orlando, so the crowd is hyped because this is the furthest we've been in a long time. And you could feel that, the intensity. Everybody's so hot. Hype. And it's like the only thing on our minds is they've been talking about this Cleveland Laker matchup.

[Rory]

Yeah, they wanted it bad.

[Dwight Howard]

They wanted it so bad. We seeing all this stuff on tv, the commercials, Everybody's just counting us out. And that just brought us so much anger that it was like, we are f to destroy Cleveland. Whatever it takes, we're going to send them home mad that they they from playing us. And that last game was like a statement. Like, nah, y' all gonna remember the Orlando Magic. Everybody gonna remember we the team that stopped LeBron and Kobe from going to the final.

[Rory]

That series was still that. That time really was like some of the best basketball. Basketball, man, that I think that we had. The matchups, the individual players, the teams. When did it start to click for y' all, though, that obviously, you know, you felt like everybody was counting y' all out and things like that. But when did it really start to click? Like, oh, shit, we got a legit shot.

[Dwight Howard]

Well, really, that how we started out that whole season Was not but playoffs. We started out against Philly, and we were down. I think we had to go to game six. We lost the first game. Fans went crazy on us at home. How y' all make it this far? Y' all best team, and y' all lose the first game, they going crazy on us. So I get suspended. Game six, and we're already up. We just needed one more game. And I'm like, man, we can't go to no game seven because anything can happen. But I'm suspended. I'm tripping. So we end up winning the game. I think we play Boston the next round, and then we play Cleveland. Boston's a battle in itself. So after beating in Philly and Boston, we felt like we had the upper hand on Cleveland all year. And we knew about why. The time the game come, we had a plan for LeBron, we had a plan for Ilgauskis. Anybody on the court, we had a plan for. And we wanted to dominate them, and I think we did that.

[Rory]

Did you have any moments in playing the Cavs where you're looking at LeBron and what they're doing? Like, damn. Like, he's really on a different level as far as just pure athleticism. Cause I think that series, like, Bron didn't show one of his best playoff series, that y' all just beat them. But, like, he played at a high level almost every game. He had a great game. Like, you never looked across the court and was like, how the fuck is he still. Like, we can't stop him. We can't stop him.

[Dwight Howard]

Nah, we was in a mode. I didn't see him. I just saw the trophy. He was in the way. I was looking at the trophy. Like, man, he is in the way. He is a person, and this team is in our way. Like, he gots to go. He gots to go.

[Rory]

Yeah. So the next round, y' all get the organization that's probably the most prestigious organization, and definitely in basketball, maybe in sports, but what is that feeling now? We got la. We got the Lakers, we got Tony.

[Dwight Howard]

I was like, this is it. We playing against the Lakers in the finals. The Magic. Orlando was going. We saw Orlando flags all over Orlando. The crowd, the fans is going crazy. I'm like, this is.

[Trevor Ariza]

They put Mickey Mouse at number two.

[Dwight Howard]

This is it. You know what I'm saying? It was like, at first, everybody was talking about, this was Mickey Mouse town. They wasn't calling us Orlando Magic, they was calling us Orlando. Tragic. So for us to go from that to being in the Finals, man, The best feeling in the world to beat the Cavs. And then now playing the Lakers. The games was crazy.

[Trevor Ariza]

And let's not act like Boston was a trash.

[Dwight Howard]

Boston wasn't a trash team. So we went through hell to get to. By the time we got to the Lakers, we ain't had no more energy.

[Trevor Ariza]

Look at all the teams you had to go through just to get to Kobe.

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah. Just to get to the big boss man. You ever played like a video game, you got one life left, and now you playing against. He got all the. He got everything I like, bro. This is not fair. He got three seven footers.

[Rory]

Oh, my God. Incredible.

[Dwight Howard]

Oh, my God.

[Rory]

Y had. Now when y' all got to the finals, your. Your, Your. Your running mate, Jamir was hurt.

[Dwight Howard]

Yes.

[Rory]

But Skip.

[Dwight Howard]

Skip and Anthony. Skip came in.

[Trevor Ariza]

Yeah.

[Rory]

Off the bench.

[Dwight Howard]

No, no. Skip and Anthony started the whole playoffs and hurt up until the finals.

[Rory]

Right. I always feel like that was a bad call on Van Gundy.

[Dwight Howard]

We can't blame Van Gundy. And, you know, a lot of times we tried to blame Van Gundy because he was the head coach, but we all agreed to let. To have Jameer play, too. For Jameer to come back and play because we wanted him to play. It's not like we didn't. But I think it kind of messed up the chemistry between Anthony and Skip, you know, that kind of put them at a place like, man, we got y' all here. And obviously we. We rock with Jameer, but, man, me and Skip did our job. So looking back on it, like, I could understand why coach and all of us wanted Jameer back. Cause we thinking, like, at the time, like, man, we finally got him back. Now it's go time. But chemistry and timing is super important. Everything has to be aligned in order to win those championships. And that was our one time. That was our one shot.

[Rory]

We got. We got somebody that wanted to call in and just talk to you. I told him he was coming in today.

[Dwight Howard]

Oh, so.

[Ja Rule]

Oh, my God.

[Dwight Howard]

Thunder.

[Rory]

Oh, my God. Yo, we was just talking about. We were just talking about the 09 finals, and Dwight was saying. Dwight was saying Trav couldn't guard him. He's like. He kept calling for a switch. Caught in the switch.

[Dwight Howard]

One thing I will say about Trev is he is one of the most solid people in the world outside of whatever's going on with basketball. He is one of the most solid and on the court. We've been battling each other since. Since we was some jits.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

And it's crazy to see how long your dreads got? Mine ain't grown since you over there looking like little Moses, bro. I swear to God. Little Jesus.

[Ja Rule]

When you started right at the same time.

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah, we started at the same time. I learned from you.

[Rory]

Yeah, man. So we were just talking about the 09. The 09 finals. Trevor, when did y' all feel when. When y' all got. Because obviously Dwight was saying everybody wanted LA Cleveland to see. Obviously Kobe and Bron, but Dwight, Dwight and them sent them packing. When Dwight and them sent Braun and A packing, did you feel like, oh, we got this, this is easy. We walking through them? Or did y' all feel like, damn, man, we gotta go out there and beat this big shoulder, dude. And Jamir Nelson and them, man, first.

[Ja Rule]

Off, personally for me, I wanted to play them so bad. So I. I knew like, if they won, like, it would be like the energy of like just the world and the universe just coming back on they ass if we played them.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

You know they traded me.

[Ja Rule]

Yeah, Orlando traded me from. Well, I got traded from there to la, you know, so I threw their whole. Everything that they did. I knew what pissed some of the players off. I knew what got under Dwight skin. I knew how to agitate them. So, like, the things that I would share about what they did, you know, I would tell my team we would use that shit.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Ja Rule]

So, yeah, I felt like we had the advantage in a way.

[Rory]

Well, Dwight, Dwight, he said that he didn't because I kind of. I blamed. I. I still, I. I respect what Dwight said. All of them agreed to have J come back and play. But I felt like with Skip and Anthony Johnson was doing, I think that that kind of messed up the chemistry. Did y' all game plan for Skip and AJ and like, once Jamir came back, like, what was the switch that y' all made in the locker room?

[Ja Rule]

It's crazy because I think Mir was an All Star that year too, right?

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah, he was. He was, Dwight. Yeah, he was.

[Ja Rule]

Mir was an All Star that year and he fucked his shoulder up. So when they, When Skip got put in the lineup, they caught a rhythm, like a really, really good rhythm. But Jameer is the All Star starter who year after year, like his play has, you know, gotten them to where they was at. But making that switch at that time while you rolling or why their team was like moving the way it was moving. It was a tough decision to make for a coach and a team to try to adjust to without having like practice and shit like that. So that was another advantage that I think that was able to have Now.

[Rory]

I think I do remember one time, I think Trev, you got a poster on Dwight.

[Dwight Howard]

No. You tried.

[Ja Rule]

Dwight is a fucking hack, man. Picture has Dwight literally slapping holding my arm this top. I'm probably 207lbs Dwight all at 260.

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah, I have my little ass arm. You have to hack Trevor. I'm gonna tell you why. Every time Trevor wants to dunk on you, he does karate kick to kick you before he d. So I had to make sure he wasn't gonna kick me and then dunk on me.

[Ja Rule]

Out of here. You a hack, bro.

[Rory]

Trev, I appreciate you calling in bro.

[Dwight Howard]

You say the tr. I am a hack.

[Rory]

My brother Trevor Rey.

[Trevor Ariza]

That was ram. I didn't know who was gonna get him free or not.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Trevor Ariza]

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[Dwight Howard]

Help.

[Trevor Ariza]

H E L p.com rorymol High key.

[Ben O'Keefe]

Looking for your next obsession? Listen to High Key, a new weekly podcast hosted by Ben o' Keefe, Ryan Mitchell and Yvie. Oddly, we got a lot of things to get into. We're gonna gush about the random stuff we can't stop thinking about. I am high key. Going to lose my mind over all things Cowboy Carter.

[Dwight Howard]

I know, girl.

[Ben O'Keefe]

The way she about to yank my bank account.

[Nyla Simone]

Correct.

[Ben O'Keefe]

And one thing I really love about this is that she is celebrating her daughter. Oh, I know. Listen to high on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Dwight Howard]

I think everything that might have dropped.

[Ben O'Keefe]

In 95 has been labeled the golden.

[Dwight Howard]

Years of hip hop.

[Nyla Simone]

It's Black Music Month, and we need the talk is tapping in. I'm NYLA Simone Breaking down lyrics, amplifying voices, and digging into the culture that shapes the soundtrack of our lives. My favorite line on there was my son and my daughter gonna be proud when they hear my old tapes.

[Dwight Howard]

Yep.

[Nyla Simone]

Now I'm curious. Do they, like, rap along now?

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah.

[Ja Rule]

Cause I bring them on tour with me. And he's getting older now, too, so his friends are starting to understand what that type of music is. And they're starting to be like, yo, your dad's like, really the goat. Like, he's a legend, so he gets it.

[Nyla Simone]

What does it mean to leave behind a music legacy for your family?

[Ja Rule]

It means a lot to me. Just having a good catalog and just being able to make people feel good, like, that's what's really important, and that's what stands out, is that my music changes people's lives for the better. So. So the fact that my kids get to benefit off of that, I'm really happy. Or my family in general.

[Nyla Simone]

Let's talk about the music that moves us to hear this and more on how music and culture collide. Listen to we need the talk from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. The OGs of Uncensored Motherhood are back and badder than ever. I'm Erica. And I'm Mila.

[Ben O'Keefe]

And we're the hosts of the Good Moms Bad Choices podcast, brought to you by the Black Effect Podcast Cast Network every Wednesday.

[Nyla Simone]

Historically, men talk too much and women have quietly listened.

[Ben O'Keefe]

And all that stops here.

[Nyla Simone]

If you like witty women, then this.

[Ben O'Keefe]

Is your tribe with guests like Corinne Stephens.

[Rory]

I've never seen so many women protect predatory men.

[Dwight Howard]

And then me too happened, and then.

[Rory]

Everybody else want to get pissed off because the white said it was okay.

[Dwight Howard]

Problem.

[Trevor Ariza]

My oldest daughter, her first day in ninth grade, and I called to ask.

[Rory]

How I was doing.

[Trevor Ariza]

She was like, oh, dad, all they were doing was talking about your thing in class. I ruined my baby's first day of high school.

[Nyla Simone]

And Slumflower. What turns me on is when a.

[Ben O'Keefe]

Man sends me money.

[Dwight Howard]

Like, I feel the moisture between my legs when a man sends me money.

[Nyla Simone]

I'm like, oh, my God, it's go time.

[Dwight Howard]

You actually sent it.

[Nyla Simone]

Listen to the Good Mom's Bad Choices podcast every Wednesday on the Black Effect podcast network, the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you go to find your podcast.

[Rory]

So, Dwight, take us to the last game you lose the finals in 2009 to Trav and Kobe and the Lakers. What is that? Emotion in the locker room, man.

[Dwight Howard]

Before we got in the locker room, I sat on the court with Jameer and watched him celebrate. I was just like, mirror man. I just gotta sit here, man. This shit really. It really hurt, man. Like, we put in so much time to get here, and we don't know if we can get back again. Because it's hard.

[Trevor Ariza]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

But let's remember this feeling. So when we get back in the gym, yeah, this is what we fighting for. And so that's what we did. So when I got back home and I was so hurt, I sat outside in my house about five, five, six hours, and I listened to the Lose yourself in the moment. I was like, man, I just lost a fighter. Kobe in the Lakers. But if you gonna lose my one shot, man, that's my one shot. What if I never get back to that?

[Trevor Ariza]

Look how many rings Kobe has.

[Dwight Howard]

He didn't need that. I'm telling you. I was so sick, man. I just sat outside like that was my one shot, man. Like, this is him. This is Kobe, the Lakers. Like, I'm like, man, if the Magic would have won the championship, like, that would have been everything that we wanted in Orlando. And damn, talk to me about the.

[Rory]

Cause you were on the bubble ring, right? The bubble. That's where you got your.

[Dwight Howard]

Why everybody keep calling it the bubble ring?

[Rory]

Cause it is the. What do you mean? Okay, let's have that conversation. You don't feel like we should call it the bubble ring?

[Dwight Howard]

Why?

[Rory]

Well, because everything around it. The season will stop. Y' all were on vacation for maybe three months, so that makes.

[Dwight Howard]

That should make it harder.

[Rory]

Well, this is why I wanna have this conversation. I'm on the side of. I don't see how it's harder from the standpoint of we know exactly how much traveling and having our fans screaming down on top of the other team affect the game.

[Dwight Howard]

It don't.

[Rory]

Dwight, don't say that. Don't say fans don't. Fans in the arena don't affect the game.

[Dwight Howard]

Okay, so then why didn't it affect either way when we didn't have fans?

[Rory]

No, no, I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that it didn't affect either way. I'm just saying I think that that's a bigger element that is now missing is the fact that we don't have to go into LA and beat the Lakers, or we don't have to go into Orlando and beat the Magic, or we don't have to go into San Antonio and beat the Spurs.

[Dwight Howard]

But if we're the Lakers. Everywhere we go, we're going to be the home team. It doesn't matter where we play at. Name one place we're going to go play at if we're the Lakers on that championship run.

[Rory]

Boston.

[Trevor Ariza]

So you felt like you could have.

[Rory]

Never went into Boston. And one who as the Lakers. That team.

[Dwight Howard]

We did it already.

[Rory]

The Lake.

[Dwight Howard]

The. The Celtics didn't even go to the Finals.

[Rory]

No, no, no, I'm saying.

[Dwight Howard]

I'm just saying we had the best.

[Rory]

No, no, I'm saying record as opposed to having fans and not have. It's tougher to go into Boston and win in that building with fans.

[Trevor Ariza]

When you were in Orlando, did you feel like the Lakers were at home when you guys played in Orlando?

[Dwight Howard]

Yes.

[Trevor Ariza]

Oh, shit. Okay.

[Dwight Howard]

Just like when we played Detroit.

[Rory]

I could see Orlando being that way. Of course, the Lake. I'm talking about where it's rivalry.

[Dwight Howard]

Like you're not gonna go team. That's only Boston, everybody.

[Rory]

That's if you're the Lakers. But I'm just saying if you're the spurs, it's hard to win in San Antonio Spurs.

[Dwight Howard]

We had more Laker fans there. You talking about for the playoffs? You're talking about for the Finals? If we're playing the Finals team. I mean, it's an Eastern Conference team.

[Rory]

They were more Lakers fans at spurs games than. Than spurs fans in the playoffs.

[Dwight Howard]

We didn't play them in the.

[Rory]

I'm just saying, like when the Lakers played the spurs, like when Kobe did play them. The spurs is not.

[Dwight Howard]

But. But back then, it was a lot of Laker fans at them games.

[Rory]

I'm sure it is. Cause the Lakers, the brand is just.

[Dwight Howard]

So that's what I'm saying. We got home court advantage everywhere. We not getting affected by that. But how does it. All right, so you got the bubble. You said that we was out for how long? Three months.

[Rory]

Almost three months, maybe.

[Dwight Howard]

All right, so three months of no basketball, no training, none of that. But the oldest team come back and beat everybody fair and square. How many times? What was it, four? Did we sweep everybody?

[Rory]

I don't know.

[Trevor Ariza]

It was close. Our one team, pretty dominant.

[Dwight Howard]

Oh, it was four. One, everybody.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

Okay.

[Trevor Ariza]

It was a quick time.

[Dwight Howard]

So what does that mean? But everybody had the opportunity.

[Trevor Ariza]

Well, let me ask you, is there a difference in the energy of when you went to the Finals with the Magic playing the Lakers than when you were in the bubble in the Finals? You can't say there's no. I know. I'm saying there was no different worlds. There was no difference in the energy of walking onto the court. That's what I'm asking.

[Dwight Howard]

But what does that have? All right, so we're asking. We don't know, obviously, if it's no fans there, it's gonna feel different for when it's a whole bunch of fans there. But we was the best team come going into the pandemic anyway.

[Rory]

No, I get that.

[Trevor Ariza]

I agree with you there.

[Rory]

But I'm just saying, when you have the stoppage and then you obviously have guys being outspoken about not wanting to go to the bubble, you have guys that's in the bubble that's not comfortable. They're like, yo, bro, I'm ready to get out of here. So I'm just thinking, like, guys don't really care. This is it. Kind of came across like we got the best players in the world. We put them inside the bubble, and they're basically like, aau shit. They know what time their games are, their teams are showing up to the gym. But to me, it's not the same as when I'm watching Orlando and the Lakers in 2009.

[Dwight Howard]

But then, like, it just. What about the lockout year?

[Rory]

Well, the lockout year was.

[Dwight Howard]

We don't say lockout championship. They missed.

[Rory]

A lot of people put an asking on it. Cause. But it didn't. But it wasn't as long as the co. The bubble. It wasn't that much time.

[Dwight Howard]

This would have been the hardest time for us. That's a harder time. We're in a bubble.

[Rory]

You played. I'm asking you. If you feel like it's tougher, then I'm taking that because you actually played in 2009 and you played in the bubble championship.

[Dwight Howard]

So what I'm saying is tough is the circumstances that we're all up under. I would love to travel during the finals and be with my family and go to LA and chill. That's probably harder to play now. Cause now I got to worry about everybody coming to the games. I got to worry about making sure the tickets is right, the flights is right.

[Rory]

That's what I'm saying. It's harder, it's tougher, but it has.

[Dwight Howard]

Nothing to do with basketball. Basketball, you get out there once.

[Rory]

Y' all playing, y' all playing.

[Dwight Howard]

But there are elements in the. In the bubble. It's pure basketball. So it should make it harder to play against another team because there's no other circumstances besides basketball. So now everybody's playing they best. Jamal Murray, he's getting 50 pieces in the bubble. He had nothing to worry about. He had no other outside stress when it comes to game day. Now, the stress that we had is dealing with the whole world being at stop. We getting Covid tests three times a day when we can't even catch a cold in there. Why are we getting Covid tests so much? There's no reason for that. It's nobody there but us. Imagine waking up every day getting a real COVID test three times a day just to play a game. So, yeah, it's. People could put an Astro, but they wasn't there. So they're gonna say, well, that was easy. It's LeBron. That was his team. Yeah, but come on, man. If the Knicks would've won, y' all, I bet you wouldn't have said it was an Astro.

[Rory]

I would. That would be a nasty championship.

[Trevor Ariza]

I would say it was the greatest championship of all time.

[Dwight Howard]

Y' all got a championship, but I.

[Rory]

Would say that's nasty. I wouldn't say bubble wrap.

[Dwight Howard]

It would be nasty because there's no parade and no other stuff that come with it. That's the nasty part. Like, I want a parade. I want. At least we ain't get a chance to do nothing, man. Only parade I got was on my 2K, man, when I won.

[Rory]

All right, so. See, I did. This is. Damn. So you didn't win in 09, but you won in 2020, right? Tough question, because I think I know your answer. Would you rather had one in 09 than 2020?

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah. Orlando.

[Rory]

Why?

[Dwight Howard]

It's Orlando.

[Rory]

Okay.

[Dwight Howard]

First championship.

[Trevor Ariza]

Yeah, it's a staple.

[Dwight Howard]

Like, that's the first one that changes everything. So, of course, in Orlando, and then the crowd is there just before the new arenas finished.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

Oh, my God. Going into the new arena with a ring.

[Rory]

All right, quick question.

[Trevor Ariza]

Parade at Disney World would have been.

[Dwight Howard]

For ranks to end up at Disney World. Oh, my God.

[Rory]

Yeah. That's nice.

[Trevor Ariza]

You can literally say at the end, like, you just won the NBA championship. What you gonna do?

[Ben O'Keefe]

Like, clearly.

[Trevor Ariza]

Double parked in.

[Dwight Howard]

I got some soft.

[Rory]

I'm going to my room. All right, Prime Shack or prom Dwight.

[Dwight Howard]

I gotta go with myself, But Prime Shaq is a big old beast, but I'm not backing down.

[Rory]

No, I know you ain't backing down, but 32 in Orlando.

[Dwight Howard]

72723. 20. And I'm pushing 611 with shoes on. 265. It's cool. I'mma battle my ass off. I'm strong as shit, so. Hey, I'm going Prime, Dwight.

[Rory]

Okay.

[Trevor Ariza]

Not mad at it.

[Rory]

I'm not mad at that.

[Dwight Howard]

I'm gonna foul the shit out of him two times. But you know, in our career, if you ever seen it, we both have. I think we averaged like 5,000 every game against.

[Rory]

Oh yeah, absolutely. It's a lot of that going on. Hell yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

Absolutely.

[Trevor Ariza]

What does the NBA need to do with All Star Weekend in general? Not just the All Star game, but three point contest.

[Rory]

Dwight gotta come back in the dunk contest.

[Dwight Howard]

I mean, what you want people to do? I'm telling y' all, it's over saturated. Like think about it, y' all, we done seen all the dunks in the world. What else can somebody do?

[Trevor Ariza]

Do you think they need to add in some of the, I mean, they try to do it, but some of the YouTube dunkers and bringing people up from G League just for that weekend.

[Dwight Howard]

Like you can do that stuff too. But again, now everybody wants to be compensated for what they're doing. Their nils. Damn.

[Trevor Ariza]

I mean they make enough money doing it. They make enough money all star weekend YouTuber.

[Dwight Howard]

I, I understand that, but the YouTuber is saying, hey, if you, if you want my name, image and likeness and you want me to get out there and dunk, I want to get paid. I want to collab, post, I want to do all this stuff. So now I think they're looking at all that. You know, the biggest thing is to attract this new market. So if I was them, they got all them chat, GTP servers. Just ask all the AIs. And the AI is going to tell them how to make All Star better.

[Rory]

They're trying something where it's the world versus the NBA. Right.

[Dwight Howard]

They already do that though.

[Rory]

But that's what the younger guys where.

[Dwight Howard]

They gonna play that the world versus us in the States.

[Rory]

Yeah, like All Star Weekend.

[Trevor Ariza]

But is that, that's cool to add on to the All Star Weekend? Don't get me wrong, I'm gonna watch it. But that's not a game changer for me.

[Dwight Howard]

It's not gonna be a game changer.

[Trevor Ariza]

Yeah, it's cool.

[Dwight Howard]

It's gonna be normal. Can we be, you know who's gonna be? It's like the rookies versus like, it's not gonna ever be the same. We done seen so much good talent. We done seen the best of the best of the best of the world. So now we're expecting the All Star Game to be something crazy when it just ain't the times we lived in. We probably gotta let that go. Cause it's nostalgic for us to be like, damn, I remember when we was in the All Star game, everybody had their home jerseys on, all that stuff. Yeah, it's cool. But now we done the times is just set for something different.

[Rory]

You know, I like the idea of having the world versus USA in the All Star weekend. Only because I don't know if the USA wins.

[Trevor Ariza]

Oh right now.

[Dwight Howard]

Right now.

[Trevor Ariza]

But that's what the young guy.

[Dwight Howard]

But who going to play the last three MVPs is not he played, but how they go. Are people going to really play? What's the incentive?

[Rory]

I think if it's that structure, that format.

[Dwight Howard]

But what's the incentive behind it? And who do you pick? How do you vote?

[Trevor Ariza]

Now I think if they did it with the actual All Stars, it would give more incentive because I think America would have something to prove. Because I think it would get a.

[Dwight Howard]

Little embarrassing to the Olympics then. So why they got no Olympics difference?

[Trevor Ariza]

Because it's every single. If it's the world, everyone that's just not a citizen.

[Rory]

Each team in the world That's a matchup versus the U.S. the best player. Yeah. There's something to prove us that could be tough. Like cuz now you got Luca on the same team.

[Dwight Howard]

Got enough time. You ain't got enough time for. You need more than the All Star Game. One game ain't gonna really improve it too. You see what I'm saying? Enough time. Cause you like, man, hold on. Who we gonna get? We gotta make sure we pick the right guys. And then it take away from it going back to the All Star voting.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

Remember these guys is also trying to make sure for longevity they get on the All Star team so they can get another year in their contract. All these different things. So now that the money is so much, so much stuff involved, it just make it difficult. The one thing I would like to see is not, not with the All Star Game, but Olympics. Instead of having Olympics in another city or another country every year, I think that they should go back to Greece where it started at. Fix it up to where it looked like the old school kind of style. But make it new school. But just keep it there every year so we can bring the value back into it. Because when you have it in every, every place around the world, they putting all their money up for one year or for a couple years just to build this place up. And then now when the Olympics is over with, you got all these nice venues, but nothing to do with it.

[Trevor Ariza]

I'll do one better. They'll build all that shit just to bid. They might not even get The Olympics.

[Dwight Howard]

There just a bid for it. So just like they're happening in. Are they still happening in California?

[Trevor Ariza]

It's in la.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Trevor Ariza]

The next one's in la.

[Dwight Howard]

So they're having. In la. They had to bid for it for a couple years.

[Trevor Ariza]

That's why you get Sophie Stadium, because of the Olympics.

[Dwight Howard]

What about all the people that live there that have to travel and work, who are not gonna go to the Olympics, who have to just live how they wanna do, all that stuff? So now let's put it back to where it started. Let's bring the value back into it. Let's kind of get the real gold medals, the real silver medals. Make it mean something again. Like every country when they go play in the Olympics, it really means. It don't seem like it. It's like for us in America. So I think that'll get back to everything else. Like, hold up now. If we wanna be the most dominant, let's do it in the Olympics. Let's be the most NBA baseball, whatever it may be.

[Rory]

Now this news just broke. The Buss family is entering an agreement to sell majority ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers to Mark Walter, the CEO and chairman of diversified holding company TWG Global.

[Dwight Howard]

This just happened.

[Rory]

Just happened. News just broke. The Buss family is entering an agreement to sell majority ownerships.

[Dwight Howard]

How much money did they just get? Ooh.

[Trevor Ariza]

I don't know if there's a number. Is there a number?

[Dwight Howard]

They must have broke the bank.

[Rory]

Yeah, we talking about.

[Dwight Howard]

He talking about billions. We talking because I know, Mr. I know the one that.

[Rory]

Who.

[Dwight Howard]

Who transitioned a couple years ago. He done woke up by that grape. Y' all did What?

[Rory]

Yeah, yeah.

[Trevor Ariza]

10 billion.

[Rory]

10 billion.

[Trevor Ariza]

10 billion alleged. Now.

[Dwight Howard]

10 billion alleged. 10 billion. Is that enough? That is enough.

[Rory]

That's enough. Yeah, that'll get it done. 10 billion. That'll get it done.

[Dwight Howard]

See.

[Trevor Ariza]

You never gonna see her again.

[Rory]

It's funny, cuz. The same shit Dwight doing. That's what Phil Jackson went doing right now.

[Dwight Howard]

I'll do a triangle again. 10 billion is crazy for majority ownership.

[Rory]

Majority ownership.

[Dwight Howard]

Genie, man, just give me a. Well, since we. Since we didn't have our parade, we.

[Trevor Ariza]

Can do the five year anniversary.

[Dwight Howard]

Come on, man, give me some.

[Rory]

Yeah, that's a crazy. You know, hearing numbers like that is like, you know, you never think that you would. I don't think we've ever seen anything like that.

[Dwight Howard]

No, I'm never seen it.

[Rory]

But what does that mean for the Lakers though? Like, what do you think that means for, you know, the Los Angeles Lakers. Because now they still. They sold majority ownerships over the Bus family.

[Trevor Ariza]

It's not like a sports organization. It's like. It's so far beyond that.

[Dwight Howard]

All right, Our whole lives we've known the Lakers to be from where?

[Rory]

Los Angeles?

[Dwight Howard]

No, no, no, no. From who?

[Rory]

The Bus family.

[Dwight Howard]

There you go. The Bus family. Every. We know. Bus, bus. They own it. And then it ain't the buses no more. It's just like a. The world is changing, bro.

[Rory]

Yeah, that's, that's, that's, that's exactly what that. That's, that's a. That's like Steinbrenner not having. Or the Steinbrenners not having anything to do with the Yankees.

[Trevor Ariza]

But that's the only family I could compare that to.

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah, this.

[Trevor Ariza]

With those type of organizations.

[Rory]

$10 billion. This, this changes.

[Trevor Ariza]

You know, they're not Walmart there shifts a lot.

[Dwight Howard]

This shifts a lot of $10 billion.

[Rory]

Yes.

[Dwight Howard]

What are they about to do to the Lakers? I want in. Listen, I. I will be whatever y' all need me to be on the team. Hey.

[Trevor Ariza]

And now I totally understand why it's not the Staples center anymore. Because who shopped at Staples?

[Rory]

They can't afford that.

[Dwight Howard]

No, See, and then a smart cryptocurrency now is blowing up.

[Trevor Ariza]

Who can we Google? Who bought it?

[Rory]

A multinational conglomerate holding company founded by Mark Walter with interest in financial services, insurance, AI, technology, sports media, entertainment and energy.

[Trevor Ariza]

So it's one of those companies where you know absolutely nothing of what they do. It's just a bunch of words. And they're billionaires. Okay.

[Rory]

One of them private invest.

[Trevor Ariza]

You do everything.

[Dwight Howard]

Oh my God.

[Trevor Ariza]

Anytime you see private investment services with.

[Rory]

An enterprise value exceeding $40 billion and they just.

[Dwight Howard]

They gave the Lakers 10 billion.

[Rory]

Just 10 piece. Don't worry about it.

[Dwight Howard]

Hey, here's 10 billion. We're going to take this company that you had for 30. How long the Lakers with this?

[Rory]

Probably 50 years, maybe. Oh, yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

What can you do with the Lakers now?

[Rory]

70S, I believe.

[Dwight Howard]

Do y' all think that was a great move? Well, money talks.

[Rory]

That'll get it done like that.

[Trevor Ariza]

We always bring up AI. Who knows where AI and sports are going now. You own everything that has to do.

[Rory]

With the Lakers going.

[Dwight Howard]

It ain't going to be no more players. It's going to be all AI and so.

[Rory]

So why I'm not doing this.

[Trevor Ariza]

No, no, no. That's really what I was eventually. Now they own the Lakers. For AI and all the likeness of every player that was ever on the Lakers, it's over. Who knows what they just bought for $10 million.

[Dwight Howard]

It's over with.

[Trevor Ariza]

He was folding that deal.

[Dwight Howard]

Ain't none of us going to be playing. Everybody's going to be at home looking at VR sets of fake LeBron James.

[Rory]

Now I do, I do believe the way will still view basketball games is going to change. Yeah, I can see them doing something where each player has a point of view camera on them and you can kind of watch, figure out who follow the whole game.

[Dwight Howard]

Things like that much. See they take it away from the integrity of the sport. But at the same time it's AI. And this is what people want. They always trying to stay a step ahead of the game. So this is a major move.

[Rory]

When you see numbers like that though Dwight as a player here, a young Dwight Howard, let's say he's drafted by the Lakers. Amazing first three years. It's time for you to get your extension, your negotiation. Now you're negotiating with the Lakers. This deal happens for $10 billion. What does Dwight and his agent sit down and talk about?

[Dwight Howard]

I'm going say agent, I love you.

[Trevor Ariza]

And refer to him as agent. You know his full name.

[Rory]

Agent, Agent, I love you. Yeah, Agent, I love it.

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But this next deal, I think I'm gonna have to do it on my own.

[Trevor Ariza]

You're not taking 10% of this.

[Dwight Howard]

If you get 10% of this, 10 billion, it's up.

[Trevor Ariza]

No, but I mean, does that change any of the market value for Lakers players just cause that deal happened?

[Dwight Howard]

There's a salary cap.

[Trevor Ariza]

Yeah, I mean the cap's gonna be the cap.

[Dwight Howard]

The cap's gonna. Yeah, well the cap is always a cap in this league. Everything is capped. I did that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Rory]

Yo, the Big Three, we can't let you go without talking about this. Now Big three, they hit the chat the other night and said we had Dwight coming in on Wednesday. I'm like, yo, yeah, Dwight, man. I hung out with Dwight and Trev a couple nights when they was here in New York. I said, Dwight, cool, man. Then they send. Because we were supposed to have Lance here earlier today.

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah.

[Rory]

But he missed his flight. So they was like, yo, any overlap? Like, like I said, what happened? So he seen the clip. I'm like, that's just basketball, man.

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah, we, are we over there.

[Rory]

Yeah. Like it ain't nothing.

[Dwight Howard]

See, I think before that they had allowed so much stuff to happen before the game and I think it had. I was just out of my element, okay. And I, and I was pissed off more so at myself after that for allowing, you know, allowing that whole game to even get to that point.

[Rory]

Okay. You feel like you played a part in it getting to that point?

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah, okay. Cause I. I mean, one, I didn't know how the game goes in the big three. Okay. So, you know, before the game, everybody's like, yeah, this a trash talking league. We want you guys to talk trash and all type. I'm like, okay, then I can talk trash. What else?

[Rory]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

I want y' all to, you know, way physical. I'm like, okay.

[Rory]

All right.

[Dwight Howard]

So we're playing like certain things was happening. It was a play where Lance had kind of. He got scored on. And then he shoved the ball in Jordan Crawford's chest.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

And so that kind of got Jordan heated to the next play. You see Jordan taking his finger going all up in his nose and searching for boogers and shit. So that happened then morning, the game, they yelling in our faces. Before the game, they doing the same thing. So I'm like, man, this is a little bit too much, man. And so it was the play where me and Lance kind of get into a scuffle, kind of like pick up his fist, act like he's gonna throw a punch. So I put my hand up, like, hold up. What the fuck going on? Then he did it again. So I'm like, yo.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

And then at that point, I'm like, I kind of blacked out for a second.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

Then when I grabbed him and started to pick him up, I'm like, oh, shit, I'm fucking tripping. I'm fucking tripping. I'm fucking. But that's how I started. I thought, but in the moment, I'm in the moment. So I'm like, oh, shit.

[Rory]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

And I also thinking too, like, by the time they see us really starting to go, I'm thinking, everybody. Cause I'm like, oh, shit, this too much.

[Rory]

Yeah, they gonna bring it up.

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah, yeah. Then it just. I start tripping over shit in the floor. The people on the. By the basket. And then I'm looking at babies and shit. I'm like, man, imagine falling down, seeing a baby like, damn, this a lot song so meaninglessly.

[Rory]

But I mean, it's not just. But that's just basketball, I think, you know, I sent this to the chat. I said, man, that's just bad. They didn't throw no punch.

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah. I'm like, man, first of all, throwing a punch with. That's so disrespectful.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

And basketball, all these Kids and families that's there. Like, that's when it becomes a brawl, when you have some kind of situation like that happen. And so I'm glad it didn't escalate to that, but I'm glad it did happen, too. We kind of got all that. All that extra energy out the way now. Now for the rest of the season, everybody can just hoop now.

[Rory]

We saw Michael Beasley and Lance just play one on one last week. How good is Michael Beasley? To me, personally, I feel like he probably has the same skill set as a Carmelo Anthony. I don't think he had, obviously, the professionalism and maybe some other things kind of, you know, hindered his potential in the NBA and what he could have accomplished. But just from a skill set, to me, Michael Beasley is one of the most gifted basketball players I've ever seen.

[Dwight Howard]

I think he is too. I think, man, it's just timing. He was in a team in a situation at a time where it wasn't accepting, I guess, how they felt his behavior was. Miami, whatever. And once you get kind of a bad rep in the league and it was really hard to come back from it. And I think he's awesome. I remember meeting Mike in high school, him and KD at top 100 camp. And they had asked me to talk to both of them. And I saw both of them. I'm like, man, both of these guys got a chance to really be special. I told kd, then I said, man, you can be one of the best scorers in the NBA ever. He is absolutely bees is just one of the coldest basketball players. It's just all about time and opportunity. I think Miami, he was on a team where it was. Who was on that team, man? Was it D. Wade?

[Rory]

D. Wade? Yep.

[Dwight Howard]

If you don't have that, if you don't have a team, when you come into the league, like, Mike deserved to have his own team.

[Rory]

So his talent is that big.

[Dwight Howard]

That's how good, that's how talented he is. I just feel like maybe he didn't have. I don't know. I don't know why they did him like that, man.

[Rory]

Yeah, he.

[Dwight Howard]

I don't know why. And I think that it can make you depressed.

[Rory]

Oh, yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

I've had those days and those moments and those times of depression. Why this team do that? And it's like, you can't expect me not to make a mistake or fail in certain situations. Like, you know, one, I'm human. I'm young as hell. You giving me all this at 23, 24. What do you expect, right? You know what I'm saying? Like, we didn't grow up. I may have had both my parents, but my parents didn't know about millions of dollars. They understand the lifestyle that come with this, and I'm the that living it. Mike's the one that's living it. All these other players, we're living this lifestyle. So it's like, if you're not in it, if you haven't been a part of. It's like, how can you understand it? And, you know, for Mike, man, and a lot of guys who be depressed and stuff like that, it can be difficult.

[Rory]

How do you deal with those moments of having the success that you have and, you know, achieving things that not many people will ever achieve and reaching these heights, but then also feeling those moments of not being fulfilled, not being motivated. How does Dwight Howard, how did you navigate those moments in your career?

[Dwight Howard]

Ooh, man. Sometimes I just have to travel. Okay, get away from the States.

[Rory]

Okay.

[Dwight Howard]

Get away from, you know, my normal routine and just, you know, see the world differently. You know, sometimes traveling, you see how people live and, you know, other places, and it's like, man, you know, everybody's out here, and there's one mission for everybody in the whole world. We're just trying to survive until the next day, right? Everybody, no matter where you at in the world, everybody's just trying to survive. And you see that, and I'm like, man, man, I done did so much in my younger days that, you know, I can rest easy knowing that the hard work is a lot of my hard work behind me. I done work so hard to build up this life that I have now. I should just be thankful, you know? So when I had those moments, I'm like, man, God, I'm just so thankful for you. I could have been dead. I could have been out in the streets. I could have been doing anything else. But you allowed me to play this one sport for all these years, and it's because of my dedication, my discipline to the sport, to you, and to my faith that I have these things. So, man, thank you. Right? Going overseas is probably one then really just getting along, man.

[Rory]

Was that one of the things that played a factor in your decision to go to Taiwan? Was it just wanting to get out of your norm and kind of, like, find motivation again?

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah, man, Taiwan was amazing. I remember getting ready to go to Taiwan. People was like, why would you go over there? Taiwan's a third world country. I'm like, how would you know what Taiwan is. You ain't never been in.

[Rory]

Right? Right.

[Dwight Howard]

Like you don't know what I'm gonna get from going out over there. But if God is telling me to go to Taiwan and he's opening doors, I'mma go, I go to Taiwan, stay there for eight months, end up getting my own basketball league, getting a gold card, which mean I can do business all over Taiwan and my whole family. So it's like I done set myself up for the future by listening to God and taking a step leap of FAI fa, you know what I'm saying? So Taiwan really gave me wings, you know, going overseas, you know, playing basketball again, just the not obviously NBA and the Taiwanese league is different.

[Rory]

Yeah, you know, it's a little bit.

[Dwight Howard]

I would say like the fans really inspired me while I was there and motivated me to just remember why I played. You know, what drove me back in the day. And I'm like, man, this is awesome. Seeing and 90 year olds come to the games.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

I like, yo, this is awesome, man. Just to witness this, man. These people coming from different parts of the world and they know who I am. Like I'm from College Park, Georgia. There's somebody all the way in whatever part of Taiwan this is, don't got no TV screen and they know my name, my family family name. They going to give me anything they can to show me they love me. That's an awesome feeling.

[Rory]

I was happy. I was happy to see you, you know, just being yourself and having fun. But I, I'm going be honest. When I saw them stats, I said, dwight, got to cut this out, man. He over there. I said, why Dwight? That. That's premeditated murder. I'm like, what is Dwight?

[Trevor Ariza]

It was for funsies.

[Rory]

Yeah, Dwight went over there at like 60 and 30. I was like, dog, come on, man. Man, get your ass back over here, man.

[Dwight Howard]

What's wrong with playing over there like that?

[Rory]

Ain't nothing wrong with it. You can't. You was over there putting numbers. It's just like, yo, come on man, stop playing with those people, man. Leave them people alone.

[Dwight Howard]

I had so much fun.

[Rory]

No, I bet you not.

[Trevor Ariza]

I like dunking on my knees too.

[Dwight Howard]

No, them people was taller than me, man.

[Rory]

Listen, they could be taller than you, but they ain't never seen nothing like Dwight Howard in Taiwan.

[Dwight Howard]

You right, exactly.

[Rory]

That's all I'm saying.

[Dwight Howard]

But I had so much fun just being able to be outside of like. It was like. I know you probably heard people say it before, like they have a person, then they have another personality, like so. Dh12. That's the basketball player. Now I got a chance to be Dwight Howard over there.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

Get out. Just walk.

[Rory]

Okay.

[Dwight Howard]

You know what I'm saying? Just. Just go to the park and just sit.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

You know what I'm saying? Like, little stuff like that.

[Rory]

Experiences.

[Dwight Howard]

Yeah. The greatest human. These are experiences. Like in America, sometimes it's be hard because it's an expectation. I go out. Hey, Camille, let me take a picture. Yeah. You would talk to my cousin. Yeah. You know, but I'm over there. They just. I love you.

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

And then they just let me, you know, go about my day. Now, obviously they want pictures and stuff, but sometimes they see me like, oh, he just. Yeah, there go Dwight. And that'd be. That. That felt really good.

[Rory]

Yeah, that's dope. I mean, I think you need those moments.

[Trevor Ariza]

Even Steph talked about his experience in China. That was similar as well. So. Yeah, I think that's great. That's where Steph was, right, John?

[Rory]

Yeah.

[Dwight Howard]

Stepping all over. Yeah.

[Trevor Ariza]

But no, we really appreciate you, man. This was great. Thank you for coming through.

[Rory]

Yeah, Dwight, it was a. It was. I mean, we. Again, you know, I was around you and Trev some nights when y' all was here. We hit the club a little bit, but I was telling the guys all year. One thing about Dwight, what you see on TV when he's speaking, he's the same person, like, on and off the floor. Like, he just has this energy and spirit about him that's just very welcoming, very, you know, no ego. And you have. All right, to have ego. You larger than life figure done some great things in the NBA, but always, always, even from when you came in, had the same spirit. And you very humble the way you carried yourself. Very professional. I think that. And that played a lot in the success that you had in the NBA as well. So thank you for coming through, Dwight. We appreciate you. Thanks for having me and. Yeah, man, call Jeannie, man. Get some of that 10 bill, man. I don't know.

[Dwight Howard]

Jeannie, man, Come on. We ain't getting no.

[Rory]

Listen, we ain't getting no parade, you.

[Dwight Howard]

Know, Parade, they calling it a bubble ring. Mean a couple hundred thousand. A couple hundred million to let everybody know that the bubbles is real.

[Trevor Ariza]

What's up over Los Angeles?

[Dwight Howard]

Come on, Jenny, stop playing.

[Rory]

What up, y' all?

[Dwight Howard]

This your main man, Memphis Bleak right here.

[Rory]

Host the rock solid podcast.

[Dwight Howard]

June is Black Music Month. So what better way to celebrate than listening to. To my exclusive conversation with my bro, Ja Rule.

[Ja Rule]

The one thing they can't stop you or take away from you is knowledge. So whatever I went through while I was down in prison for two years through that process, learn. Learn from it.

[Dwight Howard]

Check out this exclusive episode with Ja Rule on Rock Solid. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Rock Solid and listen now.

[Rory]

High Key.

[Ben O'Keefe]

Looking for your next obsession? Listen to High Key, a new weekly podcast hosted by Ben o' Keefe, Ryan Mitchell and Yvie. Oddly, we got a lot of things to get into. We're gonna gush about the random stuff we can't stop thinking about. I am High Key. Going to lose my mind over all things Cowboy Carter.

[Dwight Howard]

I know, girl.

[Ben O'Keefe]

The way she about to yank my bank account.

[Nyla Simone]

Correct.

[Ben O'Keefe]

And one thing I really love about this is that she is celebrating her daughter. Oh, I know. Listen to High key on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Dwight Howard]

I think everything that might have dropped.

[Ben O'Keefe]

In 95 has been labeled the golden.

[Dwight Howard]

Years of hip hop.

[Nyla Simone]

It's Black Music Month and we need to talk. Talk is tapping in. I'm Nyla Simone, breaking down lyrics, amplifying voices, and digging into the culture that shapes the soundtrack of our lives.

[Ja Rule]

Like that's what's really important and that's what stands out, is that our music changes people's lives for the better.

[Nyla Simone]

Let's talk about the music that moves us to hear this and more on how music and culture collide. Listen to we need the Talk from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I also wanna address the Tonys on a recent episode of Check with Michelle Williams. I open up about feeling snubbed by the Tony Awards. Do I? I was never mad. I was disappointed because I had high hopes to hear this. And more on disappointment and protecting your peace. Listen to checking in with Michelle Williams from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast.