It takes place inside the locker room, Dwight Howard leading a fast break toward frivolity.
The All-Star center notices a television cameraman fixed on his every move at his locker early in the season and bends over to reveal a backside covered only by gray underwear.
“I’ve got a wide shot for you,” he says.
Howard mimics Kobe Bryant‘s strut and then his own long-range shooting form in late November, flicking his wrist to show how he makes a three-pointer.
“If the game is on the line and you need a three,” says a player who has made only two in his NBA career, “you’ve got to give it to me.”
Howard eagerly complies with a Chinese TV reporter’s request to repeat phrases in her native language earlier this week, exaggerating his accent and drawing hearty laughter from the woman’s colleagues.
“Ni hao,” he says, one of the few expressions he pronounces correctly.
In a season of so much Lakers gibberish, Howard is making sense by revealing more than just a glimpse of his glittering personality. Home or road, win or lose, the message is always the same: Howard remains happy to be here despite his team’s epic struggles, which should thrill those who hope he signs a maximum contract extension this summer.
The fun starts with extended pregame access to one of the game’s biggest stars, a rarity in this league.
Gather around his locker and open your ears. You never know what you may hear.
Topics include Howard’s preferred Chinese delicacies (sticky tofu), memorable exotic trips (safari in Tanzania) and rookie Robert Sacre‘s vertical leap (6 inches, according to Howard). Nothing is off-limits, though the Lakers’ continuing misfortunes rarely come up. Non sequiturs are encouraged.
“Quentin Tarantino‘s mother dated Wilt Chamberlain?” Howard asks no one in particular Wednesday in San Antonio while staring at his iPad.
Ten or so reporters regularly surround Howard before Lakers’ home games, learning more about him during the 45 minutes of media availability than they do while watching him play for 21/2 hours on the court.
Howard can be as probing as he is revealing, quizzing reporters on songs from his iPod and asking one Jewish reporter why she doesn’t read the Torah.
“There are some stories that I’ve had that maybe a reporter has never been out of the country or experienced certain things and I can tell them about it and vice versa,” Howard says when asked about the pregame exchanges. “You guys have been writing for a long time, so you’ve seen a lot come through here. Sometimes it’s a history lesson for me. It’s fun.”
Not everyone participates in the festivities.
Bryant walks past Howard’s locker before most games at Staples Center without breaking stride on his way to or from the trainer’s room, headphones invariably covering his ears.
Howard doesn’t seem to mind. He wants Bryant to hear it before the Lakers’ Christmas game against the New York Knicks, suggesting his teammates pat their thighs and hiss like a snake in unison when the self-proclaimed Black Mamba’s name is announced.
