PBD Podcast - “I Could Beat Jordan” - Dwight Howard BREAKS SILENCE On Rumors, Diddy & LeBron, Locker Room Drama | PBD Podcast | Ep. 603

Episode Date: June 18, 2025

NBA legend Dwight Howard joins Patrick Bet-David to share untold stories from his rise to stardom, life with the Lakers, battles on and off the court, lessons from Kobe and LeBron, and how he’s reinventing himself after the NBA.------Ⓜ️ CONNECT WITH DWIGHT ON MINNECT: http://bit.ly/3SWzCbf📱 MINNECT 2025 CONTEST - REGISTER TODAY: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/4ikyEkC⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎫 THE VAULT 2025 | SEPT 8TH - 11TH | THE GAYLORD PALMS | ORLANDO, FL: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/4dJlmfL⁠⁠⁠⁠🍋 ZEST IT FORWARD: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/4jYg3Lh⁠⁠⁠⁠📕 PBD'S BOOK "THE ACADEMY": ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/41rtEV4⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙️ FOLLOW THE PODCAST ON SPOTIFY: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/4g57zR2⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙️ FOLLOW THE PODCAST ON ITUNES: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/4g1bXAh⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙️ FOLLOW THE PODCAST ON ALL PLATFORMS: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/4eXQl6A⁠⁠⁠⁠📱 CONNECT ON MINNECT: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/4ikyEkC⁠⁠⁠⁠👔 BET-DAVID CONSULTING: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3ZjWhB7⁠⁠⁠⁠📰 VTNEWS.AI: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3OExClZ⁠⁠⁠⁠🎓 VALUETAINMENT UNIVERSITY: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3BfA5Qw⁠⁠⁠⁠📺 JOIN THE CHANNEL: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/4g5C6Or⁠⁠⁠⁠💬 TEXT US: Text “PODCAST” to 310-340-1132 to get the latest updates in real-time!ABOUT US:Patrick Bet-David is the founder and CEO of Valuetainment Media. He is the author of the #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller “Your Next Five Moves” (Simon & Schuster) and a father of 2 boys and 2 girls. He currently resides in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

You against Mike, who wins? It's a tough one. That is a very tough one. As a teammate, who did you prefer as a teammate, LeBron or Kobe? Man, he is a character. Don't you think the guy that's the face of the league has the authority to call the Lakers and say, guys, don't get rid of him, don't get rid of him? I mean, you have to have these conversations together. It's like water under the bridge, like why even ask him?

Oh, so the elbow was't intentional, wasn't accidental. When I say Kobe's the asshole... Kobe was defending and some words exchanged and... Emotionally and mentally I was fed up and at the time Nike said I didn't have a personality. Things like that can cause somebody to mentally check out. If somebody offers a contract to NBA, would you go back? Charles, it's got to be the one to top them that's personality. call somebody to mentally check out. If somebody offers a contract to NBA, would you go back? Charles, it's gotta be the one that topped them best personality.

Look at you, Shaq, now. This guy's either straight, he's gay, he's bisexual, he's fooling everybody. You're not gay at all. Ain't no party like a daddy party. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it.

Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it.

Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it.

Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight, stop it. Dwight what's your point? The future looks bright. Betta day that. My handshake is better than anything I ever signed, right here. You are a one on one? My son's right there. I think I've never said this before.

I'm the one. I'm the one. I'm the one. I'm the one. I'm the one. All right, so for those of you that enjoy these sports interviews that we do, we got a special one in the house here.

The one and only Dwight Howard, three time defensive player of the year, Those of you that enjoy the sports interviews that we do, we got a special one in the house here. The one and only Dwight Howard, three-time defensive player of the year, number one draft pick, first round. The guy came in, he dominated the league. One of the most exciting players to watch. I think, I remember when I would just tell him right now, body, human specimen. You would see this guy jumping out and doing what he was doing. First, I think the youngest player ever to do 20-20, right? 20 points, 20 rebounds.

Just found that record for the most dunks ever. In the career in the NBA, no one's dunked the ball more than Dwight Howard. Made a ton of money. I think you lived in a small house, small 35,000 square foot house. You know, you gotta be able to find everybody that's living in that place.

Got 750 acres of land, animals, different things, was on a reality TV show, what was it called, Special Forces back in the days with Mike Piazza, Scaramucci, bunch of different guys that were in it, and then for whatever reason, wins the frickin' championship with the Lakers, and I thought you played such an important role, and then all of a sudden we get the news

Why would you do this the guy was such a good role player? Anyways, it's good to have you in the house here Thank you. How you doing? I am doing such I'm doing so amazing I love it, and I'm very grateful to be here. So thank you. Yes. Let's start off with that Let's start as a die-hard Laker fan. Okay, and you know Lakers if you're if you're a Laker fan, you're a Yankees fan You're a you know Patriots fan. You're a Steelers fan. You're a hard Laker fan, okay? And you know Lakers, if you're a Laker fan, you're a Yankees fan, you're a Patriots fan, you're a Steelers fan, you're kind of spoiled. It's either you win or you don't, right? I mean that's like the standard. Celtics is in the same category.

You come on, the first time you come with Kobe and Nash, that doesn't work out. Okay, cool. You come the second time around and you're playing loose. You actually look like you're having fun. You're happy. You're like, hey, come off the bench. I don't care. How do you need me? Put me in.

They put you in, boom, you're dominating. Playoff. You showed up in a major way. You guys won a chip. I sincerely as a fan thought, they're going to sign him for probably two or three years. He's going to stay here and play this role. It's tough to find guys like you in the league. You just can't find him. And then all of a sudden, boom, nothing happens. Yeah, that's what I felt. I was like, oh man, I come in and do my job. I'm

securing two more years. That's all I was thinking about. I was like, man, if I can secure two more years, that's it. I don't need to go nowhere else I can give me a small little crib in 35,000 I have that at home. So I was saying I don't need a big space I just have something, you know nice for me and my son and my daughter while we're there for the games and stuff like that But then I can go back home. So it's fine But then when I never got the deal, I think it still hurts me a little bit to this day.

So the stories we hear from the outside, we're not on the inside, so we don't know anybody in the Lakers organization, Buss or any of these guys. The story is, you know, LeBron fired a lot of coaches, and LeBron will say, I've never done anything to get coaches fired, right? A lot of coaches get fired because of LeBron fired a lot of coaches, and LeBron will say, I've never done anything to get coaches fired. A lot of coaches get fired because of LeBron. Fine, you hear the great players have that reputation and they go through it.

I think Jordan even had it with Doug Collins back in the days, if you remember, when he was like, just shut up and give him the money. What is it? Just give him the fucking ball, right? Remember when Doug Collins said that? So get out of his way and give him the fucking ball. So what call did you, what play did you call?

I just told everybody, you know, get the f out of them, give them the ball. So it's like, ah, it's kind of cool, but do you want a championship? Phil comes the rest of this history. How much of this was LeBron calling the shots to move on and how much of it you think it was management? This one is so weird to know

because I don't know if it could be management because I'm like, they're the ones who first brought me in. But then I'm like, it can't be LeBron because this is something that he wants to win so he's gonna get the best available pieces. So I'm like, these were the best available pieces. So I really don't truly understand why none of us really came back the next year,

especially those core guys who really, I think, got us over the top. You know, you got the Rondos, the Avery Bradleys, who didn't even play in the finals or in the championship run in the bubble, but he was so significant all year, Avery Bradley and his defense. That, you know, bringing somebody like that back.

He came from the Celtics. Did he come from the Celtics? He came from the Celtics. He was a beast defender. It's tough to find guys like that. So, but why though? I mean, you have to have these conversations together to say Rondo to me, was Rondo a good locker room guy?

Yes, all of us are. Like, just think about this. How could you say somebody is a cancer in a locker room? You gonna call Draymond a cancer if he's mad that they lose? And he goes off on his team base? Kerr would never call him that. You know what I'm saying? So, you know sometimes

passion might look like ego to people on the outside when they see like a Demarcus in the locker room mad at his teammates or something or you know say hey y'all gotta step it up you know they might take that as this is his ego but not saying it like maybe this is only this is the only way he knows how to show his passion. I'm going to use him as an example. I can use myself as well. You know, there's been times where I've been labeled as a locker room cancer because of my passion.

You know, I'm not going to let nobody just run over me. But at the same time, I'm going to mind. A lot of times in the sports world, when you do speak your mind, you go out of what the team may want or you can get penalized for it. You played with Kobe and you played with LeBron. And you played with both of them at their peak, right? Can I say that? Yeah, I think you played with both.

In Olympics. Right, in Olympics. So you went to the 2008 Olympics. That's right. So the one where Kobe ran through Pau Gasol. Yes, I was there. Okay. So the question becomes, you know, the story with the Lakers when you played with LeBron locker room Are you getting the vibe where it's like dude this guy's happy for me to be here. We're meshing rondo's mission Everyone's mission if the Lakers win

Don't you think the guy that's the face of the league has the authority to call the Lakers and say guys Don't get rid of him. Don't get rid of him. Don't know I'm pretty sure he does. I'm pretty sure he does. And I'm pretty sure he did. We'll never know if it was something personal or it was just them moving in a different direction. I don't think we'll ever really get a true and honest answer. Have you ever had a chance to ask LeBron directly? I haven't asked him.

That's a good word to ask, but it's like, at this point, it's like water under the bridge. Like why even ask him? By the way, how many does he have right now? He's got four, right? So he wins two more. That's six, Michael six, Kobe five, Magic five. That's like a good argument.

You know, it's a good argument to ask because that would have put him in a completely different situation. That is true. But then again, I think that we have had so many great players and greatness come through this league. We start to compare by using rings. And you know know I think it take away from a lot of the greatness that a lot of these players had because they wasn't as fortunate enough to win championships

like a Jordan or you know LeBron did and have a brand push them to a whole nother level. So Larry Bird or let's say Clyde Drexler, even Scottie Pippen, these guys have the engine of Nike behind them or you know how Steph Curry has under armor and stuff like that. So when you don't have that boost behind you, sometimes you don't, that boost behind you sometimes you don't may you may not get the credit from the world because the eyes are not on you as much as it would be if you were with these companies who were you

with who was your I was with Adidas you were did he did is is there in the league a certain are people frowned upon if you're with Adidas versus Under Armour versus Nike? Is there cliques or not really? The shoes, nobody gives a shit. I don't think there's any cliques, but usually the Nike players have been with Nike since they've been young. You know what I'm saying?

So it's like, I was with Adidas when I was in high school, so I ended up signing with Adidas. Oh, so you had Adidas from high school? Yeah, my AAU team was sponsored by Adidas and that's how usually guys stick with their whoever they were with you know in high school and coming up. That's what I'm saying they got an engine behind them. So did you ever meet like have you ever seen a movie Air? Uh is that with how they explain the whole Nike situation? Nike Jordan situation? Just little bit, I don't know. You don't watch the whole thing? Dude, you would love it.

It's a sick movie. It breaks down the dynamics so well. I watched it, there's only three movies I watched three times in the first week. This is one of them. Three times in the first week. You took our entire company. I took not only my insurance company,

I took these guys, myself, three times in the first week. It's that sick of a movie. But there's a scene where Matt Damon is playing Sonny Vicario. And he's telling Michael Jordan's mother on what to ask from Converse, what to ask from Adidas, and then before you do anything come with us, Nike. When you were going through your shoe deals, was there any stories that you met with Nike, you met with everybody else, or was it straight up you just went to Adidas, didn't meet with

anybody else? My dad was talking to Nike with my agent, and at the time Nike said I didn't have a personality, which was crazy and I think that's why I ended up going with Adidas. Nike literally told your dad and your agent you don't have a personality. Yeah that's what it was. This was at 18 years old though. This is when I yeah before I came to the league. And they made no offers. I don't even think they made an offer at that point. Later on, did they ever try to poach you from Adidas or no?

No. Anybody else? I did. I had another shoe company that I was with. It was called Peak. It was a Chinese shoe company. And they actually owe me a lot of money. But it's a Chinese company, so you can't really,

like if something happens in the States, and you have to try to fight it in China, you're not gonna win that battle. Good luck. Did you ever play out there or no? Did you ever play in China? I played in Taiwan. How was that?

It was amazing. I stayed there for eight months and played in Taiwan. By the time I left Taiwan we were talking about making my own basketball league and now I have a league that plays in Taiwan, plays in Thailand, Macau, Hong Kong, a couple places in Philippines and they have a team in China as well. So they traveled to these different parts we called it the Asian tournament and I was just so happy that I got a chance to play in Taiwan

It really was very beneficial to my health health. Yes Mental health. Oh mental. Yeah, the way they treated you like gratitude excitement enthusiasm or that that was a big part of it, but I would just say like excitement, enthusiasm or? That was a big part of it, but I would just say like planning an NBA for a very long time can you know, you could get mentally It could be mentally ill for you. Sometimes you could kind of feel real, you know depressed or sad about some things sometimes because in NBA you're it's a, it's a highly energetic sport.

You spend a lot of energy, a lot of time, you're moving from city to city. Everything is a whirlwind. So a lot of times when players get out of that whirlwind or that fast paced life and everything starts to slow down, a lot of things look and feel that seem different. A lot of guys go through problems and issues during those stages.

And a lot of players in different sports as well, three to five years after they're done, some of them have gone bankrupt. They don't know what to do when they're finished playing. So for my time in Taiwan, it was like Red Bull. They gave me so much energy. For my time in Taiwan, it was like Red Bull. They gave me so much energy. I feel so much peace, being in the city, just living life and learning so much about the culture,

which was amazing. I was like, man, I want my kids to come over here. This is such a great place. I end up getting my gold card over there for business so my kids can come now. Mom and dad, family can come at any time and start business over there and do things like that. In Taiwan.

Well at that point I was going every summer and when I was 18 all the way up until about, I would say 34, 35, I would go to Asia and do a tour every summer. So China was good for your mental health is what you're saying? tour every summer. That's why. China was good for your mental health, is what you're saying? No, Taiwan.

Sorry, Taiwan, my apologies. Mental health, just for a second, Ricky Rubio, I believe, retired from the NBA due to focusing on his mental health. We've seen what's happened with Delante West. Yes. Don't know if you ever played with this guy. I think there was another guy

got drafted by the NBA, what was his name? Couple years ago. Tyrell Terryrell Terry before even picked up a basketball, retired due to mental health. There's a lot of I guess impression that athletes especially on the court, oh, you could say whatever you want, talk about your mom, even LeBron has had issues. Talk about mental health in terms of playing on the court off the court, how you deal with that? Well, because there's so much that goes into the game, you know, and now because the game is

oversaturated with talent, with money, politics and all that, you know, the passion and the true joy of the game is being lost and taken away. So a lot of the mental problems that you see, a lot of guys may be depressed because they play this game for one reason, and they might get on the court or with a team and they might not get a chance to play. They might have to sit on the bench for a whole season. Things like that can cause somebody to mentally check out,

can cause somebody to mentally not wanna be available emotionally, all these things can happen. So I know for myself, I just had to try to find a way to mentally stay present. Because when you allow those moments to creep in, that's when you can get depressed and start thinking about, man is this is a crazy life I've I don't know who I can trust. I don't know I can talk to

I don't know this person is in it for the right reason all these different things have happened to I would say all of Us players because when we play this game when we started to play the game It was just really all about the love of the game But then as we got older we started to play in these different leagues and start playing for money and things like that Things like that and that's when the whole Politics and everything comes in and it kind of takes away from the joy What was when when you when you were coming up like everybody? You would get certain criticism right as players as players. Everybody gets it, right?

What criticism did you get that at this point you're like, I think that was unfair, I think this was fair, the criticism, like for example, they would say Kobe was too hard, right? And he was too tough on his teammates. And he would talk about leadership, and I was like, oh, he was just the driver, he was this, he was that, like,

what is that one player who said, my locker was literally right next to his locker room? What was it? Swoosh, Swoosh Barker's like, what is that one player who said my locker was literally right next to his locker room? Swoosh. Swoosh Barker is like, he's like, look, I mean, for one year, he says, you don't realize, it's literally right next to him. The guy would never talk to me, never ask me about my family, nothing, one time. Can you pull up this clip? I understand that.

I had a moment with Kobe where it was like we were in the locker room, we were playing together during the Olympics, not the Olympics, but during the season actually the year I was playing with the Lakers and Kobe where we were on the plane together, me and his family. He didn't really speak. Our locker room was next to each other in the Olympics, not the Olympics, but the All-Star game, when we played on the same team, you know,

he didn't speak, it's like he didn't wanna be next to me at that time. So it was a little, you know, weird, you know, cause I'm like, dang, this Kobe, my teammate, I looked up to him, I came out of high school, he came out of high school, he's a lot older than me. But then again, you know, it could have been something like, hey, I'm trying to see where his head at, you know, and I'll never know. I'm a young guy at the time. I'm thinking like, why would

my teammate not talk to me? Like, what did I do that was so bad? Like, can we talk it out? You know I'm saying? But some people use different strategies to win. Maybe that was his. Yeah, this is the clip Rob, if you can play this. This is Swish Parker. I'm with Kobe Bryant. It was an overrated experience. I dealt with this man for two seasons

and my locker was here, his locker was here. I watched this man put on his shoes every day for work. The man never spoke to me. I wasn't the 12th man on the bench. I wasn't the 12 man on the bench. I wasn't the call up from the G League. I started with this man. I was his coworker. Like we shared a cubicle side by side.

How do you do that for two seasons and never hold a conversation? Never, what's up, good morning. Do you need anything? You know, how's the family? Nothing. I shared a story about how I did try to talk to him. You know, said, did you catch, happen to catch the football game last night? He looked at me honestly

Looked at me and said you can't talk to me anymore accolades on the available. Can we come talk to me? It was dead serious my time was so now that's which Parker your Dwight Howard You know, there's an I don't say anything but him. He was fun to watch He was he was a action phone was nice sw't wanna say anything about him. He was fun to watch. He was a, actually, fun. Swoosh was nice. Swoosh was nice to watch played. He was tough. But your Dwight Howard, three time defensive, you went to the finals with, who were your teammates?

You had, who was your point guard? Your point guard was excited. Yeah, he was fun to watch. What was his nickname? He had a Mighty Mouse. Mighty Mouse. Yeah, and you had Richard Lewis, who got a big contract. He was a. Really nice. He was really nice.

He was really nice. Is that Hito Turkle on that team? Hito Turkle. Yeah. But I mean, you were kind of like the face of the league for a good three, four seasons. You were one of those guys that people looked at and said, something's going to happen with this guy. So it's different if he's like that to him, but you're coming in like, dude, I made money

already, right? When you're Kobe's teammate, you've already made a couple hundred million dollars. You've already been to the championship. You've had that. How different was he with you know, he wanted to do the the bad cop good cop, you know routine And the season kind of started off kind of bad We didn't have the the type of run that we thought we was gonna be in the beginning and stuff like that So a lot of a big Nash was everybody was injured. I was a it's a pretty nasty season

It was yeah, and you know, so I think he went into like Fuck it. I'm gonna go out here and try to score and do what I got to do because I'm not gonna let my team You know, this is my team down and I understand that Looking back on it. I think that we didn't give each other a chance. I think that I kinda, the time where I left, I'm like, man, Kobe really don't want me here. You know what I'm saying?

I should go somewhere where I'm wanted. I remember that. And that's how I felt at the time, you know, like man, this dude don't seem like he really want me here, you know, cause he's not helping me get better or, but maybe he's probably like, if he want it, then he's gonna approach it this way. You know what I'm saying?

But as a young player, you don't know how to approach certain things. I'm only going by what I've done my whole life to get me to this point, which is if I'm not playing good or if I'm not where I wanna be, I'm gonna go get in the gym and continue to get better. And the year we went to the finals before I played with the Lakers,

I remember calling him and asking him what do I need to work on to get better. We had a good conversation there. Literally. Yeah. And this was when you were 18, 19 years old. This was after we played them in the finals. So I had a conversation with him. 2009, right?

You beat Lebron. Yes, I asked him what I need to do. And he said work on free throw line jump shots in mid-range. So I started shooting and making a thousand shots a day. That was my thing because he was like, hey, I take and make a thousand shots every day. So I was like, okay, well, I'm going to add that into my workout. So I started doing a thousand shots a day.

The next year I was second in MVP voter behind Derrick Rose. What year is this? This was 2010. So you were right behind Rose? Yeah when Rose won it I was second and voted that year and I Just remember playing with Kobe like I I just remember playing with Kobe, like I wanted to learn so much from him, but I think I was expecting him to be like, hey, come over here, I'm gonna show you this.

And it should have been, it could have been me being like, hey, let me go to him, you know what I'm saying, and kind of make that connection. So for me, I was like, I'm gonna go to Chuck Person. He was one of our big man coaches back then. So for me, I was like, I'm gonna go to Chuck Person. He was one of our big man coaches back then. Pacer's Chuck Person. But he wasn't a big man. He was a small forward though, do you? He was awesome. He could really shoot the ball.

Yeah, he was a three-point shooter. So that year, actually the second half of the season, I don't know if people remember, on the second half of the season, the average, our record was a lot better in the second half of that season with the Lakers. Due to me working with Chuck, almost every single day after I kind of recovered from that year, I had tore my labrum in my shoulder. I don't even think people understand how I was playing

almost the whole season with a torn labrum. A torn, most people have surgeries when they have a labrum tear. I continued to play. I think I missed like six games that season. Every time I went up to go dunk the ball and somebody just slapped my arm like that, it felt like somebody shot me with a shotgun and my arm just dropped. Who knew that? Who knew that? The team. Did the league know that, that it was going on? The league knew it was torn. So this was public, this was announced. Yeah, I just kept playing through it and I remember the media going crazy. Did you talk to Kobe about your shoulder? And I'm like, why do I have to talk to my teammate about the status of my injury?

Like I need to talk to the doctor so I can let them know I can't play. They're like, no, you gotta tell him. I'm like, that's not cool. So I think that they was putting so much animosity between us or that when I left and we had that first game against each other with the Rockets, you can see us drawing that.

He's like, you saw it? Is that the elbow one? That's the... Yeah, and I feel like... Rob, can you play that clip? This one right here? Yeah, I feel like he was saying that because mentally, he felt like I allowed all the BS to get in my head. No Frills delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express. Shop online and get $15 in PC Optimum Points on your first five orders.

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Visit your local GMC dealer for details. What's he saying? You're I was saying you saw he said try but I was like, you know me man. I know you. And so look at the score. He's down 25. Look at the score.

So I feel like we'll be down 25. We're kicking they ass. And then like this player right here is like, why is he doing this? And I'm like, all right, I'm an elbow, you get off me. Oh, so the elbow was intentional, it wasn't accidental. It was intentional because first of all, we're winning by like.

I think you're up 25. We're at 25. It's the fourth quarter, I'm getting a rebound. It's like, why are you pressuring me full court for after the rebound? And so I got one elbow, then he comes back. So I throw another one just to like get him off. And then we get into it.

And I wanna say he was doing that to say like, I got you again, I got you out of your game, yourself. Observation. So for me, like it's all about, Observation. So for me, it's all about watching how people handle rooms. And I'm watching dynamics because from the outside you hear stuff and then you're in the locker room. You're in the locker room. So you're in the locker room, who's the coach? Phil Jackson is the coach. Oh no, I wish. He was supposed to come and coach that year. We can talk about that. He was supposed to come and coach.

We had a conversation. And he wanted to do the 41 only home games and didn't want to go on the road. Is that the time? Well see, what happened was he was about to have back surgery. He wasn't going to be able to travel. And so he wanted to make sure that his doctor was going to be okay with him coming back to coach. We had just literally talked right before

they made the decision to bring in. Frank Vogel, wasn't he? No, it wasn't Frank Vogel, it was Mike D'Antoni. It was Mike D'Antoni. I literally was just talking to Phil. The first time I was talking to Phil and he's like, Dwight, I really wanna coach you. Oh, I remember because he said,

we're gonna average 140 points game a night And we didn't need to do that. We didn't need to do that. I remember that though. All we had to do was beat people up We got the greatest closer You got the two biggest big man in the paint Palgasaw and myself who's gonna stop us Like but we tried to play a fast-paced game with older players I'm the youngest one and I just had back surgery and I just had a torn leg room. So why not slow the game down and play the pace

that we need? We don't have to, Steve Nash doesn't have to go crazy. He just had back surgery. Coaches, but this is the part dynamics. My interest is on the inside. So how many coaches coach you? Like if you put the big coaches, you had Dantoni, who else coached you?

Stan Van Gundy. Van Gundy. Orlando, yeah. I cannot forget all my coaches right now. Oh, it's the black guy. What's the black guy? It sounds like it really made an impact on you. You did, I can't think of his name.

Mike Brown, I'm so sorry. I know your coaches, don't worry about it. You got the same one. I've got so many coaches. Oh my God, Brian Hill. When you're watching, when you guys are in a place I'm so sorry. I know your coaches. Don't worry about it. You got the stuff. I have so many coaches. Oh my God. Brian Hill. When you watch him, when you guys are in a place where there's a lot of conflict, you

don't hear a lot about Dantoni. What was Dantoni's style of dealing with Kobe? Would he challenge him or he'd left Kobe alone? He would most likely leave him alone. He wouldn't leave him alone? He wouldn't bother him? He wouldn't say too much to him. Okay.

I mean, he was more so chill, but I feel like with Phil, our offense would have been in a better place. The triangle offense would have suited us better because you can keep the one side clear of Kobe wanting to do his thing, and then that triangle that's going on on the other side of the court or whatever it may be,

I felt like that would have been something. Half court offense for us, it would have been crucial. Teams wouldn't have been able to stop us in the half court. So by us trying to play the fast paced game, that wasn't us. And then I felt like I was at a place in my career where I needed to slow it down and get in the triangle so I can understand offense and how to move offensively.

A lot of times, big men, they mature slower in the league because the game takes longer to slow down to them. And I was fortunate enough to play in different eras. So when I first came in, it was back to the basket big. The lane was a lot more packed and stuff like that, boxes and elbows on defense. And then it started to spread out, you know, year after year, then to now it was like threes

and half court. But you know, so back then, a big needed time. Hakeem, Elijah, one, they was getting in their primed in their 30s, their late 30s, you know what I'm saying? That's when they're in their primed, because they're now, the game is slowed down so they can understand and see it more. So I just felt like, with a coach like,

D'Antoni, the pick and roll and stuff was great for my Orlando time, so I think that's why they got D'Antoni, the pick and roll and stuff was great for my Orlando time, so I think that's why they got D'Antoni. But I felt for me to take that step to the next level, it was time for feel. What was the difference? Locker room. Kobe, locker room, LeBron locker room.

You're in a locker room, game's done. You win, you lose. You had a sick game. You showed up. What is the vibe in a locker room with Kobe versus LeBron? Is Kobe games over when he's gone? Or is LeBron, hey man, good job, then? What's the difference?

We win and they both live. They both live in the locker room. Man, it's been so long with Kobe. That year was such an up and down year. We had our wins, we was happy, but when we lost, we was pretty pissed. LeBron, man, he is a character, he's so funny. So after the games, you know, he's going,

his locker room is crazy. His locker room looks like you're, with his backdrop here. The backdrop thing. He got everything All the she got like two lockers She was lined up all the stuff and got a special do rags everything. So it's it's like the president's locker room It's pretty nice. Yeah, so he had the biggest locker room you side of all the players who played against I mean, well, he just got two lockers. Most everybody get they one little spot but I mean, it's Lebron. It's two lockers. It would seem like, I don't know

if you could find this video of Lebron locker room Miami Heat. I mean, they did a whole dance. It would seem to me that Kobe is way more serious than Lebron. I even heard you say something to the effect of Kobe's kind of an asshole. Yeah, Kobe's kind of wants to be liked. When I say something to the effect of, Kobe's kind of an asshole. But LeRon kinda wants to be liked. When I say Kobe, the asshole is like, this is the Miami Heat thing. Yeah, he, I've seen him like go off on autographed

seekers, you know, for coming. Kobe? Yeah, going crazy, cause his ladies like, you guys out here just like, you know, asking for autographs, so, man, he, yeah, I guess I've seen that side of him, but at the same time, you know, asking for autographs. So, man, he, yeah, I guess I've seen that side of him, but at the same time, you know, I've always heard that you have to be a certain type of way to make it in life, you know, so I don't feel like he's that way with everybody. I feel

like that when it's time to be that person, then he's going to be that person because he's trying to get to his goal, whatever his is and he's not gonna let nobody stop it. Who was between the two somewhat like a favorite teammate? I'm not even going to I'll you know I'll ask you the other question next but as a teammate who did you prefer as a teammate LeBron or Kobe? It's a tough one. That is a very tough one. I just feel like me and Kobe didn't give each other time to really mesh. And we was in a place where emotionally and mentally I was fed up with the things that had happened in Orlando that a lot

of you know people don't know about and I'm coming into this new situation like man I want to turn it all around I'm in a new city new place I'm playing with one of the greatest players ever but I just came off back surgery I'm not even supposed to be playing this whole year I was supposed to sit out the whole season when I came to the Lakers but I came back in four months I was supposed to sit out the whole season when I came to the Lakers But I came back in four months I was supposed to sit out a whole year from my back surgery to got that much of my herniated disc the largest that they ever Taken out of somebody's back. So I was supposed to miss significant time came back early Didn't tour my leg room

continued to play and we We made it to the playoffs. That was the last time the Lakers had made it to the playoffs until I came back and we went to the championship From 2013 to 2020. There was no playoffs for the Lakers. No, I remember that but that's when he was averaging 35 for That's when he had the streak of whatever eight or nine games of 40, but stay on this so teammate Kobe LeBron Team, man, I'm gonna go of whatever eight or nine games of 40 but stay on this so teammate Kobe LeBron. teammate I'm gonna go with LeBron I had my championship with him we had our longest run together so I gotta pick LeBron. Over Kobe. But if you're an owner and you're drafting somebody and you have your number one draft

pick, who are you picking between the two to win? To win. Knowing what I know now? Oh, well you gotta go with LeBron. So you still picking LeBron over Kobe? I mean, knowing what we know. All right. So if you're talking about longevity, longevity, if you're talking about just overall, not

skill like how people look at skill, I'm talking about everything that encompasses basketball. Look what LeBron has done. Kobe has, he has, he has the most, he's turned himself into the most skilled, but I don't think that he had the most talent. I think LeBron was so talented that he could play one through five. He could do football, he could do all these different things. I felt like Kobe mastered his skill

on the court of basketball. He mastered bank shots. He mastered the pump fake, pump fake, turn around shoot. He mastered the bump phase. He mastered all the moves that Jordan did to the three. He mastered shooting with his left hand. You know, I think that when you look at LeBron

He just mastered everything that come with basketball off the court, you know He's figured out how to manage that whole side which most athletes if you you can see they don't have the proper see they don't have the proper resources or the proper team to do what he's done. His longevity just stands out to everybody. Okay, so here's one for you. So now that you got LeBron over Cope, do you have LeBron over Mike? No, you can't have him over Mike. Why is that? Longevity? LeBron was longer than Mike. He was. He was faster.

He can play five positions. Michael couldn't play five positions. Michael was really three positions, right? Why do I have Lebron? Why do I have Michael Lebron? Yeah. I felt like he set the bar for everyone. So he was the pioneer of it. So I gotta have him. So you draft pick, you're picking Michael Lover LeBron. I'm picking Michael Jordan. Okay. I wanna be like Michael. That's a question for both of you. I got a question for both of you.

Okay. It's actually very interesting because to me, I also like a player that stays with a team. Like Dirk stayed, right? Cope stayed, right? You had a few guys that stayed with the organization for longevity-wise. I don't know how many more players like that

I can think about, but it's a few. D-Wade. D-Wade, yeah, with my, he ended up with Chicago, where he played with the Rose and the Gleam. Chicago and Cleveland, and then came back to the... So, change it up. Let's just say that your Lakers had a shitty year, and they have number one draft pick. They pick LeBron.

You think LeBron would have ever gone to Cleveland or anywhere else or you think LeBron would have stayed in LA? He would have stayed in LA. You think he wouldn't have gone to Cleveland to win one for them? Like you think he would have still stayed in LA? Well If he never started with Cleveland? He was number one draft pick. LA picks him up. They had a horrible year, couple trades.

They get back in the boom, LeBron going to LA. I don't believe he would leave LA. You don't think he would leave LA? It's an interesting question to think about. Not if he starts with LA. I mean, if he starts with LA and he's LeBron James, the number one pick, he's coming in and asks everyone know who he is now. I don't see what would be the benefit

of going somewhere else because this is the biggest team and the biggest, this is as marketing, they're the biggest team in the NBA, and the biggest fan base worldwide and nationally. So why would he wanna leave and go somewhere else at that time? Yeah, but the only thing is, like how much did it mean to him to go to Cleveland and when? Do you think he would have stayed 20 years with LA? I think that there's a major part of Lebron. And look, I'm a lifelong Miami Heat fan.

Like I know everything there is about the Miami Heat. That was my team. When you guys beat them in the bubble, I mean you remember I was living in Dallas at the time, screaming and hollering, rooting for my guys out there. Jimmy was fighting. Jimmy Butler, Jimmy Buckets. Gotta give him credit though,

that guy's a freaking fighter. But I think there's a part of, two parts, I think there's a part of Lebron that no matter what he was gonna try to get back to Cleveland or win something Like when he left that he left Cleveland in my opinion because they just couldn't assemble the pieces He went to the heat, you know, not one not two not three four five he put together the super team the Heedles with Wade and Bosch and And then soon as he won, I think he won two out of four championships, right back to Cleveland, I think he went one and two against

Golden State. Yeah. So I think he did that. He did that. But they're also this is my opinion again. I think if you ask just any casual fan, they would have in specific order, MJ, LeBron, Kobe. And I think that's undeniable, but there is a part of Kobe that's almost romanticized because tragically died too soon, horribly. And because he stayed with the Lakers so long, he became this fan favorite, like he's not going anywhere. We all love

Kobe. But let's not forget Shaq was the man in 2000 2001 2002. Like it wasn't even a question. I think Shaq won all the MVP. So LeBron put everything on his back took Cleveland to the finals took the heat to the finals to the Cleveland back to the final. What point are you making? My point is this LeBron is legacy is a little bit more tarnished because he's sort of seen as like a ring chaser and you know kind of running around whereas Kobe is romanticized for saying you still haven't answered my question but I think I'm like five minute breakdown tell me is he gonna stay he would have not stayed he would have gone to Cleveland I think point. I think so as well.

So here's my question for you. You're also a Kobe guy, not a Lebron guy. But no, to me, I'm a guy, like okay, I'm looking at his draft year, right? Was that 04? 04 is number two. Gordon, you're first. Gordon, three. He goes to Chicago.

Sean Livingston, by the way, if he doesn't get injured, that guy was a very interesting player. Very clean, golden state. I don't think I ever saw him miss the small shoot. The way he was, Devin Harris, Josh Childress, Lua Dang, he came to the Lakers, he had a 61 million dollar contract that Lakers were stuck with, I'll never forget that. AI, Eagledore, Jackson, Robert Swift, Chris Humphrey's your

boy, you were at his wedding, and you're going down the list here, right? But imagine, you get picked, because you went to Orlando, right? At Rich DeVos, that whole organization, but say you go to the Lakers, what do you do? Do you stay? You don't know what happens? Would you be with them for a while or would you still be like, nah, I kind of want to go see what Atlanta's like, you know, I kind of want to go to see what this is like. If I'm drafted from the Lakers?

Lakers, number one draft pick, you're there. I got to stay. You got to stay, so that's how you process it. Yeah, I got to stay. I'm with the most storied franchise. I can't take away, I don't want people from Orlando saying, oh, but you left us. No, this is different because this is not year one, leaving Orlando.

This is year nine. I've already been in Orlando for eight years when I left. You know what I'm saying? So, and I think they kind of made it look like I was going at the fans or I wanted to leave because of the city and stuff like that. And why would I leave a team because of the city? It makes no sense.

So you would have stayed in LA? Would I have stayed in LA? I wanted to play with, not play, but be coached by R.R. Field. I thought that would have been big for my development Why though just purely for your development? Yes, because I grew up in a era of basketball where Everything was quick one two dribbles get to the basket one dribble finish two dribbles finish three dribbles max post-ups three dribbles max, post ups, pick, get seals and stuff like that. In this offense with Phil, I would be forced to do more fundamentally sound things,

catch it at the top of the key, get to the basket, make a move. He was gonna- It would have been interesting seeing how you would have done, he would have used it in triangle offense. To get me easier shots, to get Kobe easier shots, to save our legs and our bodies so when we play later on in the season, we'll still have the same bounce, the same energy.

Do you think Triangle offense would work with big centers? I guess he would because he had Shaq. We played it in high school. I played the Triangle in high school. Who was your coach? My coach was Courtney Brooks. Was he ever under text winner or how did he pick up up triangle office? We just got it because he, my goal was to go to the NBA and I remember my 11th grade year we watched Shaq destroy the Philadelphia

76ers and Dikembe Mutombo rest in peace. But we. But I watched at this camp I was in, this leadership camp, Shaq, Elbow, Matt Geiger, and Dikembe Mutombo in the chest and dunk on them every play. And so after watching that, my coach was like, we need to run triangle. I got to get you ready for the lead. You're coaching run triangle offense? We was doing a triangle offense in high school. That's not an easy it's not for a coach to pick how long did it take for you

guys to get it down it must have taken months. Yeah it did but once we got it it was it was easy. Cuz nobody there is no point guard like it's if you're always always everybody yeah it's always in a change. Dwight stop it you don't need any sort of offense when you're in high school. You're the best player in the country. They throw you the ball, you win the state championship. You don't run the offense. Get out of Dwight's way. That's a very good point.

By the way, stop it. I like the past. What were your numbers in high school? What was your biggest game ever in high school? Biggest game I almost had 50, but my coach took me out because he didn't want me to disrespect the other team He felt like it was getting too disrespectful And I was upset about that cuz I wanted to have a 50 ball like that's like

Who does not want to have 50 points in the game? And I saw the fact that you had the offers from Duke who was at Carolina who else was every school Every school I was just telling my kids the other day I had a tub about probably Tub this big this wide. I'm sorry this long. I'm probably about this wide three or four tubs Filled with letters from every school in America when I was in high school trying to get me to come to their school And I was like man, it's no way I can choose a college. We want to ever tempt it at all

to their school and I was like, man, there's no way I can choose a college. Were you ever tempted at all? To go to school? Was you ever tempted at any college meet with you and convince you to say, you know what, Dean's, I mean, 04, who's 04? That was UNC. Was anybody able to get you to at least think about it?

UNC got me to come to an official visit to UNC, that was the only school I did an official visit with. Because my goal was to go out to the NBA and be the first pick out of high school. That was one of the goals that I've written down with my dad to be the first pick in the NBA draft. So I was like, I can't go to college if this is my goal. And I did a visit at UNC. When I got there, I was like, this ain't really for me. I think if I go to college, I'm going to get in a lot of trouble. In what regard? Partying and-

Not partying, but- The ladies? Yeah, it was a lot. It was a lot. But then I went to the NBA, it's even more. So it was like, that don't even make sense. What are you talking about? There was only a finite one of them in college. NIL today, would you have gone to college or you're still going straight in? Would NIL made a difference for you or not at all?

No, I probably would have stayed. You would have still come in. Okay. So you talk about Lakers. You say if I go to the Lakers I'm going to stay with them for 20 years. Not 20 years, but I would be a lifer with them. So I remember, okay, when I'm at P.F. Chang's, me and this guy named Arash were debating between you and Bynum. I wrote about Bynum in my book, Your Next Five Moves. He's in the book. Anyways, and I said, and I'm like, he says, no, I'm picking Bynum.

I said, why? Bynum's got more finesse, soft touches. I said, do it., no, I'm picking Bynum. I said, why? Bynum's got more finesse, soft touch. He's like, I said, do it. I said, I get it. I just don't know if Bynum loves the game. Because to me, I think Bynum was a big guy, coach saw, picked him up. But when I watch him play the game,

I don't know if he loves this game. Remember the issue he had two years when he went through, I don't know where, it was in Philadelphia. He changed his hair all the time. But see, I think that was him through I don't where's a Philadelphia. I think he did See I think that was a that was him I don't I don't know him personally, but I want to say that probably was him acting out a little bit like He played he came from high school. He went and played one of the greatest players ever in

basketball No, he's somehow shackled. He went up I'm talking about Kobe. He played with the one. Yeah, man. No, he's talking about Shaq when he went up against Shaq and didn't back down. No, I'm talking about Kobe. He played with one of the best players ever. I'm thinking you were saying the game where he went against Shaq and he didn't back down. Yeah, but see, while playing with one of the greatest players ever, he's probably getting ridiculed

and all these different things. So at a young age, he's like, man, I watched this guy growing up. I was a baby when Kobe was in the league, all these different things. And now he's playing with him. And now when his idol is probably yelling at him and going off on him, that probably put him in a place like, I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy, I'm not feeling this.

I came here to get better, but how can I grow if I'm on Number two or number three behind Kobe or you got to think he's a young guy. He wanted shine, too. So This that's pretty tough, but you know you make a point because there there are like for example Nick Saban comes into the NFL doesn't do what goes back to college kills and then you have guys that go from Like, for example, Nick Saban comes into the NFL, doesn't do well, goes back to college, kills. And then you have guys that go from NBA college, they come back to the NBA. Or whatever, NFL, whatever pro you want to say.

So what's the difference? If I go to college, I'm dealing with greenies. So Nick Saban didn't have a problem with development and kind of taking young guys and building them up. It's not easy because you're more distracted, more, oh my God, girls, you know, partying all, how do I get these guys to stay locked and come to the gym early, don't drink, don't smoke weed. It's a different mindset that you have, right?

So it's almost there are certain players, like if I was a team owner and I got Kobe as my superstar, dude, I'm going to be like, don't kill this new draft pick, bro. It's almost like I'm sitting there thinking to myself, what's the point of having a number one draft pick that comes here, that Kobe's gonna kill him for two or three years, let the guy go get his ass kicked and then let me bring him here three, five, six, seven years later. Like I think that's that versus,

and I think I put Michael in that as well. Michael had a hard time when the whole cat story, yeah, Kwame or even the Horace Grant and Scotty because I think Horace was an 87 draft, 88 draft and it's back to back they come in and he almost pushed them out but then they were able to get acclimated and then they won those three chips together. But to me I think about that. The part I think about with you and I thought about this was the reason why you left and please correct me if I say this, because I followed you very closely,

and I was one of the guys that was very excited when it came to the Lakers, the first time around, not second time around, because first time around, I thought it was gonna be like dominance, right? Me and Kobe, yeah. There was, and I haven't seen this thing since it happened. So whatever year you came, you'll remember this, where they're showing your, they've already announced they've

signed. You're in the office with Cup Shack, I want to say the GM, and he is pointing out all the rafters, right? I don't know if you remember this. And he says, look at the history of big men that we've had here. The great Will Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaq, and maybe one day you. Something like this.

I don't even think you're going to find this. I don't think you're going to find this clip at all, but I'm certain you remember something like that that happened. And I watch your body language, and I watch it and I'm like, I don't know if that put unnecessary pressure for you to play loose. I don't know if that put unnecessary pressure for you to play loose. I don't know if it made you nervous. Because there's a difference playing in Orlando Magic, right? No one expects you to win.

So if you win, you're God. But you come to Lakers, it's like, dude, no one expects you to lose. You better win or else get the hell out of our city type of a mindset. Did that at all shake you up a little bit when Mitch Kupchick did that? No, I loved it because I was like, man, this is why I play. Like, Wilt Chamberlain is my all-time favorite player. I never got a chance to see him play, but he was my all-time favorite player. I had this robot when I was young and used to always say, Wilt Chamberlain, Wilt Chamberlain. And I was like, man, who is Wook Chamberlain?

And he said he scored 100 points. And so the robot was like chat GPT back in the day. So that's cool. That's how I fell in love with Wook Chamberlain being my favorite player because he was the strongest. He was the fastest. I had the robot was telling me all these crazy stats about him that was outside of basketball. So that's why, you know, I had, the robot was telling me all these crazy stats about him that was outside of basketball. So that's why I wanted to meet Wilt Chamberlain. He used to call him the Big Dipper because he used to have to duck his head.

Did you ever meet him? No, I didn't get a chance to meet him, but when I first moved to LA and played out there, I stayed in Prince's old house, 2131, 31, 2131, 31 31, 2131, 3121. Prince Prince. Yes, Antello Drive, yes, he has an album called it, so, 3121 or something like that, Antello.

So it'll be Prince's old house or something like that. Well, yes. That's Prince's old house? Yes. What a memory, you remember his address? That's the house I stayed in. So beautiful. How many times did you go to Prince's house?

Well, I lived there. That was my house. So you bought it from him? I got that house, I lived there for the time I played for the Lakers, and then right next to my house was- Can you get the pictures out, so you can see the pits, it looks sick.

Will Chamberlain's house, so that's how I- Get out of here. I was so happy. Get out of here. Yes. The house that he stayed in his roof will open up like the bedroom roof. He had it to where it could open up. You can see the stars at night. So that's how I was like first talked to him or met met with he was already gone by then. So I was like you came to Ligon 04. He died in I think 1999. He was already gone. This robot of yours is-chat GBT thing, there's one story about Will that everybody knows about.

20,000? That's not real. Okay, there's allegedly a story that Will Chamberlain has slept with over, I thought it was 10,000 women. 20,000. 20,000. Listen, you'll lose count after a couple thousand. I don't think that's possible. What do you think is accurate?

That hurt is, Shack and why Will Chamberlain Chairman saying he had sex with 20,000 women is a lie. You had meeting 20 women a day. What do you think was accurate with that? I mean, listen, I've seen how NBA players roll. Okay, so let's let's do it like this. Back then there was no teams were flying chartered planes. I mean, what they were flying, they were taking buses, or they were taking regular planes. When would he have time to meet, how many women a day? 20 women a day to sleep with him.

Listen man, you make the time, Dwight. You make the time if it's a priority. Okay, but still. There's no way he could play basketball, practice, and sleep with 20 women a day. I don't think that our, I don't think that we have enough inside of us to go out 20 times.

It's a lot. By the way, it's funny you're saying this because I remember the one interview that he did, okay? He said he embellished it. But have you seen the interview where, Rob, can you pull up some of the interview? It's not, the 20,000 women, of course, you know, Shaq even says that's crazy to be able to do that.

It's a crazy number. But type in Will Chamberlain, Max Benchpress. Okay, Max Benchpress. I mean this guy. Strong as hell. Yeah, but just play that first clip. Just play that first clip. Watch this. Can you go back a little bit with audio or you don't have it? No, I can. Okay, go for it. I'm the guy bench pressing around 600 pounds.

600 pounds? I'm the guy bench pressing around 600 pounds. So he says he bench pressed 600 pounds. He says his vertical leap claim was what? 48 inches. On some interviews he said his vertical leap was 60 inches. He says he says he squatted 1,000 pounds that's the claim that he made that he did this is it

watch this he claimed he had a 48 inch vertical okay which that's Michael Jordan status he claimed he squatted just happened Will Chamberlain squat okay Will Chamberlain squat claims okay he, he says he squatted, do you see the stories there? He said he squats a thousand pounds. You can ask him on chat, GBT, see what it says. That's the same exact thing. He claims he was with 20,000 women. You know, he claims he did all this stuff.

How much of it was he was just either psycho competitive or, you know, slight like exaggerating what he really did. I think he was embellishing a lot. I think he was exaggerating a lot of different things. I could see him squatting a lot of weight. I could see him running very fast. I don't know about a thousand pounds. I could see him doing a bench press. I have talked to Arnold Schwarzenegger and we was in Gold's Gym out in Santa Monica. Venice Beach. It's the one that open in the back. It's sick.

DVDs on stompin' cause I saw him and was like everybody get down do it now. I was just with will chamberlain I saw him live two thousand pounds But I saw it's not a bad Arnold way But I saw I did see Him there. He did talked about how strong will chamberlain was he said the strongest person you got will You got Arnold who's always lifting weights said how strong you was I don't the 20,000 sounds crazy to me.

I could see him doing some crazy weights. I talked to some players who played against him back in the day. There was one guy who said, it's so crazy. He said, we'll dunk the ball one time so hard that when he dunked the ball, and the ball hit somebody's foot from the rim

and it broke the person's foot. I say get out of here. Y'all are just making stuff up. This is what Conan the Barbarian with Arnold. In the middle, look at the giants. Even if the 20,000 is not true, a lot of people think that that's 90% overinflated, even if it's 2,000 women.

What are your thoughts on that many? That's a lot of energy. That's a lot of you're bringing on a lot of energy to yourself. But again, back in the day, I mean it's probably like cleaner in life than today. They were doing a lot of parties, like what was the big parties they had back then? That was like Coachella. Studio 54. Studio 54, yeah.

He probably was at Studio 54 with Rick James, who was my favorite. So I can see him doing a lot of stuff. You were fairly one of the biggest guys yourself. Oh, is this it? This is it. 40 yard dash and four six vertical leave it this one says fuck He ran a hundred yard dash in ten point nine seconds. I mean you see this stuff that you read about this But what's the most you ever bench? What was your well? I did was it 475 you bench 475 Why that's sick with those arms bro. To be that big. Yeah.

My many reps I did was 315, 24 times. Get out of here. Combine as 225, 20 times is a big deal. I was trying to bench press every day. Wait, what did you say? You did 315, how many? 315, it was 24 times. Holy shit.

And then what was your vertical leap? My vertical leap was 39. 39? Okay.15 it was 24 times. Holy shit, and then what was your vertical leap? My vertical leap was 39. 39, okay, Kobe's was 38. When? You hear that his vertical leap was 38. You're saying to me. That's tough. You think he wasn't 38?

No, I'm just saying anything in the high 30s to 40s is really, really good. No matter how tall. Jordan had a 48. I wanna see this. If Jordan really had a 48, that means he's touching the top of the backboard. I've touched the top of the backboard and I've touched higher.

I'm dunking on a 12 foot, seven foot goal. If Jordan had a 48 inch vert, he should be sitting on the rim. He should be able to turn around and sit on the rim. But I'm saying, there's no way he had a buff. That's 10 feet. 10 feet would be 120 feet. So even if you're up 48, if we do the math, he's 6'6". So if he's 6'6", let's just say 48, you got 120, he can be, you know. He's got to be touching the top of the backboard.

So you're saying you don't think Mike had a 48. There's no way he had a 48. Do you think Spud Webb had a 48, 47? Spud Webb. Remember Spud Webb from the Atlanta Hawks? I do remember Spud Webb, but they're sayingweb from the Atlanta Hawks? I do remember Spudweb, but they're saying Michael Jordan has the highest vert ever. Okay, this gotta be some Gatorade, like Nike type, we're gonna pay to make this seem this way.

Have you seen the people who jump in this league? Can you type in what was Spudweb's vertical leap? Spudweb vertical leap. He was 46 to 46. Yeah, there's Spudweb's vertical leap. Spudweb's vertical leap. He was 46 to 40, 46, yeah, there's Spudweb. At 5'7 he wanted to go and contest. And Michael Jordan had a 48-inch vertical, I feel like those are wilt lies. That's a wilt lie. So stay on this. That's a wilt lie. All right, but stay on this.

So if we're going to go and say wilt lies, what's more likely? What's more likely? The fact that Mike had a 48 inch vertical lead or the fact that? Bo Jackson's ran a 419 40 what's more likely a lie oh? Bo knows football I'm gonna go in Michael Jordan with the 48 so he said Mike's a lie Bo did it yeah bow did it? Yeah, bow had that ball head, man. He was fast. What you mean? Oh my god. This is crazy. So Dwight, now, so what do you think was Michael's vertical leap? If you're saying 48 is that impossible, what do you think it was? I'm just saying that's so crazy. He's two inches off a 50-inch vert. Michael Jordan, that's so insane. I know he

did have some crazy dunks, but 48 inches means he's touching the top. Okay, so now we're going to a different place. So what's up y'all this your boy Dwight Howard aka the Hall of Fame Superman in the building. If y'all want to connect with me ask me any questions just go to my neck and I got all the answers for y'all. Yeah I can tell you how many women, Wilt Chamberlain and all that was just fake but guess what I got all the expertise, basketball, chess, if you wanna learn how to do Snapchat, if you wanna learn to get that jump shot silky smooth

like me, if you want the fresh fade with the nice hair, come check your boy out, we got expertise in a lot of areas. Remember, connect and connect. I'll see y'all there, peace. So let's say dunk contest. Dunk contest. You against Mike, who wins? Me, I gotta go with myself.

Dwight, stop it. What do you mean? What did Michael Jordan, Scotty Pippen did a better free throw line dunk than Michael Jordan. Oh my goodness, shots fired though. Look it up, look it up. What are you saying?

Look at Michael Jordan's. The greatest poster of NBA of all time. But why Scotty Pippen? I bet he went further. I've seen it. Why Scottie Pippen, I bet he went further. I've seen it. Watch Scottie Pippen. I bet his jump is further back. Yeah.

And he's fully extended. Well, Scottie's also got those, you know a lot of times they talk about how big Jordan's hands are. Have you, Scottie's hands. Scottie don't win without, I mean Michael don't win without Scottie. Let's do it. You don't think? Did he win without Scotty. Let's do it.

You don't think? Did he win without him? Well, did Scotty ever win without Michael? But Michael was supposed to be the man. This is the one you're talking about. So let's see this. Watch what he take off for. This is in a dunk contest?

Yeah. But Scotty never won a dunk contest. Because he didn't have the whole Nike behind him. He didn't have the showmanship. You're gonna say Nike. No, he didn't have Nike behind them like Jordan did the crowd What was Scottie's shoe was it converse or was he was he adidas watch?

How easy he did this from the free throw line? Look how easy Jordan's done from the free throw line only because Jordan has a bald head and he has shorter shorts Jordan has a bald head and he has shorter shorts. Dwight, how are you going to start hating on Michael Jordan on the podcast right now? I hate it. I love Michael Jordan. He got the short shorts. He got the gum chewing. He got the ears. He just looked like he's about to go flying. He got fifth gun and Jerome Kersey was fun to watch. Blazers. Let's see this. Look at the walk. They're smooth, effort no he pumped now he he he brought it back Dwight Dwight but you have to give credit where credits do because you'll understand this better than maybe anybody showmanship counts when did he do that with showmanship counts the same he was

just darker than pippen okay so what do you think this vertical leap is what do you think you put on a cape you know about showmanship yes okay what okay? What was the show about that? He did the exact same dunk that Scottie Pippen do it There's no way Scottie basically acted like he was just walking through the park and jumped out and he did the same thing Yeah, and then they just got better pictures. You know who else did that so that Brent Berry remember when Brent Berry Without his um, what's the difference between Brent Berry and Scottie 50? I should tell you. I should tell you. The colorings.

Jordan. The colorings. Jordan is so... Brent Berry didn't even take off his sweats. That's what I'm saying. Nobody's expecting him to do this. And this is cold. Listen, expect the unexpected.

Can you fast forward a little bit? All right, so you just said you would beat Michael. Yes. My prime dunks, I had more dunks than Michael in for the dunk contest. Go ahead, let's see this here. He got the windmill, come out the paint. He doesn't even dribble though. No, there's no way.

This is not even, it's not in the same, I'm just promising. It was in the wrong city. Where was that at? San Antonio? You know Charles Barkley loves San Antonio. I know. But going back to you with, going back to you with, so you think you beat Michael in a dunk contest.

Okay, what did Michael do in a dunk contest? He did the free throw line dunk, and the windmill from, Sick. From outside the paint. That's easy. He beat Dominique Wilkins. Which he wasn't supposed to.

Dominique won those, but they gave it to Mike. Oh, you're saying it's a conspiracy? You're gonna say because of Nike? Yes. Nike cannot see somebody else, like they cannot see somebody else outside of Nike winning. They have to have a... So who was Dominique Wilkins shoe contract in that, you know, dunk contest and who was Scotty's shoe contract? Let's see this year. So he was Reebok and then who was Scotty Pippen's shoe contract? Who was it? Earlier in his year was Deal with Avya.

I don't even know who that is. Then it was with Nike. So later on he went with Nike. So what do you think Mike's vertical leap is? It's not 48. I mean he probably got a good 42. So he's got a 42. Yeah, but you're saying a 48 is so high.

Who's the highest you ever saw? You played with a lot of guys. Did you ever see anybody, did you ever watch Shannon Brown? Did you ever see some of these Lince Carter or Tracy McGrady? Me and Vince did a dunk contest. Privately?

Yes. Who won? He not gonna say it. He not gonna say it But we both did this crazy dunk one dribble from half court two steps How much of a running start do you have no running start you started half court you take one dribble two steps I was doing one dribble two steps between the legs one dribble two steps windmill from half court from half court I mean, I've seen Yanis run up with two dribbles and he dunks but he's got a running start No, we start at half court. Boom. Once I was doing in high school

Damn Dwight you want how many NBA dunk contest to one just one. Mm-hmm So if you could put in order your top three top five best NBA dunkers of all time Where do you rank on that list and who's your top five top ten? Okay, I put myself three. Uh before and number one is Vince Carter. Ahead of Mike. Ahead of Mike. Yes. Have you seen Vince Carter? I have. Olympics. Oh my god. He gotta be number one. Now, then you got to, you gotta go with Mike. Then you got Dominique Wilkins. Four. And nobody's putting him in here,

but I gotta put him in here. Who's five? Darrell Dawkins. Oh, you going all four. Darrell Dawkins. Okay. What was his nickname? Sexual Chocolate or something like that?

No, that was mine. Okay, that's Rick James. No, Darrell Dawkins, what was his nickname? Chocolate Thunder, man. Sexual Chocolate. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual.

I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual.

I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual.

I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. I'm sexual. a dunk contest. I think it's two different things. In-game dunker, you have the crowd, you have the whole game going on, so you have the atmosphere and everything to lift you up. And the dunk contest is just you. You gotta find a way to entertain the crowd. You gotta find a way to muster up enough energy to get up and do crazy dunks. So I think that LeBron is a end game dunker. He did do a dunk contest in high school for the McDonald's game.

But I don't think it was exciting because he did basically the same dunk that he does now. The one hand like this, the reverse dunk like this. Those are his special ducks, you know, so. CBD. So can I get my all time top five? Number one, Mack McClelland. Okay.

Number two, Brent Barry. Okay. Number three, I'm just naming white guys here, no I'm just kidding. But where would you rank Blake Griffin on this list? Cause a lot of people think that he's on top of everybody. Maybe with the exception of Vince Carter. Blake, Blake top 10 all time.

He's top 10. Like the Kendrick Perkins, what's the one over New York? Timothy Mosgoth. Oh yeah, dunked over seven footer, what's the one over in New York? Timothy Mosgoth. Oh yeah, dunked over a seven footer, right? This one. He's probably got the most crazy facials, because... You know what you just reminded me of while you guys are talking about this? I actually want to know what you're going to say about this is,

you know the Kobe dunk on you? Like, do you know which one I'm talking about? Yeah. Have you seen this one? You even talk about it, right? Can you? Yeah. Rob, this is like out of control, doesn't make any sense.

I was a rookie. Was it your rookie year? Because most people don't talk about this, Dunk. Because it was so long ago. Watch this. Watch this. That's your rookie year. Yeah. 2004. a long ago. Watch this, watch this. That's your rookie year. Yeah, the size.

See, I thought he was on Komodo. You could have met him up there. I got you, Dwight. Yeah. You wanted the charge? I don't know what I was doing, because you know what? I don't know what I was doing.

I remember Bryan Grant saying, welcome to the league, young fella. And I remember my homeboy, he made, it was my birthday right after that. Is that, is that, is that who I think pushed him? No, that's not Bryan, that's Steve Francis. Oh, that was Steve Francis. Get off the white, young fella, man.

Get off the white. Good for Francis, why he was like that. Yeah. So Francis was a tough teammate pushing? Yeah, he didn't like that. He ain't like nobody dunking and messing with DJ. But you know what that did? It woke me up because before that I couldn't hear real good and after that I heard everything and I was like you know what I'm never letting nobody do this to me again. I got three three defensive player of the year awards after that. I got in the weight room.

How many games after you're rookie like game, what game is that when that happened? That was a while into the season. That was deep into the season. No, actually it had to be early into the season before December. So yeah, that was early into the season. And who's Kobe? Like, have you faced him yet? Like, was this the first time when this happens where it's kind of like holy shit? I think it was because he said, our coach said don't let Kobe split the pick and roll.

And so he split the pick and roll and he said Dwight if he does just come over high hands. Come over high hands. They stay you know boom oh! That's all I heard was boom was the ball going through the rim boom and the whole crowd said oh I'm like he got me good does it make sense like when you see that up close and personal does it make sense he's a 38 inch vertical is that about right um see it's all about angles and timing. And his angle was so fast to the basket and deliberate

that my force wasn't enough to stop his force. If I would've came with the exact or even more force, we would've met and it probably would've never happened. But you saw I came over there like, la la la la la. You know? So. But that would never happen to you once you went into your defensive play. No, I would have ran, I would have jumped to meet him early, either to put him on the

ground and say, hey, you're not doing this, this is the only time you're going to get, or I'm going to go up and I'm going to grab the ball and block it. Olympics, when you went into the Olympics, you guys were on that crazy team, right? And it was actually very, They did a documentary on that. I don't remember what it was called. The Redain Team? I actually liked it. Have you seen it or not?

The documentary on that. It's actually a good documentary when they're explaining different things, but you're there. This is the story when they say LeBron learned his work ethic from the Olympics from Kobe, right? That's what you hear about with a lot of people. When they're watching and seeing how he prepared, how Kobe prepared the mornings, the afternoons, and you know, Bosch tells a story of what it was like at the Olympics. He says, I'm going to the gym, come train with me.

And he's training with this guy, and he's training with that guy. And it's a very different version of the story of the 92 dream team where you know Jordan and Chuck Daly are golfing every day, you know, they're going on There's playing cards late night and like this Mike ever sleep like what is wrong with this guy? This guy's gotta be a vampire, right? What was the Olympic like because when you're talking ladies Dwight, you know, you're tall the Olympic like? Because when you're talking to ladies, Dwight, you're tall, you're tough to avoid, and you're a good looking guy, you've got a good smile, so I can only imagine what happened.

So walk me through who was fun, who was playing cards. We've seen the video of you, Chris Paul, having the sandwich somewhere in China, LeBron's talking, but I don't know where it was at, but what was the vibe like? What was Kobe like? What was LeBron like talking, but I don't know where it was at, but what was the vibe like? What was Kobe like? What was LeBron like and who was fun? See, I was the youngest on the team. So for me, I was wide-eyed and I'm just watching everything, goofy, laughing. Everybody did their own thing.

Kobe obviously had his family and his wife there, so didn't see too much of him outside of being with his family. And then since we were in China, he was not gonna be able to go nowhere. The fans were like, we couldn't even stay on the Olympic Village. We had to stay at another hotel

that was way off from everybody else. And it was ridiculous. So... You're talking about like Kobe star power like when you walked out. Yeah, people would stop like I remember to It was it was ridiculous other Olympians wanted to take pictures and autographs. It was crazy. It was it was insane Yeah, it was pretty insane but pretty insane. But, um, oh man, the vibe was immaculate. Just being able to go out and sometimes we would go to the Village and you know, we would just kick it with, you know, all the, you know, competitors and stuff like that. Um, but I was so young, man, I really

didn't know what I was doing. I was 22. So at 22, man, I'm just out there like, man, I'm playing on an Olympic team. I'm playing with Kobe, LeBron, Jason Kidd, Michael Redd, Chris Paul, all these guys. Carmelo Wade. Carmelo Wade, like. What a team. I'm just like, man, I'm the youngest guy.

So everything was a blur to me. It was happening so fast. I'm the youngest guy. So everything was a blur to me. It was happening so fast. I'm seeing Prime Kobe, I'm seeing ball head Dwayne Wade, like that's when he was going crazy when he cut the hair off. It was all these different things. I'm watching like, wow, I'm in the middle of greatness and I don't even know what's going on.

So then to win the Olympics with everyone, to be in Beijing, to do all that, the vibes was crazy. Was the partying as crazy as people were saying? Because you read the article just like, the athletes from around the world, they were hooking up so much that it was out of control. I don't know. Was that what the partying was or that wasn't you? My name Bennett. No, but it was... Was it hardcore partying or? I don't want to say it was hardcore partying. I didn't... I

wasn't a party person back then. So... You matured later on the partying side. I would say when I played with the Lakers with LeBron we did have you know some parties and you know we would go to certain cities and stuff like that but that's part about it. Got it. So China was just chillin? Yeah because we was on a mission you know so it was not a lot of stuff we could do and then everybody wanted to meet us take pictures and stuff like that So, you know, there's nowhere for us to hide or do anything like that You're saying when you were in LA with LeBron you were partying a little bit with that

Best city is to party and then you've gone around because I listen every Miami I see every city every city No, San Antonio ain't Miami though. San Antonio's not Miami, but San Antonio is San Antonio. So if you could give your top, you know, we did with Dunk's, top five cities to go out and party in. You can go out and have a great time in Utah. Utah? Dry county? Okay.

If you want to call it dry, you can call it dry. Or you can get some of them lemon peppered gold wet wings. They can be, nah, just kidding, but send it to Utah. Salt Lake City is your top five party cities. See what I'm saying, Salt Lake City, don't sleep on Salt Lake City. Shout out to the Utah Jazz. Don't sleep on Milwaukee.

Milwaukee. Yeah, don't sleep on these places. Maybe that's why they'll keep Yanis there, huh? I don't think. No. All right. I don't think I would say more cities. No, I would go LA Miami Atlanta Chicago New York Chicago New York. Yeah, Dwight when you're when you're you know, you're playing ball

You know, like I remember when we worked at Bally's, my manager would say, listen, anybody you want to meet, you're going to meet here, the nightclub people, the sports people, you're going to meet everybody. So we'd go to nightclubs, you had all these connections, just because for whatever reason the gym had a certain connection with people that would come. It was very weird. Why? I don't know why. NBA, you're in.

You're going like this, courtside, you're seeing people that are there. And like, oh shit, this person's here to watch me play. Who was it, like the first time we were like, they're here to watch us play? Damn, that's crazy, I can't believe they're here. Who was that? First one, where you kind of were like starstruck.

Well see, Beyonce. Beyonce? Yeah, I used to be in love with Beyonce. Really? Yeah I loved her so much. So when I saw her I was like, oh it's Beyonce. But it wasn't at a basketball game. It was at a restaurant and she was like, oh me and Jay are big fans. And it was crazy because I was like man I wish I could meet Beyonce they come to the games but I don't want to interrupt them at games and stuff like that but Beyonce that was the one but a lot of actors Denzel used to come to a lot of games Jack Nicholson we shouldolson. We used to just be like, man, they go Batman. You know, Batman's here. I mean, Joker. Joker.

There's the Joker. Who, what was her name? You seen Martin before? Yeah, of course. Jesus. No, Pam. I used to be in love. BDB?

I used to be in love with BDB. And so I remember being in LA and she came to one of my games, and I was like, oh man. Really? I gotta talk to her. And I ended up- Pam from Martin. That's what I ended up calling her

instead of her real name. What's up? Everyone was like, oh man. That makes sense still. I was like, oh my God, you're Pam from Martin. That makes sense still, because that's what you know the person by. Yes.

You know, you're thinking Partying LA trying to see did he had what did he had a house in LA in my Miami right? It was it both or is it just maybe did he like puff puffed it? Yeah I never went to his party before which is crazy really never never invited you to any of his parties No No, no, I've never been to any of his parties? No. No. No, no, no. I've never been to one of his parties.

Was it like, because LeBron says there ain't no party like a Diddy party, and you heard a lot of people saying that. Were you ever invited or no? You just weren't invited ever by him? I didn't even know he was having crazy parties. I used to have parties, but it wasn't like no Diddy parties. Just like that. You know, baby old jail. We just had water and pizza.

You just had water and pizza. You been following the Diddy stories at all? You been following them? Nah, I can't. You stay out of it? Yeah, cause you know, we don't really know what's true, what's not true. You know, anybody could get in the court and allegedly say this

happened and that happened. A lot of times, that's what the lawyers tell them to do. We're going to make, you got to make it seem like this person did the craziest thing to you so the judges and the judge and the jury can listen and stuff like that. So it's like, man, you don't really know what's true and what's not true. So again, he has a family, he has kids, grandkids,

and obviously Cassie and everybody is involved. They have family and stuff like that. I just hate that when people have public, or when they have cases that is so open to the public and people can see and stuff like that, I think something should be kept private, especially for the kids' sake and for all these generation kids' sakes. They don't need to be knowing about Johnson and Johnson.

Baby old man used in different ways than what I used before when I was a kid. So did you have guys that would tell you, they're like hey, Dwight, don't go to this. Don't hang out with that guy. Don't party over here. Don't do this. Were there guys that would mentally prepare you for things or no? The vets or maybe coaches?

Yeah, the vets. The one thing that our coach said, I'll never forget this, he said, don't let Miami seduce you. So that was the one thing I will never forget. Who said which coach was it? Johnny Davis when I first got into the league. He said, don't let Miami seduce you.

Miami can seduce you. I don't know what you're talking about, Dwight. I do. I mean, if you go out Fort Lauderdale and all over Boca Raton, it's just, see, we call them, see, we're always in the locker room with, we call them the, what do you call them, the legs, hairy legs, you know, we don't wanna be around hairy legs

when we're not playing, we want some soft legs. We'll be around some nice looking women, so if you go to Miami, we'll seduce you, because it's a lot of beautiful women in Miami are in the Florida area. So you used to always tell us, and tell me personally, Dwight, do not let Miami seduce you. What was that?

You're, so I've seen, I've been around the NBA players a little bit. Some guys are into, you know, smoking a little bit. That's their thing. Some guys like to drink. They can show up wasted before a game. Some guys are into thing. Some guys like to drink, they can show up wasted next day, right? Some guys are into cars, some guys are into jewelry and all that, some guys are just straight up, I like the women.

What was your advice, how did you navigate the NBA, where did you kind of fall into the spectrum? Because we all have it. I think, well money, when you get a chance to have any type of money, it can bring out some of the things, your addictions and stuff like that. So when I was first in the league,

I didn't drink, I didn't party, I didn't go out. But I did like getting cars, a little bit. I did have some nice cars. And I dated a lot. So women. You're giving Will Chamberlain a run for his money or you're kinda doing your own thing? I don't wanna say.

But when I was in Orlando. Okay. One T, one thousand winner. When I was in Orlando, my nickname was Little Wilt. Okay. One T one thousand winner. In Orlando my nickname was uh little wilt. Okay. But I didn't like that. I don't like that name. No. Dwight you're how old now? I don't like it. You're so funny. It's competitive. No no no no no no no no. It's a it's a different reference. I don't know if you caught it.

He did an interview one time. I don't know what it was with you and that one girl. It's like, you know, today it was all about the D. And she's not tracking. And I don't know who's standing to your left. Who was that on your left that just ran off? Who was it? It was Dennis Schroeder. Oh man, we got in so much trouble.

We got in so much trouble. It was all about the D. And know, it's just and then it's so bad I felt so bad because See this is the thing. I'm not thinking like stopped white. This is this is Now this this is crazy let the audience see first and then you can narrate. Go ahead, Rob. I feel bad. Did a good job and hit big shots. And then on the other hand, we got some stops. Our D was good tonight.

I'm not sure if D was so good. Before the game, Ken Basemore told me it's too far into the season to allow two losses back to back. If you agree with that, how important is that win? Oh, it's very important, but it starts with the D. You know what you're doing, Dwight. You know exactly what you're doing. Stop it.

You're like, I'm perfect. So, so, so, so. First of all, the question is, did you ever play defense on her? That's the question. That actually was one of my teammates, Sam Decker. That's his wife. Oh, shoot. Yeah.

And you didn't know that? No, it was all, we all know each other. So this is like, I'm just joking about like, It's gorgeous. You know, like us playing defense and using the D as a reference. Stop it. Which, you know, was very immature at the time.

And I wanted to laugh and you know, I shouldn't have did it. I feel bad for it because I was supposed to be a representation of the team Representation to the league is the older player and you know as A vet I shouldn't have done that with Dennis. He's looking up to me and stuff like that But again, you know, I was I took it too far But again, I took it too far. I took it too far. I think it was okay.

By the way, you're about to be 40 this year? My coach went crazy on my name. Did it really? Who was the coach? Oh my God. That was Mike Woodson, wasn't it? No, it wasn't Mike Woodson. It was, why do I forget his name?

He was just in Phoenix. He was just in Phoenix. Oh, a Monty, you know who I'm talking about? Who was? Mike Budenhoz. Oh, Budenhoz. Yeah, yeah. Lando was great back then.

I shoulda did what I did because the team didn't like that. And it was wrong. I felt so bad at the time, after I did it, because I was doing it for shits and giggles I felt so bad at the time, after I did it, because I wanted some, I was doing it for shits and giggles and stuff like that, but not realizing like, I can't be saying this on national TV. You cannot be saying that.

Me, I can't be saying that. See the thing is, a lot of times like, so I know people say like this might be crazy, but there's DH12. DH12 is the basketball player on Duncan. Then you got Dwight Howard. That's at home. That's the jokester, the prankster, the, you know, family man, you know, all these

different things. That's Dwight Howard. That's daily base. So what what I did was mix Dwight Howard with the professional DH 12. DH 12 can't be doing that. DH 12 dominate basketball. Go out there Howard with the professional DH-12. DH-12 can't be doing that. DH-12 dominate basketball. Go out there. Be the professional.

Dwight Howard is behind closed doors. Whatever your vices are, whatever you want, you got to keep those there. So a lot of times I think that's what has cost me in my career with certain things because I've kind of mixed the person I am as Dwight Howard off the court with who I have to be on the court. It's so funny because when I watch you, you remind me of an old friend who is playful and jokes around about stuff and always wanted to leave a little bit of suspense. And you've done stuff where the market is like,

is Dwight Howard straight? Does Dwight Howard, you know when you do the gay stuff? And it's like, and then the market reacts on like, so this guy's either straight, he's gay, he's bisexual, he's fooling everybody. So which one is it? So are you playing? You're not gay at all?

Hell no, I'm not gay. So that thing started with me being in Houston. I was with the Rockets, and one of my teammates was Isaiah Cannon. And so there's this clip where it looks like I grabbed his joint on the bench. But it was his thigh, but the way I did it, it looked like I grabbed his thing,

and it was just his pants. And so we were, um... Rob really wants to see how you grabbed it. So Rob is like really making the serve. Oh Lord, this right there. Which one is it? This right there. I had just got finished doing the interview.

And you know, people were trying to make it seem like I was doing something really strange. So I kind of grabbed his thigh thigh and it looks real nasty. But. It looks real nasty but, see people don't know, I'm a jokester. I like to play around and do crazy stuff. And I remember one of my teammates, Trevor Reza, used to always say, all right now you play like you gay,

people gonna really think you gay, so you can't be doing that. And so I'm like, man, I ain't gay, I'm not, these are just jokes. But we do live in a society where they see something or they might hear something or somebody say something crazy, then it could put you out there in a way that's not good. So I had this situation,

in this situation, when we talked him out, the D, all this crazy stuff. So now you got people assuming and saying things like that. So, again- If you came out today and you said you're gay, you would be the number one profile on Grindr. I mean, you would be hit up like, people would be like,

Dwight Howard has officially made the announcement. Right? Okay, so that's good that we cleared it up because you know that when that rumor started circulating, a lot of people were talking about it. Let me go to this next thing. You just had a scuffle with Lance Stevenson in the, what is it, Big 3 or whatever happened?

Yeah. So what's crazy is like we had a Cube here, I think a year ago, Rob a year and a half ago, something like that, and he was here because of what's going on with Big 3. The last time I saw anything with Big 3, when then all of a sudden I went and tracked who was the MVP of the Big 3 and the coaches and then you saw Steven Jackson on the locker room call and I don't know if you saw that clip or not. Rob, play this clip.

What happened here with you and Steven? Go ahead. Is this an act or is this real? No, it's no act. But it's too much going on. So the whole game, it was a lot of... Can you find another angle? Because I haven't seen this angle.

This is the angle. Watch this. Go for it. You see, like, he put his hand up in my face like he was going to punch me. And so, when that happened, I'm like, yo, bro, like you doing too much. And then he did it again like he was going to punch me. And so I put my guard up because I'm like, if somebody put their, like this is a far reach for somebody to connect with a punch.

But when somebody's, like I tell my kids, if somebody is in your space, in your boundary and they put their hands up, you gotta always be ready for, you never know. And so when he did that, I'm like, okay. And I'm like, this is too much. But then once I grabbed him and did all that, I said, oh shoot, now I'm already in it. It's a lot going on, but you know, I don't want,

that's why I was saying I don't want people to Look at me and say ah baes a hothead. This is how he is I don't think anybody would ever call you a hothead We'll see when I was in Orlando and leaving Orlando and going to these different teams. I was called a cancer I was called this type of person in the locker room, and I hate that you know that's not who I am Different though I heard that what I'm saying is I am. But that's different though. I heard that. What I'm saying is I don't think anybody called you a hothead. I think when you were, the same thing when LeBron left to Cleveland to Miami, he got the treatment, you got the treatment when you left because the Rich DeVos family, the

Magic kind of looked at you as like their son and they really loved on you and they were protective of you and they really wanted to make the investment for that next layer to have. By the way, were you ever teammates with T-Mack? No, he left and he said he didn't want to be teammates with a high schooler. He didn't say that. Bro, you came out of high school. He didn't say that. He did.

It's something similar to it. He don't have time to play with a high schooler. I kind of understand, but see, me playing with him, I he don't have time to play with a high school. And I kinda- Toot the Toot, you guys together? I kinda understand, but see, me playing with him, I probably wouldn't have developed. Same thing with Kobe and Andrew Bino, because you have a main score, somebody who's gonna get a lot of buckets.

So he's not gonna be trusting me in his prime years to win, cause I gotta develop. So he's like, why would I give him the ball? I not understand,, you know some similar that but I was like, hey, I really I used to wear his shoes in high school The T max from Adidas. They was the one of the coldest shoes ever So I was like man playing with T Mac would have been would have been great. But think about it McGrady at that time the almost the pinnacle of his career, after that he went to Houston and he,

then he do like the three, 13 points. 13 points in like 30 seconds, something crazy. He played with Yao. Spurs, that's against the Spurs I think. So I think that for my development sake, I think that's why the Magic was like we're gonna move away from him and then bring in Grant Hill, Steve Francis, Katina Mobley, you know all these guys Tony Petit, some veteran mindset, some people because we haven't seen this young

kid before. He's coming from a 16 graduate school, 16 people graduate school, whereas six guys, ten girls, he's coming from a small area, you know, into this team. So let's try to put him around some people that could kind of guide him in the right direction, you know. So I understood what they were doing, but for me then I had a lot of you know people who was not used to money not used to Working with teams and stuff like that. I was very young, you know

So I'm trusting family trusting cousins and stuff and things like that And it didn't work out well, but I learned so many life lessons That helped me with my future. Yeah, magic was, you know, there's guys that are winners on teams. They're not fun to watch. There's teams that are winners and they're fun to watch. Like I couldn't watch Cleveland Cavs back in the days, Mark Price and Gerald Wilkins and whatever, Craig Elon, they're winning. It's just so important.

Hot Rod Williams, Larry Nance. By the way, I couldn't even watch the Spurs. I couldn't even watch the Spurs. Too much, all fundamentals. Maybe Parker was a little exciting, probably the most exciting player on the Spurs was Genoa. Genoa. Right? But there was no excitement there, right?

But dude, you watched the Magic. At any point, it's like, whoa, he's going. You know, in a book. You watched T-Mac, you watched Carter. Marbury was fun to watch. AI was fun to watch. I feel like it was real entertainment back then. It was entertainment, it was, yeah. Remember it was NBA-E?

NBA, actual NBA entertainment. I think now, see, that's what I was used to, the whole entertainment. And that's, a lot of times I got caught up in entertaining, so the whole D thing that I did, all the other, a lot of time I'm like, okay, I gotta entertain, and that kinda can twist players, minds, and coaches, or teammates, and like,

maybe he's not as focused, cause he trying to entertain but it's like hold up, this is why 20,000 people are here. I done already put in the hard work in the gym, in the weight room, I done did all the crazy stuff, the mean stuff, now with the 20,000 people out here, I gotta, they coming to see Superman one time. This is the only time they get to see me play. Dwight, who had a physique like you as tall as you

Shaq was big but Shaq wasn't like a physique physique like David Robinson, oh, you know who else Kevin Wilkins That's what made me get strong Kevin Willis. Yeah One day I tried to box him out. He did a chicken wing on me. Yeah, he was a strong ass dude. He had little short arms, just look at his arms, he can't even touch his knees. No, he's a big arm. Did I say that out loud?

I did not say that. Y'all are crazy people. Also, I think Yanis has kind of got a build like you and me. Yanis does. Yeah, Yanis. Alonzo Mourning a little bit. Alonzo had a great physique. By the way, speaking of these big guys, you're kind of like the end of what I would call like the

great true centers. When you came in the league, bro, I mean between David Robinson, Akeem Olajuwon, Zo, Rick Smiths even, Shaq, Legend. I mean now you have Jokic a little bit. Rick Smiths? Rick Smiths, hello gang's how low he was. He was huge. He was giving people bucks. But now you got Yokel a little bit. Rick Smith got a shout out today. I mean, gosh. I mean, it's Indiana Pacers with the finals now. Come on. I remember. I remember.

You know, Yokel. You're down 32. Joel Embiid, we'll see what happens there. Who's your all time? Like who would you mirror your game after? I don't know what happened with you and Shaq, I'd love for you to elaborate on that. But just the guys that you would elaborate on. I don't know why he was tripping. Shaq was tripping on you for a while. It's so crazy looking back on it. I had to, I would say the intensity like Zo,

I like to play hard, lift weights and go hard like Zo did go for. I felt like his motor was different. So when we played against the Heat and they had him and Shaq, I would have rathered going against Shaq than Zo only because Zo was gonna give me a fight every play. You know what I'm saying?

And Shaq. Zo was a better defender. Zo was just out there on every play. Shaq is just, I'm too big and too strong. I'm gonna just kick them all in the face. That's all it went. But did Zou come in same year as Larry Johnson, was it Grandma Mild?

Or did Zou come in with Shaq same year? I think it was Shaq because they was going for rookie of the year together. Yeah, I think Shaq was one and then Zou was two. I think that was 1992. Oh, but they fought, that's what it is. LJ fought Louser Morning, if a really good one. Yeah, I think Shaq was one and then Zo was two. I think that was 1992. Oh, but they fought. That's what it is. LJ Fatt is Louser Morning.

If you remember that one fight. He was my favorite player. One of my favorite players. Grandma Ma. Because of Grandma Ma. What is he doing? Is he around? I haven't heard anything from...

And it's so crazy because a lot of the players that were swole back then. Yeah. Well, the last time I saw Larry Johnson, it was just like he was lean, like real lean. Dude, he was like a human. He was. Oh my God. Did he win a dunk contest or he went if he dunk contest but didn't win?

I used to love, Charlotte. He had a great personality. Yes. But back to the centers, I mean even Patrick Ewing, who was your, you're saying that Zo was who you mirrored your game after the monoshock. No, I didn't mirror my game after any center because I didn't want to play center. So I watch Be a point guard so I watched Magic Johnson wanted to be a 6 9 6 10 point guard

So I played point guard all the way until my senior year in high school And then when I first got to the league I was a four and then they changed me to the five Who was I was when you were Tony Batee and Kelvin Cato because I was faster than a lot of guys. Instead of having a taller center, they put me at center because I could. Makes sense. Even though I was not a seven, two or seven, three, I could jump and my arms was as long and I was a good defender so they started interchanging me four and five. This is when four and fives was not shooting threes.

Our first stretch big was Dirk Nowitzki. And then Kevin Garnett did a little bit and then he, like Dirk did stretch threes. Kevin Garnett did two pointers, but right on, he would stand on the three point line. Like, what are you doing, KG? This is a tweener, you're messing us up. You know, but, you know. So back to Shaq, what was, because you both got drafted from Orlando.

I don't know what it was. You both number one pick. You both called Superman. Both physically dominant. I don't know what it was. Do you think he had an issue with you, and you didn't necessarily wanna like fight back? What was it? There was something there, was there not? I don't know what he really had an issue with you and you didn't necessarily want to like fight back? What was it? There was something there, was there not?

I don't know what he really had an issue with. He had an issue though, can we agree on that? I believe so because I didn't see a lot of other players that he talked about the way that he was just going on about me for the longest. But again, the last time I saw him was in Orlando. And I was just, before that I said, man, if I see Shaq, no matter where we're at, I'm gonna go and talk to him. Cause this gotta stop. Like, first of all, he's damn near my dad age. Second of all, like I watched him play my whole life.

So I have the most respect for him as a player and you know being the most dominant center to ever play but like What is our issue here? You know I said like what really is our issue like I don't know you from nowhere for us to have this type of issue But I get it though, but I get it though because you know to me like when I followed that very closely As a fan like you know sometimes fans feel like they really know you and they want to tell you what to do. I'm talking from the fan's perspective.

And Shaq came in, and Shaq was another one of those in the category of human specimen, most dominant guy that came in and just killed it, right? But Kobe said something about Shaq. He said, the thing that made Shaq unique was Shaq big, but Shaq was vicious, his words. When I interviewed Kobe six, seven years ago, whatever the timeline was to lead Kobe, great conversation. He said, Shaq was vicious. Now here's the thing.

He's raised by a military dad, extreme discipline. Shaq was raised by girls that were tough on him and he was challenged to be who he is and that's Shaq, that's his wiring. And then you come in, that's not your personality. Your personality is not that. Just like LeBron's personality is not at all like Kobe or Michael, right? They're very different. And you're just trying to enjoy playing the game.

And the vets would constantly like to compare you. He doesn't do this. If I was him, when I was 28-14, 28-15, I made the free throws when he counted, so it was like the older brother picking on the younger brother and the younger brother is just trying to enjoy the game. That was the vibe that I felt from it. And then lineage. Orlando.

Orlando. Okay? Orlando, Orlando. So if he would have won at Orlando and Shaq didn't, these were the moments that the market was looking like right now. Halliburton had a shot at winning for the Pacers. They're down 3-2. They should have won the two games ago when they were up 2-1 and they were up like 13 points in the third quarter and then all of a sudden I go to sleep with Dylan and I'm like, oh, it's over.

Wake up, what, they won by 7? What did OKC do? You come back the guy had however many points in the fourth quarter, they seem like they're repeating again what happened when Vogel took Hibbert out, they all started that year, savaging like 16 points a game. So to me it's that constant comparison, it's like dude I just want to play Superman, Superman. That's how I saw it. I hate it because comparison to me,

comparison is the thief of joy. And anytime you try to compare someone's game to another game, then now you're belittling both players because me and Shaq are two different prototypes. You know, he's seven, three, 360 pounds, 320. Built different. You know, I'm really 6'10". And my highest is 265, 270.

You're talking about a behemoth of a man with Shaq being seven, two, seven, three. My voice was never that deep. Let me stop. But no, I love Shaq. But you're saying the next time I see Shaq, I'm gonna go up and talk to him. You never reached out and said, dude, why you?

Yeah, we did, you know, but I was like, I'm tired of going back and forth on the internet or text message and I wanna see him in person. Like, this back and forth, we gotta stop, whatever it is. So when I got inducted into the Magic Hall of Fame, I saw him in, where was we at? Orlando at this restaurant. I was like, man, I'm gonna go over there and talk to him.

How long ago was this? This was a couple months ago. Oh, this is very recent. Recent. So you went up and you said, hey Shaq. What's going on? So now we got to sit down. Let's talk and he said what he said, let's go. So how'd that conversation go? We sit down 30 about 30 minutes Clear some things up

Apologize if he felt if I felt like I if he said he apologized to you If I felt like I did if he did anything that was hating or anything like that. But that's not who he is. I love that. He wasn't trying to hate, he was trying to motivate me. And I told him, I felt like if you wanted to do that, I think the best way to do it was to come talk to me behind closed doors instead of saying things publicly.

Now you're giving other people an opportunity to chime in And now you got people on the outside messing up a relationship that they don't know nothing about and we could have Been done got this squashed or whatever it may be a long time ago. But again Let's do it. Now. Let's get this out. But it took This was a couple months. It took 20 years to have this conversation. I had to stop playing. It did.

I couldn't do anything. What do you think, because you've sat down with Shaq. I know you guys have a relationship. Obviously we're meeting Dwight. I totally get it. No, no, I totally get it. You have to realize, when a player's, and I'm just going to tell you from my perspective, when a player's in your city city you look at that as your son

I know this sounds weird as a fan, but that that's the like we looked at Kobe like Hours, he's ours right that's how you look at a player And there's always the expectations always going to be high while they're playing once. It's done. You know what everybody says we're gonna miss Dwight That's how this works Like you know the game says? We're gonna miss Dwight. That's how this works. Like, you know, the game is over with like, I miss Nick Van Axel. Really, I mean, when the Lakers had nobody, number nine, I think his number was number nine.

Can you see what Nick Van Axel's number was? I so enjoyed watching him play. I so enjoyed watching him play. Yeah, nine. I enjoyed watching, what was his name on the Lakers? Anthony Peele. Anthony Peele or lefty. Dude, I just liked, by the way, did you know Anthony Peele got into a fight with Garnett

and threw an elbow? Yeah. Peele was a tough guy. Peele was a tough guy. Yeah, Peele was fun. I read his rookie card. He didn't do anything crazy, but I enjoyed watching Peele playing and they step away like, oh man, we're going to, so to me, that's the dynamic with Dwight and Shaq is finally

like, look, we're in the same place, hey, you got your chip, you're going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. There's no question about it. What is your timeline, by the way? Next year or the following year? Shaq T-Mobile No, I'm in. Dr. I'll be going in September the't it was televised. Oh, yeah, you can see we had a we had a went on his I went on his podcast, but I I

Felt like if we do have a conversation we should have like y'all should be y'all too And we should all sit down What's that? Come on big fella? Yeah, I think everybody would love that you and Shaq. Yeah, let's go ahead and get it out. I think the crowd wants that. Yeah. I think everybody would love that. I think Shaq would do that. I think that would be a, that would be, it literally is, like you know how that one nickname

you don't like, the Little Wilt, because I think you can give better names than Little Wilt. But like Big Bro, you know, Little Brother type of thing that's going on here. Especially, especially the way it got started. Both of you guys coming to the magic. But I have to see now this is crazy to me. Now the Superman nickname for me came because one day I jumped over my one of my teammates in practice and I used to go crazy in the weight room. That's how I got the nickname Superman and I used to always listen to Soulja Boy.

And he had a song called Superman. So that was how Superman came. It had nothing to do with Shaq, anything like that. So I was like, why would Shaq get upset about saying Superman? Now when I did this, right before I did the dunk, my teammates in Orlando had asked me to jump from the free

throw line and see how crazy it would look because when you be jumping it would look like you flying. So I did it in practice. Jameer threw it over the goal. The same way it looked in the dunk contest is how it looked in our practice. So they was like, man, this is crazy. You got to do it. Then Carlos Arroyo said, man man you should put on a Superman outfit.

And I was like, why? It's like cuz it'll look crazy if you do that. Well, this is legendary. This is gonna be in the history books of the NBA 50 years from now. You know this is a onesie? Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm saying. This ain't going away, bro. No, a onesie, like the outfit. I had to cut the bottom and the legs and the boots off so this whole thing is custom I had to tie it under the bottom like that it's so funny get out like a onesie yeah that's why the underwear party so yeah it's a onesie it's a onesie it's a whole outfit I picked it up from Party City. The night before.

Yeah, from Party City. It'll make you for a guy that's 6'11". So now it's crazy that Shaq, he says he wants to be called Thanos. Now I'm going to tell you how this is crazy. My favorite movie is... Tired, man? No, Avengers. And my favorite character is Thanos.

Now I've said this, I've been on public for saying this multiple times. I had a car that was all purple. I got it before I started with the Lakers. You can look it up. I did a video, I put the ring on the front of it and it started. So that was it right there, my purple car.

I got it because of Thanos. He's my favorite character. Why is he your favorite character? What he stood for in a movie, how he didn't allow his emotions to stop him from fulfilling his destiny. And a lot of times, us in life, we allow our emotions and other things

to stop us from really making it and being what we need to in life. And there was a scene in the movie, but it was really a really crazy scene to where he had to sacrifice his daughter. Now, obviously they took it too far in the movie, but it was to show like, sometimes we have to be willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to make sure that we do what our life's mission is, our life's purpose. That's a tough scene bro. You know what I'm talking about right?

Of course I know, the cliff and you know that's- That's what made me like, man Thanos. Were you in a villain season of your life? Like were you in a- I didn't even see him as a villain. You didn't think he was a villain? So I actually met Josh Brolin, the character. Phenomenal actor.

I met him on the plane going to see the premiere of Avengers. I was like, man, I gotta meet Thor and Thanos, my two favorite characters. He's on the plane, so I write him a letter and give it to him while I'm on the plane. I'm like, man, thank you for what you did in this movie because it inspired me to become a better man and a better person. Thanos. Wow. Because the first time he had an opportunity to do his mission in life, he allowed his

emotions, he allowed everybody else to stop him. The second time he completed his mission and he didn't allow nobody to get in the way. What I realized is that all of us have to get to that place where we can't allow how other people feel, their thoughts, their emotions or anything to deter us off our purpose. And there's times in the games and life where I've done that. I just went on the chat, I typed in, was Thanos a villain in Avengers? Okay, you ready for this? It's like the, you can type that up and say, yes, Thanos was the main villain in Avengers, you know,

in Avengers Infinity War 2018 and the end game, which end game and the way the movie ends is just ridiculous. Who is Thanos? A titanian warlord from Marvel comic universe, believes in restoring balance to the universe by wiping out half of life So is he a villain to prevent overpopulation and resource collapse? That's a villain dog. That's a villain to the what how we would say is a villain But obviously that person is needed to restore balance Everything in life is all about balance

or balance, everything in life is all about balance. If you have too much of one thing, it could cause problems. So everything in life has balance. The way they had to put it in the movie was to show that people had to leave. But let's just say like, earlier we talked about vices, or every NBA player has vices. I think a lot of the NBA players who've been at the top, what they've been able to do was,

let's say if somebody's vice is KD, he likes to smoke, right? Yeah. He's very open about it. Let's say his vice is smoking, but he's probably learned how to balance it out to where he's not overdoing it to himself. He's not abusing it.

He's using it for what it's for. Let's say he's using it for medical reasons, medicinal reasons. He's learned how to balance it out. I think everything in his life is about balance. The earth itself is alive. It's a living, breathing organism. So sometimes it has to balance itself out, which means that death was a part of life some of us we all we all have our time on this earth so that's a trip that you're seeing

Thanos man but if I'm listening to everything you're saying and it's like you have stoicism Buddhism Confucianismism, all in this dude from Atlanta's body. Oh yeah. So have you read any Marcus Aurelius Stoicism meditations? VVD made me read that book before I joined VT. Have you read any Stoicism? Are you familiar with this? I haven't read any, but I have done some research in a lot of different spiritual beliefs.

From traveling, I've learned so much from going to Asia, seeing the different Buddhist temples and stuff like that. Heard a lot about Taoism from being in Asia. Actually, my shoes that I had with Adidas, they came up with the shoe because of my spiritual beliefs, but also how I viewed, let's say, balance. So my shoes, they would call them yin and yang, the two sides of the white. You had this one side that's always happy, smiling, then you got the mean side on the court that would elbow you in the face throw you on the ground

Call you all types of names and then pick you up after the game and go eat so it's like they had to balance out both sides and My faith has been a big part of my career. What would you say that? Your faith is are you saying you're Christian or you saying that you're a multi? I am Christian, but we call it Christian or you're saying that you're a multi-year? I am Christian, but we call it Kaurastian Kaurastian, what's that? Explain that. Ka means spirit and Ra-stian, Kaurastian Let's see if it shows up. Ka, K-a-k-a-n-a-s-t-i-a-n

separate two words Kaurastian Kaurastian? sounds almost Armenian, PBD. See if it comes up. Yeah, there it is. Closer to Rastafarian. On the belief in single God called Jah. I study some of this. My actual, we are non-denominational. So there are, I want to say it's over 28, 4800 religions, or 4200 religions or something like that. You can fact check that just to make sure, boss. Rob, he's talking to you.

Yeah, I think it's 4200 religions or something like that. If I'm not mistaken. So you are Christian or you consider yourself a Col Rostian? I am Christian but that is a deeper part of it. Interesting. Because Christians have 4200 religions and then it's 35,000 or 3500 or some different Christian denominations, if I'm not mistaken

in the world. So there's a lot going on as far as people's religions and their beliefs. Different, see? Different Christian denominations, 4,500. Wow, 45,000. Yeah, 45,000, sorry. Your tattoos, what do you have right there? You have some religious meanings right there. All my tattoos are, they have some type of meaning. A lot of people were like, why did you get tattoos at a later age? I got my tattoos around 32 or 33, real late. I never wanted to put anything on my body, but then I started reading and traveling and

started learning different things. I started with this right here, the eye of, or the hand of Fatima with the evil eye, the eye of or the hand of Fatima with the with the evil eye or the eye of Ra. This is actually my eye and this is when the sign is up like this it's like pushing away any negativity any evil when it's down like this the hands it's like you're calling in positivity and stuff like that. Then I love Egyptology. The son Amun-Ra, I don't know if you heard of Amun-Ra. And then it was just Anubis, you heard of Anubis? Anubis is the god that kind of takes you

into the underworld, so when we transition, Anubis was said to be the person who would take us to the afterlife. A lot of this is in old Pharaoh Ramsey's Egyptian days. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Some stuff is in the Bible, but they kind of put it in a way where you have to really go deeper. So a lot of times people just read the Bible and just read it, just say I read it, instead of really diving deeper

into what it's talking about, the words and stuff like that. That's cool. A deeper place for you. What's next for you now? Now that you're a different face of your life, what's Dwight gonna do? You got money, you have a notoriety, people know your name, you're about to be Hall of Fame inductee in August, you know, this year.

You're going through all this, what's next for Dwight Howard? Man, it's been so much, my life has been so, like a whirlwind, you know, there's been times where I'm like, man, I just wanna travel and just get away from everything. But then now I have my kids and before they turn 18 and get into the real world, what I just want to do now is really just put my energy and

my effort into more so guiding them and kind of teaching them for the world that that's ahead. I came into the NBA very green at 18. I just nothing, I didn't know anything about finances. I didn't know anything about love, trust, money. None of these things were in the forefront of my head. Only thing I knew was go put the ball in the basket, make everybody smile, have a good time.

But doing that for 20 years is like, hold up. I love other things too. I'm a farm. I like animals. I want to do this, that, and the third. But now that basketball is coming to a close, it's like, man, I still have a long life ahead of me. You know, who is this person outside of the game that I played since I was three? I want to find all of that person. So I've done things in my basketball career during my off time to kind of figure out who I am.

I did a show called Special Forces with the military. I also did this thing where I had to sit in the dark for three days, sit in the cave. I did. It's one of the craziest things. Yeah, I sat in the dark for three days, no light in the cave. Kind of like spiritual awakening, but it was pretty intense. What made you want to join the big three? I feel like you're the most decorated best player to ever join the big three a lot of these guys are kind of like decent players, but not

Perennial all-stars MVP candidates defensive player of the year. What made you want to join the big three? I think that five on five I kind of graduated from the five on five basketball school and Want to take on a new challenge and I'm still in shape. I love playing the game of basketball. I Want to compete, you know I have a good time and a lot of fans who made it get a chance to see me in my younger years Get a chance to see me play a little bit now before I'm actually done done

But also like if somebody offers a contract the NBA would you go back? to see me play a little bit now before I'm actually done done. But also- Are you done done? Like if somebody offers a contract to NBA, would you go back? You're done done. There's no need to. Okay, so you're done done.

Got it. I feel like it'd be too much of a waste of time because I don't think people really understand how we used to grind with this NBA as far as practice. Like I'm doing three a days. Even, you know, like there's times now where I do three a days and I'm only playing once a week. Half court.

So in my mind. I just thought this was Drexler really, is he really the commissioner of the three? Yes, I just talked to him after the incident that you guys saw, he called me. He wasn't upset at all. We actually had a great conversation and I really appreciate him

because I grew up watching a little bit of his latter years when he was playing with Portland. I used to play with him on a video game. My dad used to talk about Clyde the Glide because my dad got a bald head too. So anybody with a bald head, my dad is like he Magic Jordan, Clyde, guy named Dion Glover, anybody with a bald head. He trains me. He's the guy who trained me in high school. I wake up at four o'clock every morning, go to the track, then go to the school.

Dion would train me every morning coming from the strip club to my school. then go to the school. Dion would train me every morning, coming from the strip club to my school. I went to a Christian school, so they would be leaving the strip club, smelling like booty and Hennessy, coming up into this Christian school, working me out every morning. Wow, a Christian strip club?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Not a Christian strip club, that is wild, no, no, no, no, no, no. Not a Christian strip club. That is wild. They start off with a prayer. They start off on their knees praying, and then they end up on their knees. But he would go to Magic City, which is one of the most popular strip clubs in Atlanta. Him and Big Ant would leave the strip club, because I would get up at four o'clock every morning religiously and train go to the track

This before I got to the NBA So the high school I was doing this every day getting up at four in the morning go to the track I would run then I would go to the school and Lift and work out with Deion Glover every day until I got drafted That was my whole I wanted to make sure I was prepared For the NBA my man. So today, you know Scott Storch. Yes What do you think about when you think about Scott Storch? Scott Storch, that's the guy who was doing yeah, he's ray the beads all that's cuz Atlanta is a music. Oh

He's a December baby he's a sage like me when is your baby when I'm born December the 8th actually my sign is the old few kids people don't talk about this sign a lot it's called Oh few kiss it's the 13th zodiac it's called Oh few. So we actually had 13 zodiacs, and it came from the Dendera. So before it was called the zodiacs, before it was called the zodiac, it was called the Dendera, the African Dendera.

We took it, we took one of the months off, which was the 13th, and we made 12. And yeah, Ophiuchus is the one they call the The medic or the not the one who bears knowledge you bring the snake bearer. So if you look at the sign of the Ophiuchus They bring wisdom or information and that's my son PB I bet you didn't see this coming Ophiuchus zodiac Listen, yeah, you see if you look on the Caduceus up there to the left. Rob, look at the Caduceus. It has the snakes that rise up. You know, you go to the medicine.

Right there. You know, you go to the medicine. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. The medicine symbol is what? The Caduceus. So the Ophiuchus is the serpent bear. They bring in knowledge. Anytime you see the snakes, that represents medicine and stuff like that. So, interesting.

So we just found out, your zodiac sign is a Fugus. Your favorite character is Thanos. All time favorite character. All time favorite character. Who's a good guy, allegedly. Michael Jordan's vertical leap is 42 inches. Okay, Michael's vertical leap is 42 inches. Little Wilt.

And we found that, you don't believe Wilt had the 20K. Slept with 20,000 women. That's not possible. There's no way. We just learned a lot of stuff, man. But let me tell you, it's a pleasure having you on, talking to you.

When I walked in, I saw you, I'm like, dude, this guy's still in shape. He's still like, he looks like NBA ready. If they call right now, you could go and play with them. Sometimes you see players that they're done, they just get out of shape immediately. I understand, it's like shoot, now I can eat

everything I wanna eat? Let's go. But this was a blast having you on brother and maybe if we talk to Shaq and he agrees, maybe we'll do the podcast together. Let's do it again. He's down here as well. He'll come down and what we may do is here

on the court that we have right next door. I don't know, we'll see if maybe, you know. Maybe we can play some once. You guys play once, that would be epic. I know we have the box, you have the box and stuff in there. So maybe we can put on the gloves, but the thing is. You want to put on the gloves with Shaq? I would, but I'm not letting him hit.

You gotta, there's a lot of sticking and moving. Remember Shaq? Sha shack shack when he fought Barclay he fought he's a righty, but he's swing with the left. I'm like he wanted to really throw Barclay I connected though. He missed he tried to do a quick one. Yeah. Yeah, and then Barclay got up under it That would have connected. Yeah, if if would do a lot of damage if if connected Yeah, Shackton connected with Alan Roberts though, rookie season if you remember that. Who? Alvin Robertson.

But he missed so many people. He missed what to call Brad Miller. Are you really calling him? Brad Miller, yeah. This is doing with the left. You would have never thought, look at this. Boom, left. Oh, and I tell you this,

if he would have caught him with that left, it would have been over. Yeah, it would have been over. Yeah, it would have been bad. But Barclays had plenty of fights in his career where I was just watching highlights the other day of Barclays, I'm like, this guy was so much fun to watch. By the way, Barclays is not 6'5", why do they keep saying that?

Well, how tall do you think he is? 6'4". Barclays is 6'7". Really? Is he really 6'7"? 6'7", yeah. He's a big boy. Well eight. Really? Is he really six seven? Six seven, yeah. He's a big boy. And one thing I know for sure,

since they've retired, Shaq and Barclay have not missed a meal. Barclay is so funny. No, no, Shaq is in shape. Shaq looks good, and Barclay actually recently lost a lot of weight. He did, Ozip. He lost a lot of weight,

and he looks good as well, and that's good for him because Ozip. I do think. Okay. a lot of weight and he looks good as well and that's good for him because I do think you were doing the O'Reilly thing. Hi, my name is Shaquille O'Neal. I need you guys to get some more Ozymbic. But by the way, Charles, it's gotta be the one that topped the best personalities on TV. Charles Barkley.

Listen, let me tell y'all something. My name is Charles Barkley, and I got one of the best personalities on, Shaq, look at here, Shaq, now. Listen, I'm here with Pat Davis. And I'm gonna talk to him about you getting on the show. If I can get you on the show, we'll get with the White Howard. I'm gonna get you some Dunkin' Donuts,

and they just round like a rim. Yeah. Yeah, I remember that one where Shaq gets up and goes out and says, what are you doing? What are you doing Shaq? I'll be back. What are you doing? And then he's got to go to the bathroom. He stomachs it. Take some matches with you. These guys, Chuck is like so quick when he says stuff. Anyways, brother, this was great. Appreciate you for coming out. Looking forward to it. And if we get Shaq to want to come on, that'd be an interesting one to have here together. I'll be on there. Just make sure the money is right. If the money is not right, me and Dwight will not go on the show. But hey, if the money is right, I'll be there. Make sure you have some nice, fine women because me and and Dwight we got a lot of kids together

That's what they call a Superman. I have kids he got kids So if you bring some women in here, it might be some more I'm just talking to me. We will Thank you do that we'll do the rest everybody bye bye bye That'll be Adam's job. How you do that, we'll do the rest. Thank you everybody. Bye bye bye bye. What's up y'all?

This your boy Dwight Howard, AKA the Hall of Fame Superman in the building. If y'all wanna connect with me, ask me any questions, just go to my neck and I got all the answers for y'all. Yeah, I can tell you how many women, Wilt Chamberlain and all that, I was just faked. But guess what? I got all the expertise, basketball, chess if you want to learn how to do snapchat, if you want to learn to get

that jump shot silky smooth like me, if you want the fresh fade with the nice hair come check your boy out we got expertise in a lot of areas remember connect and connect I'll see y'all there peace.