Trading Secrets - 204. NBA pro Dwight Howard & DWTS pro Daniella Karagach breakdown the BTS of their athletic careers, navigating challenges, and predictions for the season!

Episode Date: October 14, 2024

This week, Jason is joined by 18 year NBA veteran Dwight Howard and professional dancer, choreographer, and his professional dance pro on Dancing with the Stars, Daniella Karagach! Dwight and Daniella are currently partnered up on season 33 of Dancing with the Stars. Both coming from physically demanding careers, they are poised to make a run this season. Dwight and Dani reveal their pre-show rituals, how they handle missteps on stage, their predictions for the final four, why Daniella had such a big reaction to Pasha and Tori’s elimination, what goes into her choreography style, how social media is changing Dancing with the Stars, what dance style Dwight is looking forward to (and which one he is scared of), how Dancing with the Stars compares for NBA training, and his talent in comedy.  Daniella and Dwight also dive into navigating dancing in the professional space with someone who isn’t their partner, their career paths, how dance was Dani’s outlet for ADHD, how Dwight invests in himself, how he was able to create his own professional league, and the story behind what happened with Dwight’s agent. Would Dwight compare Special Forces and Dancing with the Stars? Is Dancing with the Stars the goal for professional dancers?  Dwight and Daniella reveal all that and so much more in another episode you can’t afford to miss!                                                     Host: Jason Tartick Co-Host: David Arduin Audio: John Gurney Guests: Daniella Karagach + Dwight Howard Stay connected with the Trading Secrets Podcast!  Instagram: @tradingsecretspodcast  Youtube: Trading Secrets Facebook: Join the Group All Access: Free 30-Day Trial  Trading Secrets Steals & Deals! Trade: If you make coffee at home, get ready to discover how much better it can be with Trade. Keep your routine the same! All you need is access to specialty coffee made by America’s top, independent roasters - delivered fresh to you on your schedule. Don’t settle for okay coffee. Head to drinktrade.com/tradingsecrets to receive your first bag free! BetterHelp: If you’re thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It’s entirely online. Designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Take off the mask, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/tradingsecrets today to get 10% off your first month. Trading Secrets is sponsored by BetterHelp Robinhood Gold: The new gold standard is here with Robinhood Gold. Robinhood Gold provides the privileges of a high net worth for any net worth. These generous benefits are now available for only $5/month.  Sign up at robinhood.com/gold  Terms apply, for product specific disclosures visit robinhood.com/gold. Investing involves risk. Rates may change. Gold membership is offered by Robinhood Gold, LLC. Jack Black: Jack Black’s Original Pit Boss deodorant is a top seller, and now you can get the same reliable odor and wetness protection in four new masculine scents. If you want simple, effective products that do what they say they’re going to do, you need Jack Black. Head to GetJackBlack.com/TRADINGSECRETS and use code TRADINGSECRETS for 10% off your order & FREE shipping

Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. I'm your host, Jason Tartick, and welcome to the pre-market trading segment. If you're new to the show, this is where I do an intro, where I talk a little bit about what's happening in the market, what you can expect from today's episode and some details of my personal life. I'm going to keep today's intro a little bit short. I will tell you this. I'm very excited about these guests. We have a future Hall of Famer, an NBA champion, Dwight Howard, and his partner on Dancing with the Stars, Danny.

And this podcast is just so much fun. We are actually recording it in the Star Wagon trailer on Dancing with the Star Set. So if you go watch our YouTube and subscribe there, just type in Jason Tardick, and you'll find it. Like, it's pretty funny. We have a little five foot three Danny. We have myself and then giant six foot 10 Dwight Howard in this little itty-bitty trailer. And when you're listening to the audio, we cleaned it up a little bit.

But if you do notice any bit of discrepancy in that, that's just because we were in the trailer. But we did clean it up as best as we can. And this episode is really Jim Pack. You don't have to be an NBA fan or Dancing with the Stars fan to take something away from this. Because you learn from these two people who are both champions and their own respect. so many different things they do on a day-to-day basis to stay grounded, to prepare, to overcome fears, to drive impact in careers and lives in which sometimes impact gets pushed to the back burner. And it's just a fascinating, fascinating episode.

And stay tuned to the end because Dwight tells this story about him being defrauded millions of millions of dollars. I couldn't believe the way he opened up about it. I think there's something we can all learn from this story, and it's absolute mayhem. And with all the success, we talk about some of their failures, too. So don't worry, I step into that. But if you look at what Danny's done, she is a mother. She's married to Pasha. She was the season 29, third place finisher with Nellie.

That was her first season. Since then, she came in first place and won the mirror ball with Amon Shumpert. She then came in 11th place, then second place with Jason Maraz. And now hopefully her and Dwight will finish in the final four. She also has a jewelry business. And if you're planning for a wedding or you want to dance choreograph, Danny could do that for you. She'll tell you about that business in this episode. Dwight Howard, NBA champion, 18 years in the league, eight-time NBA All-Star. Of course, this is a business podcast where we talk

about money. His NBA career earnings, $245 million. So much to learn from this guy. But when you hear the resume, you hear what's on paper. Let me tell you with both of them, it's so much deeper. Quick little update from the market. What you got to know, S&P 500 and Dow Jones just hit all-time highs this past week. What I would tell you is make sure your dollar cost to averaging into the market. So pick an amount that you can afford to put into the market and one certain date, one certain time, always buy that in. And then you'll have different entry points in a time where markets are at all time highs. So it's just a little quick financial update and a little tip. And the only thing, obviously, there's a lot going on in my

personal life right now. One thing I'm going to share that I will talk about in regards to something else that's come up in this last few days actually aside from of course cat and I no longer being together but I have a close very very close without giving too much information about the person family friend whose father just got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer results aren't fully in but it seems as though it might be stage four and very unexpected super healthy guys non-smoker like drinker such a good guy like such a great father one of the best guys you know you're in a room and you're like this guy's just the best and I say all that because life is just so precious it is so fast like before we even go into this episode like make a note call your mom

call your dad call your loved ones grandpa grandma brother sister whoever it might be tell him you love find time to spend more time with them, it just goes like this. And when things like this happen, it puts in perspective, even a podcast like this where we're talking about how we can better ourselves financially, professionally and personally, we can get caught in the rat race of life. And like, this is such a reminder to slow down, to speed up. Go tell the people you love them, you love them today. On that note, we will ring in the bell with Two legends, two legends, Dwight Howard and Danny. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets.

Today we are joined by 18-year NBA veteran, Dwight Howard, and professional dancer, choreographer, and his professional dance pro on Dancing with the Stars, Daniela Karagach. She called you a veteran. Veteran over there. How about that? Dwight and Daniela are currently partnered up on season 33 of Dancing with the Stars,

both coming from physically demanding careers. They are poised to make a run this season. We're going to talk all things and all the questions you guys submitted. But Dwight and Daniela, thank you for joining me on Trane Secrets. Here's what I'm a start. Your podcast, I heard your episode with Danny and Domen Dole. You came out singing. Dude, you got a voice.

Not only then being champion, but you could be like on Broadway, I think. I would love to be on Broadway. Yeah, I would. Like, if you had one karaoke song, what's your go-to song? Kiss from a Rose. That's always my karaoke song. us a little baby i compare you to a kiss from a rose on a gray all right we'll kick it off with text white to two one five two three ten times what are the open hours that people are listening

at five p m yes that's pst okay that's if you're in california please start voting at five p m if you are in new york or on the east coast you start voting at eight p m okay there you go get your votes locked in we'll be voting for you get your votes in now get your votes in now all right Let's start. Dance with the Stars. Obviously, you're a professional athlete. You've had massive success. I was there in night one.

I saw your routine, like the things you were doing before you actually went live. I was like, that's a professional athlete. It's like you were locking your brain in to kill it. And you did kill it. Big score, 22 out of 30. Tell me a little bit about, like, what is the pregame ritual? Like, right before you get on, what do you do to get focused? The pregame ritual.

So this is secrets. This is trading secrets. Gummies or what? Well, not any gummies. Usually before we start, I have some grass that we usually go and... Danny, you too? No, no. No, no.

It's just like some grass outside that we go. Yeah, we go and meditate in. You ground a little bit. Yeah, we ground a lot. We ground a lot that day. A lot of grounding. It's a lot of grass. It's being...

pushed out that day. Okay. All right. So a lot of grounded. How about you, Danny? Is there anything you do before a performance that, like, allows you to just get setter? Well, recently, we've been doing the cha-cha slide. That's what you do to, like, loosen up?

Yeah. The cha-cha slide? All right. That's how we get loose. There's something for everyone. All right, let me ask you this. Do you at all feel, you've been on Voltie, you've been on such big stages? Do you get any type of sense? stage fright? Do you get the butterflies? Are you not even phased by it? Like, what's your overall thing? I'd be getting the butterfly. I'd be having to pee so much before we have to go out there.

I'd be like, oh my God, I got to piss again. I got to pee again. Like, I'd be having to go pee like three, four times before we get out there and dance. Okay. Yeah, it'd be crazy. I don't think she'd be nervous. She'd just be over there like, you better do it good. You better not mess up a step. Meanwhile, meanwhile, he messes up every stuff. Oh, boy. Last week. Well, last week. Yeah.

A little tough last week. How about you tell them what you did last week? What happened? Let's hear. Let's hear. Let me tell. Because this will come out after this is a lot. So let's hear.

What happened? I look over. Okay. I'm dancing our chatter routine. I look over. Dwight isn't a full improv. Just doing your own thing? Just doing his own thing.

What happened? So what happened was it was, it was, it was, I missed a step. One of my steps was too short. Okay. And I couldn't catch back up. So instead of standing there and being like, oh, my God, I missed up. Yeah.

I just improvised. Yeah, I just flown a little bit. And I just started spitting. And she turned around and she's like... Twit's gone. Twit's gone. Yeah, I was out of there. I was out of there.

But, you know, but that was the best part about the whole dance was the fact that throughout the missteps, I still have so much fun doing the dance. And she's still been laughing. She has not stopped laughing. So you were at, like, on stage, a lot of you laughed. She's, oh, my God.

The whole time. Those are talking to me and I'm still laughing. She's still laughing the whole time. Oh, my gosh. Because I, it was so crazy. The whole week was just, like, out of whack. Yeah. And the dance ended up being out of whack, you know, for it.

Just not because we danced it poorly, but because we didn't dance it properly. Okay. It wasn't what it's, What it was supposed to be? All right. As an athlete, you look at the first three weeks. I'm sure you have to figure out where you did things right, where you did things wrong.

If you look at the last week, things didn't go as well. What would you have done different in the last week preparation-wise? Was there something that happened? Was it a mental thing? Was it a physical thing? I think last week was super mental. Oh, gosh. Super mental.

It was so much stuff going on. We were not at home. We was in New York. We didn't get a chance to practice at the studios that we normally practiced at. So everything was kind of off a little bit. Okay. And then, you know, when we got back, we tried to, you know, put in work, getting, you know, extra hours to get everything. But I can't, it's like when you have a test in school, you try to cram everything in at the last second.

Yeah. You know, you might get, you know, a decent grade, but you could have got a better grade if you would have actually took the time out like you were supposed to. Gosh. All right. Now, let's go to predictions. I want to hear right now. We're going into week. It's, we're going into week four, right? Beckleby, because this will be week four.

Give me your final four predictions. Who you got? The final four? Final four? I'm going to go with Chandler. Okay. Elona, myself. He loved to hear it.

And it was Danny. I'm going to say Danny. Danny, Amandola. All right. Danny, let's go. What do you got? Give me your final four. Take the mic.

I'll give you my final five. Final five. Why not final four? Because I actually don't. I really don't know. I'm just going to tell you who I have been really enjoying That's Alona

I absolutely love her I love Joey I think as a male He's like killing it I love Dwight And then I love Chandler I think she's absolutely killing it Yeah

Then again I also love watching Danny And I also Who I was saying Oh I love Stephen Stephen for sure Oh Stephen's gonna be in the final I'm not even doubting I'm sorry and then there's everyone else too

because I love everyone so Faj was doing she's killing it that's what I'm saying I can't give you like a final four I'm just like Alona and Stephen are probably and yeah alone and Stephen are like my like I just I just

they put a smile on my face and Dwight obviously I'm not going to say you because you're obvious but there you go at least you got that going let's go back to Danny here someone we know that's not in the competition anymore your husband Tasha absolutely beauty they they got your face in there just at the nick of time? You were not a happy kid. I was not. Why?

What was illigate? Because we've had Jen on the podcast. Lindsay Arnold's been on the podcast. There's some other dancer of the stars, pros, Val. And they talk about how nine months of the year, they're not working other than their entrepreneurial activity. But these three months, they're everything. They're everything for social growth, they're everything for your paycheck, the per the you go, you could do better. Was that some of it? Or like, what was the frustration? No. No. No. The frustration was they didn't even get a chance. pants because Tori was working so hard and she was doing so well but we just didn't get it like I feel like it was cut so short and they were working so hard and so well and she was finally

getting her breakthrough she was been through so much and she found so much love in this and so much support that I was pissed off that it was just cut short I was truly pissed off and he's my husband like I'm ready to fight for him so I just did not want him to go. I mean, we're lucky we have other things that we do. But it's different when you have your husband here, like, competing with you as well. All right. One last question I got for you with Pasha.

Your choreographing is amazing. That dance loop you guys did where you helped. I think that's probably the most epic loom so far. You're historically known for this. Does Pasha help you with choreographing or what's your process when you do you guys do it together? Dwight, are you bringing different ideas to it? Like, what does it look at like the choreograph? Well, for me, every season is so unique because every person I dance with is very unique.

So I'm always trying to find what it is in their personality that they can bring to the table. And he's so open and so just energetic and fun that if I made it serious, it wouldn't be our vibe. So I had to bring a sense of like, just like a comedic little piece in there to just insert because that's just what we are. We're funny. Like, I mean, there's nothing traditional in this height difference, you know? Like, usually you would not put a pro this short with someone this tall. No. But it's funny.

So I'm like, we can't be too serious about it either. Yes, we're going to have our weeks where we have to be serious and all that. But the first week, I wanted it to just be fun. And Plash always helps me out. If I'm ever in, like, a little pickle situation, he always comes in. He helps me out. Okay. Yeah.

The other thing I want to talk about, I want to get both of your perspectives to start with you first, is it feels like dancing with stars, the show's blown up. 14 million votes were casted on week one, the most ever, broke all records. It feels like, though, when I'm on TikTok and social media, and especially someone who owns a talent management company, the engagement on social media is off the charts right now. I've never seen it with any show. And it feels like, while it's also a dance competition,

it almost feels like a social media competition. We're failing miserably. And like, they're doing 15 TikToks a day. It's unbelievable. Yeah. What are your feelings about that? What are you, Dwight, after Danny? But, like, do you come prepared with TikTok?

Like, what's your take on how social media is changing dance when stars? I think social media is changing it for the better. I think it's becoming more and more fun, and it's not so competitive. It is competitive, but it's also, they get one shot at this, and you want to make sure that they're having a great time. Because if it gets too serious, it's just not fun anymore. Totally. So I think social media is a great thing, but also, I don't know.

I don't, I don't, I'm not stressed. about the social media part. I'm more stressed around Dwight getting his steps right. I did. I was saying, because we both know, like, about how to do the socials and stuff like that, but we'd be so focused on dancing and practicing that, you know, we really don't think about posting on social. So it's, like, tough for us to be like, oh, we got to do more TikToks and stuff like that

because we're so locked in on what our goal is. And even though it is fun, we don't want to, and, you know, we don't want to take away from the work aspect and do TikToks while we're trying to train. So, you know, I'd be so locked in and I'm like, hey, let's keep going. I don't want to stop or something like that. So, yeah, I mean, we are trying to get better. I will say that yesterday we did spend about five minutes, doing some TikToks, which was a start because we, we just really, like, the whole session we're dancing. Yeah. So, like, for us to stop and do TikToks, it's like, yeah, like, how do we get out of that mode, that dance mode?

Yeah. All right, let me ask you this. What dance style that you haven't done right now are you looking most forward to? I mean, hip-hop, freestyle. All right, free style. We know you like to improvise. All about that. Expand style.

Are you looking at least, like, are you most afraid of moving forward? Not looking at last. Oh. I don't want to do that one. Well, I mean, I'm. I mean, the last one, was crazy tough. Only, the cha-cha, only because for some reason I could not, at the time, understand how to get my arms to flow fully out when I'm doing my cha-cha.

Yeah. Like, it was tough. And afterwards, Derek, who actually gave me the lowest score. Yeah. He had a conversation with us about, you know, what I need to do and how to finish movements and stuff like that. And that really helped me out a lot. So, you know, I was glad about that.

That's pretty cool. All right, let's go into a new career track for you, which now seems like reality TV. You know, you said it's a mass singer. You did special forces, dancing with the stars. When you look at special forces, we have had people out from the show, they have said it's the worst, hardest eight days of their life. What you compare special forces to dancing with the stars training, which one has been harder for you? I mean, I think you can't compare it to two, because we're dancing with the stars. Yes, we are dancing all day, and it's so tough.

tough. It's very tough to dance and do all that. But like tear gas being set on fire, like, you know, all that stuff is, it's crazy, jumping out of helicopter backwards, like in the ocean. Like, we're not doing that here. Yeah, that's true. So it's a different type of like energy that we're, energy system that we're using. Yeah. So, but this is like so much fun and right on my alley because I love to dance. But the other show is right on my alley, too, because I like to do, You're crazy shit in the world. So it's like, you know, I got to find a heavy medium and dancing. All right.

It seems like one's like a crazy sprint. The other's a marathon. See, Lee, I was talking to her. She told me that when she was on Dancing with the Stars, it was harder for her to be a dancing in the Stars than it was training for the Olympics, which I was surprised by. Like, that threw me. I didn't expect that.

I can understand how she would say that. Do you think at times Dancing at the Stars training is harder than practicing when you're in the NBA? Yeah, because we're going literally four or five hours. And our practices, you know, it was max two hours. Okay. And then you have your own time to do your own thing. So, well, practice is two hours max is you don't want to do too much for the game. So, but now we're going.

We're going pretty hard. All right. Reality TV, when you look at like your competition shows, when you look at the future of your career, like, where do you see it in the space of entertainment? It seems like you're starting to, you got the podcast. You're starting to carve out. Yeah, I like to do a lot of entertainment. I like hosting, doing a lot of entertainment, acting. I always wanted to do more movies because of basketball.

Yeah. I wasn't, you know, really allowed to, like, really full-out act. But, you know, I would love to do that. Okay. Sat on the night live to do some skits. I made up some skits. Can I mean you go back to the day? Oh, well, you have to ask Danny.

I don't think. Danny, can you, can you get firm with a die? He's really funny. He is awesome. What, well, it's like, what take you? What's like your? What's your weakness? I mean, I'm not.

I don't talk about myself. Yeah, I don't know. July. I'm not. She can say that. Yeah. Okay. I like that.

Danny, I got a question for you. When we think about career track in this space, there's a lot of it. I asked Jenna about this. There's a lot of, like, dancing chemistry and your husband's in this space. Have you ever had, like, hurdles in dealing with just some of the career navigations that tie into, like, dancing with another partner? and chemistry and some of the wandering thoughts of what might be happening in this space

and if so, just I think it's good for anyone back home that's in any career. How do you deal with any form of noise? Honestly, we're both, like, Basha and are very secure in terms of ourselves. Like, I have, I respect myself enough that if he did something or felt some way about someone else, I respect myself enough to take myself out of the situation

and it's the same way with me. Yeah. If I were to ever do anything, he just, we don't accept that. So, and we respect ourselves enough and each other enough that nothing like that would ever happen. So because we're secure in our marriage and ourselves, I think that that is a huge thing, you know? And sometimes when you're looking for happiness elsewhere or you feel like someone gives you that reassurance, that kind of can be the trigger for it. Yeah. But we always connect chemistry with our partner.

Like, there's no such thing as not chemistry when you're seeing someone every single day for three months, hours and hours a day. You will always create a chemistry. But that chemistry doesn't always necessarily have to be sexual. It could be just, like, he's becoming one of my best friends, you know, because we're literally chilling and getting through hardships together. So I think that people who don't do this, every. day and who are not raised in dancing, the fact that they see someone being so close to their person is a little bit of like a, I don't know, it's like a standoff thing. But for us, we have been dealing with people being so close to us since we were like six years old. That's just

normal for us, you know? It's like touching someone like this, it's not a big deal for us. Looking into someone eyes is not a big deal for us. So for the pro. The pro, you know, it's not a big deal for us. So for the pro dancer, we've been through it. We know what happens, you know, but someone who has never done it before, it could be like, oh, why is he touching my girl like that? Why are you touching my husband like that? So I get it, but. Especially in a time I feel like the art of like touch has gone away so much because of technology.

So I feel like every day those thoughts probably become greater, greater. Dwight from your perspective, have you, I don't know, like, what your relationship statuses or anything like that, but you had to deal with any of the outside noise? as it relates to like with a partner as part of being scored well? No, because, you know, I totally understand, you know,

like that people are going to kind of look at and be like, well, how could two people get so close to be partners and not, like, I don't see her in that light. You know, I respect her, her craft, you know, her husband, their relationship,

and, you know, I'm not even that type of person. So, you know, for me it's just like I'm going to just, I'm going to give her all of me because she's taking her time out to dance and this is, you know, opportunity to where, you know, I've never danced like this for a show and, you know, she's been such a great person that, you know, I'm going to show her that respect and, you know, how I train, how I treat her, her family and stuff like that. So, you know, I don't have any issues in that area and I'm a pretty secure person. so I wouldn't be like jealous if I had a partner

who was dancing with a guy and being close because they're just, they're dancing, they're doing the job. You know, so you love it. Two beautiful answers. All right, Danny, I want to go back to you, your career track and then July we're going to get a little in the basketball and then we'll wrap with your trading secret. But with you, I remember us talking once over dinner,

and you were telling me how, it's a student, you were a poor student. And I believe you told me it was a little bit about your ADHD. But at a young age, you were able to find a path to, like, use your ADHD as, like, a super productive way to excel in one area. A lot of people that are listening to this podcast right now have some form of either ADHD, ADD, something that's blocking them from performing in their life. What advice do you have for them, given the path to you path? Yeah, my path was pretty crazy. I had nothing growing up.

My mom was a single mom. She worked three jobs for me to have one dance lesson in two weeks. and dancing is very expensive. It's not the cheapest sport. So she pretty much devoted her time and life to me, and we made it through. We were working our butts off. I was making sure that I can give whatever I could

to the day that I had lessons. And I just remember I couldn't focus in school. And I was prescribed medication. At a very young age, my mom is a psychologist. So when she saw the medication they wanted to give me, she was, like, talking to this other woman whose kid was already in ballroom dancing, and they were like, well, my kid was very hyperactive, and it worked for them. So she tried it. I fell in love with it at six years old, and I was like, this is for me. I love it.

I'm active. I get tired. I come home. I sleep well. I go to school. I do well in school the next day. So this was my outlet for ADHD. And, yeah, it worked hard.

My mom had no idea how far I would go in this, but she just gave her all to me. And hard work really pays off. That's all I can say. I've been working hard since six years old doing this. Since six years old, seven-time U.S. 10 dance champion, Latin champion, rising star of professional dance champion at Blackpool Festival. U.S. Latin America show dance champion.

I can list all this. I really don't have to do it. But I also think what's really cool is, right, you've only been to dance with stars in season 29. Third place, first place, 11th, second place. And of course, here we got a top four finish. It's pretty cool. The last question I got for a career track, is dancing with the stars and all the things you've done professionally? Or as a child since six, is dancing with the stars like the in the pool of the career?

Like, is this the place? Is this the NBA of the dancing way? 100%. This put ballroom dancing on the map. And there's no other show like dancing with the career. the stars. And I am so fortunate enough that I get to meet people like Dwight and just form connections and friendships forever, you know? So this is something I don't just do because it's great financially. I do it because I truly love it and I love it with a passion. So

I'm very fortunate to be a part of the show and I do believe that this is probably the best place for me to be. I love it. Awesome. Dwight, I got to come to you. I heard the word financially so I got to bring it in. Google searches out there say NBA career earnings of $245 million, net worth of $140 million. We had a guy on this podcast once who was worth $9.2 billion. It was insane. But when we hear the numbers, my theory is like instead of creating judgment towards it

or resentment or anything, we can learn so much from it. So when we think about some of these numbers, let's start with best and worse. What is when you look at the wealth that you've created, what is like one of the best things you've done with your money to create wealth from the money you work. And then we'll go with where it's like... The best thing that I have done with my money.

Yeah. The best thing was invest in myself. So tell me more about that, though. A lot of times we want to invest in, you know, a lot of other different things. Sure. Crypto, really, whatever, yeah. But when I say invest in myself,

it was investing in a right trainer and invested in my food so I could play 18 years. You know, so in the NBA, the average career is four years. So to play anything over four years, just four years, it's just like you had to do something to get there. And I was investing myself.

I spent a lot of money year after year, making sure I had the best train, it was the best equipment, the best food, you know, the best of the best. So I could last as long as I've lasted. Interesting. When it comes to athletes,

what do you think the biggest mistake is, is it like partying? Is it something new, nutritionally, they don't do, like you've lasted 18 years. There's something you've seen athletes do raw or that you... I mean, I think it's just opportunities. It's so hard, you know, in this sport. And basketball is obviously growing.

The game is worldwide. You've got players from France and Germany, China, all over the world. So now it's extremely difficult to make it to that level. So the guys who do make it, I would say that they got to that place. and they stop being focused, it's easy to get out track because of everything that's going on. It's a whole new world.

It's the world in the NBA. It's like 1% of what people would see. So it's really crazy. Yeah, we've had Rob Grinkowski on A-Rod before, and I've asked both these questions. I want to ask you, was there a payday or a check that you got or a deposit that you're like,

oh my God, I'll never forget this moment. This changed my life. actually not really interesting yeah for me the basketball wasn't even about you know money you know money has been great

you know it's afforded me opportunity to do so many different things but my dream was to be in the NBA you know and spread love around the world so the money is just I never been like oh my God this is a big old shake

like what is this you know it's just been like you know I worked so hard for this so, you know, I'm not going to even look at it in a basket and I'm going to put it in the bank and let it grow. But I've never been that type of person. They're like, damn, I got 50 hymns. Oh, hell, I'm feeling like, it's just never been in me

because it was all about how hard I worked. If I worked hard, if I was dedicated every single day to making it, then that was kind of like that moment that you're saying that you're supposed to have, You can get that much money to walk across that stage is my moment. I love that special. I think so many people get focused on the dollars,

lose track of what you're doing, and even the impact. Like when you went over, you're in Taiwan, yeah. And so a lot of people were actually asking me when you're in Taiwan, was that a money play? It sounds like it was more of like an impact. No, it wasn't a money play.

Actually, from being over there, I was able to start my own leave. So I have a professional league that plays in Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Macau. And so this league is to help players who don't have a name, who don't have, like,

the opportunity to be seen worldwide, you know. And now because of that, they get bigger jobs and bigger opportunities with bigger organizations and to ours is, like, lifted off the barrier. I love it. Awesome. The last thing I got for you, you've obviously a lot of success. We talked about it.

And in the intro, I'll talk even more about it. But one financial thing that I have to assume was a struggle I want to ask about it was there, as I saw these articles about this legal battle of someone's an awning of you. Yeah, when the guy got sentenced. So my understanding is the guy presented an investment to a WM. Oh, no, I'll tell you what happened. Yeah, what happens here? So, I'm a big WNBA fan.

Yeah. And in 2018, 2019, I started wanting to get involved with owning the WNBA team. So I used to go to all the Atlanta Dream games. I would go take my mom, got her season tickets, and we would just always go. So at one point, it was on the ticker that the dream was up for sale. So I was like, oh, my God, I'm close to retire. I'm home here in Atlanta.

My mom go to the games. If I was to own this team, this would, like, set me up for crazy. I have two daughters. They could possibly play one. I'm just thinking, like, way crazy. So I started talking to the Atlanta dream. They're like, we want you to have the team. Like, this would be perfect.

And I'm like, I needed investment group because I was told at the time that as an NBA player, I couldn't be the face or the forefront of a team while I'd play. So I'm like, dang, I still not going to stop chasing this dream. So my agent actually had reached out to some people who wanted to make an investment group and I thought these people were people that he already knew he had relationships with and stuff like that and it really started with him as been lying you know to me or whatever about you know everything so my agent yeah so he was a part of it as well it was a big scheme it wasn't just the one person it was three guys and then it was my old financial advisor of mine

and one of my old teammates they all was in his whole ring yeah And they had presented to me this PDF after conversations of what I wanted to do with the team. I wanted to bring in certain people. I wanted to highlight women off the court and how difficult it is to be a professional athlete, a woman, have children, have to travel. That's all the stuff they would have to do, kind of put a spotlight on it. And so my agent, he made it seem like everything was up to par. emails. I had phone calls, voice, you know, everything. So I'm thinking this is all legit. Of course. So I give the first installment of my investment and then I get a second installment like days later.

That's saying, you know, I don't hear from nobody anymore after that. My agent, he's slow to respond. The other guys I didn't hear from them. And they just went on the splurgeon street, houses, cars. Does it be art? A million for me. He only had a million. And so that really, it broke my heart because that, you know, I really put my trust, you know, in my agent and then these other guys, one, because they're black. And two, I'm like, man, this is something that would have been really great for our community

and for women because I'm looking at it like women's sports is about to take off. Oh, yeah. I'm telling him, I'm telling him, they got messages and it was so crazy. I had to read these messages like during the trial like they're showing me I had to read them out loud I'm telling him like man the WNBA about to take off I can see it and he's like bro I see it too and then they stay you know they're taking the money and they're out of here so unbelievable yeah I was pissed and the recap we'll talk a little bit about their sentence and everything how it's working for you though people looking back at all people bring them investments there's opportunities what's your biggest

learning lesson for people to watch don't trust nobody not even yourself I like that. No, trust nobody, not even yourself because you never know what you would do at any moment. You've got to trust the spirit that's lead in that person. That's how I feel, spirit first. So you can sense that somebody's spirit isn't right. Yeah. Don't go down that path.

Does it make sense to get someone that's not affiliated with the investment as like a consultant then? Would you have done that, hindsight? Yeah, I was. Someone who has no skin in the game. Yeah. Just like someone will look it over it. And just really going through it to find everything. myself you know i really put a lot of trust in my agent and the people that was involved

because my agent i thought was trustworthy of course and in this business you can't trust nobody especially when it comes to millions of dollars so that was a lesson that i learned unbelievable that's a hell of a training secret guys text dwight 21523 you can vote up to 10 times i could talk to you guys for another hour but you got to go do your call practice now i got to wrap with the training secret just dandy will start with you it could be a financial lesson It could be a life lesson. It could be a quote. Anything that's special to your track.

From six years old to today, a dance where the stars killing it, what's your training secret you believe this with? Trust the process. Sometimes you don't know why it's happening to you, but just trust the universe knows better than you do, and it'll guide you to where you need to be. I love it.

All right. Why would you believe this one? That is definitely true. I would say my secret would be, it's not a secret, but I would say preparation and no. preparation and consistency. Preparation and consistency. Preparation and consistency always breed success. I like it. The way you prepare and how consistent you are, your preparation, you're going to be success.

There's no other way that I see it not working. So I would say that preparation, consistency, success. And that's coming from an NBA champion. I could honestly, you're man in your word. You just came from PT right now. Yes, my ass is hurting. Where can everyone fight everything you have going on in your podcast? Hey, you guys. Y'all can check out my podcast.

It's above the rim with Dwight Howard. It's going to be on YouTube. It's already out there now on YouTube. You guys can check it out. Yeah, we got some great episodes coming out. Jeannie Bus, Rick Flair. Oh, man, we got some good ones coming up. So y'all guys check it out.

And Danny, we have to get her on the show. She's been amazing. Awesome partner, a great human being. I love dancing with her. I would definitely do this for the rest of my life if I could dance and be a part of this journey. It's so amazing. Check us out, vote 10 times to everybody that you know,

even your grandma who ain't got no eyes, tell her to vote. Danny, let us know, where can people find your jewelry company? All the things you got going on. I give a shout out. First of all, if you're looking for wedding dance lessons, we have the Netflix of Weddingdance at Weddingdance. And then if you're looking for a 14-carat jewelry with pure diamonds, dainty by dk.com. There you go.

Guys, thank you so much for you on trade secrets. And we are rude for you to be in the finals. Let's go. Ding, ding, ding. We are closing in the bell to the Dwight Howard podcast with, of course, Danny, the dancing with the stars team that is kicking ass, taking names. They've had high highs and low lows this season, but they're on their way back. David, talk to me a little bit.

there was a lot of action in this podcast. We talk dancing with stars. We talk the profession of dancing. We have, of course, talked Dwight Howard, even the fraudulent scheme of what happened. When you look at their resumes for both these people, they're stacked. I'm going to list some quick stats off for you. But Dwight Howard, he was selected number one overall by Orlando Magic. 18 years in the NBA, one-time NBA champion, eight-time NBA All-Star, eight-time all-MBA, five all-defensive team member. These things keep going. Now reality. TV, a lot of action. David, what are you thinking, my man?

I mean, people don't realize Dwight Howard's resume. He's a Hall of Famer. He's an NBA Hall of Famer. I believe he was announced as one of the top 100 NBA players of all time. I mean, this guy is a beast and he was like mini Shaq. I mean, when he got

drafted by the Orlando Magic first overall, he was supposed to be like Shaq. And a great career, and just to hear, I had, again, I'm a big sports guy to hear about his career post career. I had no idea about a lot of those things. The league he created, he created a whole league in Southeast Asia. And then obviously the case, which I want to get into, because that's just, I mean, that's just signed me up 60 minutes or Netflix documentary

limited series. I meet my popcorn. I'm learning something new and I can't believe that it happened. So I learned a lot about that. And it just, you know, to see, see Daniela in a situation with another seven foot plus NBA player and making them look as graceful as possible. Like she was, because she was Amon Shumperd's partner, wasn't she? Yeah. Now, what's interesting is it's so funny because Danny's so small. When you see her with these big guys, you're just like, it's even hard to estimate their height because there's such a difference.

Amon's actually around 6.5. Dwight's around 610. But I don't, I hope people give the amount of credit that is due for someone like Danny to be able to come up with choreographing with that height difference and nail it almost every single week. unbelievable. And the credit to, I mean, like we, we had someone just say that it was harder to train for dancing with the stars in the Olympics. You have Dwight Howard 18 year career saying training the day to day for dancing with the stars is harder than an NBA practice and

an NBA training session. So this is crazy. And to see, uh, the ratings, like you said, up higher than they've ever been in the show's 25 plus seasons, um, is incredible. The choreographing is incredible. I mean, we've had a lot of it's been a big, you know, this is trading secrets and it's a little bit of a, uh, a Dancing with the Stars fandom podcast, you could say. I think we've mentioned that we've had, we had Jenna on, we had Joey on, we had John Johnson on who mentioned Dancing with the Stars. It's a Dancing with the Stars world right now. We're all living in it. Oh, I think it's kind of cool because you get such a great element of someone like, you know, Dwight Howard, who's created so

much, he's done so much, he's impacted so many people. And then you also get the Dancing with the Stars touch. So I think when you get hit, you know, money pop culture and something that's hitting all the angles when we can talk about profession from Hall of Fame future Hall of Fame basketball player to a dancing with Stars Pro. It's fun. I think David, one thing I'll tell you, man, is like it feels like there's nothing this guy can't do. Like the way he sings, the way he speaks, his elegance, kind, sweet, sweet guy, the impact, like the depth of his thinking and what he wants to do to drive impact. I mean, just a special, special dude. So that was fun. Now, when you listen to the podcast, what stuck out?

Yeah, well, just building off that, that is what stuck out, is you have a first overall NBA draft pick, so the best in the world at the time in his sport. And he had a pretty scrutinized career a lot of the times because he appeared to be so laid back. And you got to see some of that. So now when I hear him and listening to him, I'm not listening to someone who's in the prime of their very intense career. He's kind of in the Swan Song and to see him laid back.

but to see him also challenging himself and trying new things. I found it really inspiring. Like, overall, he's in the reality TV game. He's wanting to own businesses. He's investing in himself and continues to invest in himself. That was one of the biggest takeaways for me was just the kind of like wherewithal to recognize that I'm listening to someone who was the best ever in his sport in the world or in his craft in the world. And I'm going to get to see him relax a little bit, but he's just as successful in other ventures. I thought that was pretty motivating.

Yeah, it's like his actions are intense, but his vibe is super relaxed. Like he was at PT, you know, getting work done before he went to do a run of show. And he was running around getting there, but then once he gets in the mic, super relaxed. So there's something to that. Maybe we should all try that a little bit, you know, intense with our practice of what we're doing, a little more relaxed, a little less tense energy in person. Maybe we will. David, one of the big elements of this conversation I have to bring up, I know you already mentioned

it was this case of fraud. I mean, the defrauding of NBA stars Dwight Howard and Chandler Parsons of a combined $8 million through the agent was just mind-blowing. That one just threw me. I didn't expect that story. Yeah, no, I didn't expect any elements of it. And the craziest thing about it was how right he was about the WMBA. I mean, the WMBA is blowing up maybe bigger than any business or company or definitely sport. year over year in the last you know and definitely in the last eight months since you know Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese

and the success that it's been building off of their NCAA careers so he was right I mean that's one thing for sure he was right he saw it it's only going to get bigger page Beckers coming into the league next year I'm a big WNBA guy unless you if you couldn't tell so he was right about that but all the things

I mean you just it just makes you sad sometimes to hear that people are part of these schemes his agent trusted people, financial advisors, like, it just, it makes me, it just makes me a little sick to my stomach. So to hear some, if you have some details of this case, I mean, I'd love to hear a little more of it because he made his payments. He sent to $7 million and people weren't quiet. He said they're buying houses and cards. Like, I just, were they stupid about it? I mean,

because that seems like a pretty stupid thing to do. To do. It's like, how do you think you're going to get away with this shit? The New York jury found darting guilty on all five counts faced, including fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, and two counts of conspiracy. This was per the Associated Press. And the case was decided in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. And prosecutors have said they will push Darden to serve 11 to 14 years in prison. His sentencing is actually scheduled for January 27th. So we'll have to come back to this and look at what each person is going to have to do as it relates to time served.

but $7 million from Dwight, $1 million from Chandler Parsons. And the list of things they have that he spent money on, Howard's money on cars, a piano, watches, and money toward a house. So there you go. I just don't know what the end game is there. How do you then tell him, oh, sorry, we didn't get the team? I mean, I guess. Okay, where's my money?

It's, oh, we spent it in legal fees? Yeah. How, like, how dumb are these people? Here's a dumber question for me. Maybe it's a dumb question. He wins this court case. Do they, does he get the $7 million back? Or does he just get the justice that these people are serving the jail sentence?

What he'll likely get back is like if they have the assets, he would get it back. If they don't have the assets, they'll liquidate what they do have. And then you'll get a portion of it. I would assume he's not going to get most of it. But you just never know. Yeah. Yeah. And you just think like, what are these guys?

Like, what are you thinking? How much do you think he's spending in legal fees to defend himself in this case? Oh, 100. I don't know. He's probably, well, it's, you know, he actually is not spending any of the money because he's, I don't know if he's prosecuting them. Okay. I'd have to look to see who the prosecutor is. I don't know if it's the state of New York or it's actually Dwight Howard and Chandler Parsons. It might be Dwight Howard and Chandler Parsons. And if it is, I would assume they're spending well over 100 grand. and in one thing that he said about that case right after you asked him his trading secret or maybe you asked him the biggest thing that he learned that someone could relate to and he said

don't trust anyone even yourself trust the spirit leading those people i thought that that was a really interesting take um because i feel like it can be turned on you sometimes when you know you're in bad energy in a bad mood and you're making decisions those aren't your best decisions um i just wanted to put that out there i thought that that was a really interesting um by my man Dwight who knows if he was if he was doing his pregame routine for the dancing like he was the podcast

and maybe when he said trust the spirit leading those people he was getting down on some grass like he was talking about the warm up I don't know but regardless maybe I'm on the grass too because that that hit me a little bit I was thinking about it grounding on the grass

I like the idea of like see vibe them out vibe about I would have liked more of like a blueprint on that you know like I'm such a analytical guy where I'm like, all right, Dwight, now tell me exactly how I can look at the spirituality of a person. Let's transition quickly to Danny, though, because Danny just has so much going on. She's been a dancer for such a short period of time on Dancing with Stars, but has absolutely crushed it. Season 29 to season 33. She got third place, first place, 11th place, second place,

and hopefully her and Dwight go the distance. So she's doing well with that. And she has a massive resume as she was a contestant season two of World of Dance with her husband, seven times. US 10 dance champion land champion like all these unbelievable accolades so I think it's cool what she's doing and she's also a mother she is she is managing all of this full time as an athlete while while being an unbelievable mother and she also has a jewelry line and she also has a company in which she'll she'll choreographed dances for your wedding and people all over the country like both of these two are just show stoppers how much I wonder how much that cost to get your dance choreograph for the wedding.

That's electric, though. But, of course, she said that she's not worried about the social media aspect of the dancing with the stars. As we know, she said, it's really helping blow up the show a little bit and making them more fun. But she said she's not really too worried about it. A, because she's just so passionate about her craft. B, I didn't know all those things.

I don't know if she was a mother and had a jewelry line. I had a choreograph wedding dance business. Like, she's, come on, that's impossible. These two are doing it all. And hopefully on the ballroom dance floor, go to the finals like they predicted. I think they have a whole lot going on. David, I know you probably didn't get to see it, but we talked about the dance in which Dwight like totally forgot his lines. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. Like he's out there. Just like if imagine you

and I are at a wedding dance and you're just like free dancing. Like he's on the dancing with the star stage. Just like completely free dancing. Like we know we know me. If it was if I was the groom and and you were a groomsman, which you were, and I had this, we spent weeks choreographing this dance, and it's our time. There's 300 people there, and I'm looking over, and you're doing the freaking arm, like, windmill thing, and I'm like, I would be

so fucking pissed, Jason. I'd be like, what the other? And here he is doing it from millions. And I got to tell you, Danny the whole time, like how she's, you know, she's serious and she's such a professional, but she was just laughing her ass up, like, while they were dancing, and he was just doing all this stuff. He was just laughing his ass off.

and the improvising, and then you can see it in their face where they definitely don't know what they're doing. It's unbelievable. I will tell anybody right now, we will find this clip. It will be on Trading Secrets Podcasts, Instagram page. Go follow us there, YouTube, and we'll make sure that we share this clip.

He's got a point, though. He said, he goes, what I'm supposed to do, sit there and cry that I messed the moves up? He goes, no, I had to keep going. I was too far behind. I had to keep in the grew. And then to Danny's Trading Secrets. She said, trust the process.

So she just probably looked over. She said, I want to kill you, Dwight. But I'm going to trust the process. I'm going to take my own advice here. And we're going to get through it. And here they are. Week 6, still in it. There you go.

The show must go on. David, before we wrap up this podcast with Dwight and Danny, anything else you got? No, I'm good to go. I had a weekend off of hockey. So I got to connect with Carter and spend some time with Ash. And it was good. So good to be back to. the saddle with you and looking forward to some more big episodes here on the way.

I love that. We have a lot in the queue. A lot of big things coming up for trading secrets. Thank you for tuning into another episode of Trading Secrets, one you can't afford to miss. Thank you. Thank you.