Dwight Howard thinks that Kobe Bryant would have been thrilled about his new job on “Dancing With the Stars.”
After dancing for the first time on Tuesday night, the NBA star told Page Six in an exclusive interview what he thinks his old friend would have thought of him joining Season 33 of the dance competition show.
Howard told Bryant, “I think he would love it.” “We’ve played competitors against each other, watched each other play, played on the same team, and won the Olympics together.” I’m sure he’d be very proud.
Bryant died in January 2020 at the age of 41 in a terrible chopper crash that also killed his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and several other people.
They played together for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2012–2013, when both were big names in the NBA. Along with that, they won gold as Team USA in the 2008 Olympics.
Even though they were known to have bad days on the court together, they seemed to be getting along well when Bryant died too soon. ESPN said that they were even going to get together again for a dunk fight in February 2020 during All-Star Weekend.
Howard still remembers the advice Bryant gave him over the years with a lot of love.
He told Page Six that he was going to take those words of support with him to the ball dance.
Howard said, “He told me to always keep the main thing, the main thing.” “And “Dancing With the Stars” is the most important thing right now.” That being said, we treat every time we’re on the dance floor like it’s a party. It’s fun for us to do it.
Bryant loved “Dancing With the Stars” for many years, even though he never danced on the show himself.
In 2010, the director of “Dear Basketball” and the Lakers’ coach at the time, Phil Jackson, showed up on Season 11 when NBA star Rick Fox played with Cheryl Burke.
“I’ll never forget how crazy it was.” Burke talked about that event with Page Six on Wednesday via Zoom. “It was hard to get them, and this was our only chance.”
“Kobe was really nice, and I could tell Rick looked up to him a lot.” She also said, “He was the best at what he did.” “I also admire athletes like that who have worked hard their whole lives to get good at what they do.”
Bryant missed a big NBA Playoffs game and the NBA Draft Lottery in 2015 to go to the live taping of the Season 20 finale of the dance competition show. At the time, he stood for several pictures in the ballroom. One was with Val Chmerkovskiy right after he and Rumer Willis won the mirrorball trophy.
Bryant also backed Derek Fisher and Lamar Odom, two of his teammates, when they participated in Seasons 25 and 28.
Bryant joked in a surprise message to Fisher that aired on “Good Morning America” in 2017: “On the list of all the teammates that we’ve played with, I gotta say, yours was not at the top of the list as far as guys that would be on ‘Dancing With the Stars.'”
“It pretty much shocked me to death…” Having said that, I hope everything goes well for you. Do what you want, man! Win yet another title.”
WATCH: @kobebryant has a message for @derekfisher… he’s pretty surprised to see his former @Lakers teammate on @DancingABC! #DWTS25 #DWTS pic.twitter.com/eUEnnjpjL7
— Good Morning America (@GMA) September 6, 2017
He is paired up with professional dancer Daniella Karagach on this season of “DWTS.” Howard is 38 years old. They danced a salsa to Montell Jordan’s “This Is How We Do It” on their first night on the show.
The judges, Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli, gave the routine a total score of 22/30, which put them very high on the rankings.
“Dani is really great. Howard told Page Six right after the end of their first live show together, “She kept me so calm before the storm.” “All she did was check on me and make sure I was okay.” “She did great.”
Karagach, who is 31 years old, won the Season 30 mirrorball prize with NBA star Iman Shumpert in 2021.
The pro dancer said, “I talked to him, and Iman said that Dwight is going to be the best partner I’ve ever had.” Howard replied, “That’s big.” I’m ready to do anything to keep that mirrorball in place.
The dancer was 5 feet 3 inches tall and the athlete was 6 feet 5 inches tall, so Karagach and Shumpert had to deal with a big height difference. But this season, she and Howard are dealing with a much smaller one.
The 6-foot-11 basketball player and his professional partner talked about how they’re getting around that in practice. Karagach told us that the “basics” of getting into frame are the hardest part.
“For example, if he gets into full frame, I can’t reach him,” she told us while showing us on camera. “We will just have to change it so that it works for us and make it our own.”
Every Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT, ABC and Disney+ show “Dancing With the Stars.”
