In an appearance on “In Depth with Graham Bensigner”, the now-Los Angeles Lakers big man Dwight Howard talked on his expectations joining the Lakers in 2012:
“I just wanted to learn from all the guys who came before me. I was looking forward to playing with Kobe, playing with Pau, playing with Antawn Jaminson, Steve Nash because I wanted to soak up as much knowledge as I can from those guys because they played in the league longer than me.
And I knew that Kobe was one of those players that’s about to transition out of the NBA, so it’s like, ‘Man, I can learn a lot from this guy.’ And I want to be that guy. When he leaves, I want him to be able to say, ‘Dwight, here. Take over.’ That’s all I wanted. I just wanted to learn and soak up as much knowledge as possible, that way when it’s my time, I can give that knowledge to somebody else,” Howard said, per Silver Screen and Roll.
The 33-year-old missed most part of the 2018-19 season owing to injuries, averaging 12.8 points along with 9.2 rebounds per game. As a Laker, he averaged 17.1 points, 12.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per contest.
