Seeing an NBA player is quite the spectacle. Autographs, pictures, and a lot of fans usually follow close behind as you never know when you will run into one. That’s exactly what happened Thursday when Dwight Howard appeared at the Delta-Airlines check in counter at LAX. Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times reported that Dwight made Flight 1553’s boarding announcements, answered some questions and even gave out prizes with Laker girls as he ran a trivia game.
“I am part of Delta, the team. They are the official airline for the Laker Girls and the Lakers,” said Howard. “This is a great experience for me to come out and enjoy L.A.”
Once the questions began to roll it was not long until he was asked about his health and free agency. However the way one of the fans formed their question regarding it caused Dwight to smile wide.
“Will I re-sign with Delta? That’s a good one,” Howard responded with a wide grin.
Dwight was asked about the reports of stars Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol returning Friday against the Washington Wizards and how it feels to have the original five close to being on the court together again.
“It’s going to be great with everybody back. We’re getting healthy,” said Howard. “We’ve played with injuries all year and for us we’ve stayed together.”
He also noted that it’s been difficult for players like Earl Clark, Antawn Jamison and Metta World Peace to back up Howard at center since they’re all closer to the size of small forwards rather than power forwards.
“It’s great to have another big body out there,” he said. “We had a lot of guys who were playing out of position.”
Aside from practice, the Lakers big five have not had much on the court experience together. With only 13 games remaining, their return could help to build the winning chemistry the Lakers have struggled to find all year.
“With Kobe, Pau, myself, Steve Nash and Metta, we’ve only had one game together,” said Howard. “So I think this is going to be great for us going into the playoffs.”
The Lakers resume play Friday night at 7:30 pm against the Washington Wizards at the Staples Center.
