Dwight Howard Surprises Fan With IG Live Chat Discussing Life Lessons

The NBA might be restricted to its bubble in Orlando, Florida, but that didn't stop Dwight Howard from finding a way to interact with a young fan. 

Dwight Howard #39 of the Los Angeles Lakers warms up
Getty

Image via Getty/Rocky Widner/NBAE

Dwight Howard #39 of the Los Angeles Lakers warms up

The NBA might be restricted to its bubble in Orlando, but that didn't stop Dwight Howard from finding a way to interact with a young fan. 

On Saturday, the Lakers center hosted an Instagram Live session. During the stream, he added a few fans including a 14-year-old. 

Dwight Howard joined Instagram Live and made this young Lakers fan's night 🙌

(via @DwightHoward) pic.twitter.com/zc1lXtFWGD

— ESPN (@espn) July 12, 2020

The young fan explains that he's a huge Dwight Howard fan and even has a Lakers Howard shirt. This moved Dwight to offer him some advice on how to strengthen his mind. 

"You got to read some books man," Howard said. "That's where all the knowledge at. ... Gotta get into them books, man. Them video games ain't going to help you with nothing in life."

The fan goes on to express how happy he is that Howard is back on the Lakers. He says that he had the utmost confidence in the center even when had a poor season with the Wizards. 

"It's just life, man," Howard continued. "People are gonna doubt you, but the main thing is to never doubt yourself. ... People always going to have something to say about who you are. People always going to have something to say about what you do. People are going to have something to say about everything. So, what you got to do is block all of that out."

Howard was one of the players who considered sitting out the rest of the season to show solidarity with the current Black Lives Matter movement. Although he decided to return to the Lakers, he will donate the remaining $700,000 of his contract to the Breathe Again charity. Because of his stance, Howard also fielded questions about race relations during his Live. 

"They don't want us together," Howard tells a fan around the Live's one-hour and 30-minutes mark. "We have to change that. ... We have to stop separating ourselves."

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