Dwight Howard officially holds the record for the most dunks in the league! Plus, he is also a former Slam Dunk champion. Despite having 2,950 dunks to his name, the former champion’s dunking style was pretty much overpowering the opponent, which is significantly different from his former Lakers teammate, or at least he claimed it was. The former teammate was none other than Trevor Ariza and the clip was from a podcast episode in December.

Dwight Howard said, “When Trevor used to dunk on folks he used to like for real, he used to Street Fighter kick him in the, in the, that’s why. For real, watch the videos. Have you seen these videos? Everybody he dunk on, he lift his foot up and boost off their leg like that or their body.” The 39-year-old described his Lakers teammate’s dunk as unique because Ariza would end up boosting from the opponents’ league to successfully dunk on them.

In his defense, he added, “I don’t think I like intentionally did that, you know. You just when you jump…” But Dwight Howard was not going to let it slide so easily. He interjected. “No, you do that; you’re the only one who does that, Trevor. I’ve been watching you do it since high school. Look up Trevor Ariza highlights and you will see kick dunks on all of them.”

Dwight Howard and Ariza entered the league the same year in 2004. The former was the overall number 1 draft pick, while the latter was a second-round pick. So, the 3x DPOY is not lying when he claimed that Ariza played the same since his high school days. In his Instagram story, he summed up with “Hood Hoops 😂.”

Even in the clip, Ariza tried to downplay his technique with “Whatever, man.” But D12 carried on and suggested others watch the highlight of his former teammate. Similarly, recently the 8x All-Star also wished to replicate another teammate’s shooting style but failed because of one aspect.

Dwight Howard shares appreciation for 10x All-Star and future Hall of Famer

This year could potentially be the HOF year for the 40-year-old. A first-ballot HOF induction sounds incredible, right? Well, he is not alone in that category, as Carmelo Anthony too could have a feather on his cap. The duo recently discussed the same and later, Howard revealed wanting to copy the Knicks legend’s shooting.

“I just remember watching y’all play like dang; I want to get my jump shot like Melo. Then when I got to the league I started lifting weights, I couldn’t get follow-through right,” Dwight Howard stated on the clip from the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast. This appearance from 3x DPOY and Carmelo Anthony comes a month after the news about their first ballot Hall of Fame nomination.

When DH12 started in the league, he wanted to be a power forward and not a center. So, it would make sense if he wanted to shoot like Melo. After all, the former NCAA champion is often called a complete shooter.