Dwight Howard Loses Free Throw Contest To Mascot

Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard who has some off-court legal problems also encountered some issues yesterday on the court. Bailey, the Los Angeles Kings mascot, defeated Howard in a contest of foul shooting accuracy.

ESPN Lakers beat writer Dave McMenamin, in a posting at Sulia.com, has the details about the Howard-Bailey hoops showdown:

“After shootaround was over, Bailey challenged Dwight Howard to a free throw shooting contest on a side court and beat him. Dwight said it didn’t count unless it was on the main court. So Bailey beat him at free throws on the main court. Then Dwight moved the contest out to the NBA 3-point line. They shot 3s from the corner and Bailey, a man standing about 5-10 wearing a lion costume, beat Howard, a man standing 6-9 and wearing his basketball practice uniform and sneakers as the first person to make five 3s.”

Bailey was at the Lakers practice center to film some promos with Lakers players and the trophy won in 2011 by the defending Major League Soccer champion LA Galaxy (who are defending their title on Saturday against the Houston Dynamo).

Howard quipped that he let Bailey win so that the mascot could feel good about himself.

Over his NBA career, Howard has shot about 59% from the free throw line, and his accuracy has declined further in the last two seasons.

Given his tendency to clang shots off the rim, do you think Dwight Howard was trying to win the competition with Bailey or do you accept his premise that “sometimes you have to lose to win.”

Watch a news report about Dwight Howard’s basketball shooting contest with Bailey, the Stanley Cup champion LA Kings lion mascot:

[Image credit: s_bukley / Shutterstock.com]