The play defied gravity. Lakers rookie forward Larry Nance Jr. leaped into the air, but it seemed like only a matter of seconds before he would land on the ground. But Nance Jr. still kept hanging in the balance before he used his 6’9″, 230-pound frame and threw a one-handed dunk over Milwaukee center John Henson.

After the Lakers’ 113-95 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday at Staples Center, Kobe Bryant called the play “impressive” before encouraging reporters to ask Nance Jr. what he said to him following the ensuing timeout.

“He looked to me and said, ‘When you do that on Dwight Howard, you can come talk to me,'” Nance Jr. said following Wednesday’s practice at the Lakers’ facility in El Segundo. “I said, ‘Hands up, white flag, you win. I got to get somebody better before I come talk to you.'”

Conveniently, the Lakers (4-21) host the Houston Rockets (12-14) on Thursday at Staples Center. What better way for Nance Jr. to get in the Lakers’ good graces than to posterize Howard as the fans at Staples Center inevitably boo him?

“I don’t know about that,” Nance Jr. said, laughing. “But I think he was just alluding to that vicious dunk on him earlier in his career.”

On Nov. 12, 2004, Bryant dunked over Howard in only his sixth NBA game in an Orlando Magic uniform by throwing down a one-handed slam despite the vast size difference. Bryant has since joked that he “baptized Dwight.” During their lone season together in the 2012-13 campaign, Howard sounded somewhat defensive when he was asked to relive the play.

“It’ll never happen again, and he knows that,” Howard said. “We don’t talk about it. It’s something that happened a long time ago, and doesn’t really matter no more.”

Both Bryant and Howard insisted following the Lakers’ loss to Houston on Saturday that they have since patched things up. But what would be Bryant’s reaction if Nance fulfills his challenge?

“I can’t even imagine. But the first person I’d go see on the bench would be him,” Nance Jr. said, laughing. “I would run straight to the bench and see what he says next. But I’m sure he’ll say he still has something better.”

Bryant’s bravado aside, he actually glowed about Nance Jr’s highlight reel.

“It was impressive. I thought he had hit the max,” Bryant said. “I thought the was going to get fouled. But he kept going up and up and up. That was good stuff.”

Still, Nance Jr. said he will not plead to Lakers coach Byron Scott to draw up a play for him just to appease Bryant.

“I don’t think that’s how it works. I get in where I fit in. If they feel like throwing me the ball, I’m going to do my best to dunk it,” Nance Jr. said. “If the opportunity is there in any game, I’m going to take it. I can’t have fear. If you have fear, you have already lost.”

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Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter and on Facebook. E-mail him at mark.medina@langnews.com