Not that it has automatically cemented his future here in Los Angeles, but Dwight Howard has professed he wants to become an actor someday.

He performs goofy practical jokes on teammates, reporters and equipment managers alike. Howard loves imitating voices. And he never met a camera or microphone he didn’t like.

So it should come as no surprise that Howard’s spending this offseason appearing in a video for RelativitySports where he read lines from “Forrest Gump” and “300.” Howard actually did the same thing with the 300 bit, delivering an impromptu speech before the Lakers’ season finale against Houston, a game that could’ve determined whether they’d make the playoffs.

A few camerman playfully cajoled Howard into giving a mock motivational speech to them. Howard immediately broke into character as a warrior from the movie “300″ clenching both his muscles and his lower jaw.

“Listen, they don’t think we can do it,” Howard said as he paced in front of a few cameraman. “It’s 300 of us against all the Persians! We have to come out tonight. We got to look death in the eyes and say we don’t care if we die! We go hard!”

Howard then starting mentioning members of the Lakers, including himself.

“Kobe is watching us at home,” Howard said. “Dr Buss is watching us up high! Let’s let it out tonight! Everything we got! Everything! Leave it on the floor! Pau, put your big boy pants on! Dwight, hit your free throws! Jodie, hit those threes boy! Now let’s get it! Now let’s bring it in! Hoorah!”

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

Kobe Bryant’s presence looms large wherever he goes.

Los Angeles enthusiastically cheers for him after making a game winner, when he labors through injuries and when he gives his infamous glares. He’s dominating the Twitter game, earning the NBA’s Social Media Award, informing fans and the media about rehabbing through his torn left Achilles tendon and offering his unfiltered analysis on all things NBA. And in the latest example that his influence spans across the globe, Lakers fan Eddie Robles showed a few NBA writers on Twitter that Bryant has a statue Chinese province of Guangzhou as shown in the picture above.

That Bryant would have such a monument built in his honor in China should hardly be surprising.

Bryant has visited China for the past seven summers, including the 2008 Beijing Olympics and various stops to promote his Nike brand. His foundation has a program that involves 10 Chinese students going on a five-day cultural exchange program in the U.S. where they visit various L.A. landmarks, interact with students across 37 schools in L.A. county and learn the ancient martial art of Wu Shu, considered the most popular sport in China. The Kobe Bryant China partnered three years ago with the Soong Ching Ling Foundation, a charity backed by the Chinese government, to raise money within China earmarked for education and health programs.

Bryant’s filmed a series of commercials, ranging from ones for Smart Car China and a Sprite commercial featuring Asian pop singer Jay Chou. During the 2011 NBA lockout, Bryant even considered hosting a barnstorming tour as a way to stay in shape, promote the game and make a few bucks along the way. Just for kicks, Bryant scored 68 points in 15 minutes in a charity game.

And with that, Bryant has a decent prototype for his inevitable statue outside Staples Center.

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

Put Metta World Peace in front of a microphone and he’s bound to say something silly.

The latest example: World Peace sounded in rare form when explaining why he’s convinced Dwight Howard won’t leave the Lakers.

“He’s not going to Houston, I tell you that,” World Peace said on Sportsradio 610 in Houston. “You know how those horses have those little things, ties in a bullfight, you tie those things to their balls and they go crazy? I’ve got two of those tied to Dwight Howard’s [private parts], so he can’t move.”

Massive laughter ensued. Sportsradio 610′s Mike Meltser then asked, “So you think Dwight is definitely staying in LA?”

“He can’t move,” World Peace answered. “If he does, it’ll be painful. So he can’t go nowhere.”

Then World Peace turned serious about Howard, who will also consider Houston, Dallas and Atlanta when he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

“I’m not going to try to convince him,” World Peace said. “But definitely, I enjoy him, no question about it. I’ll leave the convincing to the organization and to the fans. But for myself, I’m just working out and things like that, but I definitely enjoy him. He’s a great person. Whoever receives Dwight Howard, they’ll really enjoy their time with him. Hopefully, it’s with the Lakers, but whoever receives him will really enjoy their time.”

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

When portions of Kobe Bryant’s memorabilia sells at an auction next month, 50 percent of the proceeds from the sale of four items will benefit the Bully Project, an campaign that hopes to create more support for anti-bullying causes.

The items will include Bryant’s 2000 NBA All-Star game ring, his 1996 Magic Roundball Classic All-Star medallion and ribbon and two of his game-worn high school uniforms at Lower Merion High, a suburban school outside of Philadelphia.

The Bully Project stems from the award-winning film “Bully,” which sparked national interest in the issue of kids tormenting each other.

“I don’t think we really know the impact this will have, but the dreamer in me thinks it could be a whole heck of a lot,” said Lee Hirsch, the director of Bully.” “Certainly it will be more than we dreamed of when we got this call.”

Bryant sued southern New Jersey-based Goldin Auctions in federal court last month when it revealed in April that his mom. Pamela, agreed to put up nearly 100 items that had been in her home and was given $450,000 up front. Kenneth Goldin, founder Goldin Auctions, announced last week his company and Bryant recently reached a settlement and signed a confidentiality agreement so that details would not be discussed.

Goldin Auctions will sell 16 other Bryant memorabilia during an auction that opened today and runs through July 19. That includes a pair of 2000 NBA championship rings that Bryant had given to his parents, game-worn Lakers jerseys from the 2001-02 and 2006-07 season, a UCLA basketball signed by John Wooden and personalized to Bryant; and various sneakers.

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

Two persistent themes permeated throughout my recent 25-minutes phone interview with NBA TV analyst Greg Anthony.

The Lakers have way too much uncertainty heading into this offseason with questions ranging about whether Dwight Howard will resign, whether Pau Gasol will be kept, how Kobe Bryant will return from a torn left Achilles and how the team’s front office will handle its first offseason without the presence of the Lakers late owner Jerry Buss.

Adding to those complications involves Anthony’s belief that nearly every offseason scenario hinges on whether Howard resigns with the Lakers to five-year deal worth $118 million or to a four-year deal worth $87.6 million. Below is a transcript on Anthony, who touched on all things Lakers.

What’s your outlook on Dwight Howard returning to the Lakers this offseason?

Anthony: That’s priority number one for the Lakers, obviously. With the new collective bargaining agreement, that was set up for situations like this where you have an opportunity to keep your franchise caliber player because you can offer him significantly more dollars and guaranteed years than anybody else. Having said that, you’ll see scenarios where guys will decide to take less money. That’s going to be a big concern. Overall, I still think Dwight had a solid year.

He had a lot of criticism, but the guy had back surgery, came back before everyone thought he would and played with three head coaches with three different philosophies. Now with the new coach in Mike D”Antoni, they didn’t have a training camp and they didn’t have a healthy Steve Nash. Obviously, Kobe went down. Those are all things he has to consider. There are priorities to get him resigned. Then it’s a domino affect from there. That’s where it has to start. Obviously you don’t know how that will play out either via the draft or the impact that may have. It has to start there with the Lakers.
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Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni has made the first step in filling out his coaching staff.

He has recently hired Larry Lewis as a player development coach after spending the past two seasons on the D-Fenders coaching staff, the Lakers’ Development League affiliate. The hiring was later confirmed by Lakers spokesman John Black.

D’Antoni plans to hire two full-time assistants and one more player development coach after most of his staff in the 2012-13 season left for varying reasons. Eddie Jordan accepted the Rutgers’ head-coaching job shortly before the NBA playoffs. D’Antoni informed both Bernie Bickerstaff and Chuck Person they would not be retained. Steve Clifford became the head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats. Phil Handy joined Mike Brown’s staff in Cleveland and Darvin Ham joined Mike Budenholzer’s coaching staff in Atlanta, moves where both will have a larger roles as assistant than they did under D’Antoni. Mike’s brother, Dan, remains the lone assistant that will stay for next season.
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As plenty of teams await to make their pitches in hopes of wooing away from Dwight Howard from the Lakers, one option appears to be off the table.

The Lakers won’t deal Howard in a sign-and-trade.

A league source familiar with the Lakers’ front office’s thinking said, “they’ll either resign Dwight or walk away with cap space.”

If Howard were to leave the Lakers after becoming an unrestricted free agent on July 1, they would have plenty of room under the NBA salary cap to pursue free agents in the 2014 offseason. Steve Nash remains the only Lakers under contract heading into the 2014-15 season, worth $9.7 million. The Lakers could then sign two maximum-salary free agents next season and Kobe Bryant, assuming he takes a paycut from the $30.5 million he’s owed next season in the final year of his contract.

The Clippers were reported to hope to send forward Blake Griffin and point guard Eric Bledsoe to the Lakers for Howard. As of last month, Howard had considered the Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors as attractive destinations. But the Clippers and Warriors’ scenarios seem unlikely considering they could only acquire him through a sign-and-trade since they don’t have enough cap space slotted to a maximum deal Howard would receive.

Howard would earn $118 million through five years if he resigns with the Lakers, as opposed to a four-year deal worth $87.6 million with another team.

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

Kobe Bryant hopes fans can do something his teammates couldn’t in the NBA playoffs.

With the Lakers’ star still sidelined from a torn left Achilles’ tendon, Bryant has partnered with the International Olympics Committee (IOC) to promote Olympic Day on June 23 and asked fans in the video above to fill his absence.

“I can’t run, I can’t jump and I can’t swim yet,” Bryant said. “So I need you guys to pick up the slack for me and be doubly active.”

Bryant, who injured his Achilles on April 12 against Golden State, is expected to be sidelined for another four to seven months.

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

Below is a conversation I had with Lakers forward Metta World Peace today on his recently released children’s book titled “Metta’s Bedtime Stories.” The book, available online here and on Amazon for $12.95 for soft cover and $14.95 for hard cover, will have a portion of those proceeds benefitting World Peace’s foundation, Xcel University which primarily raises funds and supports various mental health charities and programs. Some of the proceeds will also help the foundation run by World Peace’s father, the Artest foundation, which supports inner city youth geared toward promoting non-violence.

How did the idea come up to write a children’s book?

I just thought I wanted to do some books. I have a book that I did on myself and put a lot of information in there and there’s a lot of stuff people didn’t know about me. But I thought, ‘You know what? If we’re going to write a book, let’s start it off the right way. Let’s be inspirational. Let’s not just make it about Ron Artest and Metta World Peace. This is inspirational. We wanted to do a book where we can start the process of getting people excited about education. That starts with the family. Our whole purpose was to get parents back interested in reading with their children. I don’t think all parents do that enough.

How long did it take to do the book?

It took a while. It looked real simple. But it really wasn’t. It was our first book It took six months to a year. We had so many different people involved and we wanted it to be good. The first design was all black kids, but we wanted it to make it diverse and be able to reach out all children. My team suggested it be a diverse group. That’s true because the world has changed. When I grew up in my neighborhood, I remember only seeing black kids. But when you get outside the neighborhood, there’s all different types of ethnicities. That was important in this book in bringing people together and closer.

Why do you think that was important?

It was important because you don’t want the kid to feel insecure about themselves. If you get a Latino, Asian or white kid reading a book full of black kids, it’s not relatable. We wanted something where everybody could relate to.

What did you like about Dr. Seuss’ books growing up?

I loved Dr. Seuss’ books. I still encourage people to read Dr. Seuss’ books. I think it’s encouraging and interesting. It makes it feel good after you read the book. I think “Green Eggs and Ham” is the best one. I think some people will say they have other books that are their favorite, but “Green Eggs and Ham” was definitely my favorite. It was fun and had a good message about trying something new. Dr. Seuss gave you the confidence to try something new and not be afraid.
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Within the middle of next week, Lakers assistant coach Darvin Ham will talk with the Atlanta Hawks and Charlotte Bobcats, according to league sources.

Although both prospective moves are to become an assistant coach, league sources anticipate that Ham would have a much stronger role within Steve Clifford’s coaching staff in Charlotte or Mike Budenholzer’s coaching staff in Atlanta than he would under Mike D’Antoni with the Lakers.

Ham spent the past season with a wide-range of responsibilities, including player development, compiling scouting reports and working out with post players. But he wasn’t any of D’Antoni’s lead assistants and he sat behind the team’s bench.

Ham is strongly expected to leave the Lakers, according to league sources, which would leave D’Antoni with only his brother, Dan, as the remaining assistant on his coaching staff. Eddie Jordan took the Rutgers’ head-coaching job before the season ended. Shortly after the Lakres’ first-round exit to San Antonio, D’Antoni informed both Bernie Bickerstaff and Chuck Person they would not be retained. Player development coach Phil Handy joined Mike Brown’s coaching staff in Cleveland to become an assistant. And Clifford accepted the head coaching job in Charlotte.

D’Antoni had kept all of Brown’s assistants after he was fired following a 1-4 start while hiring his brother, Dan, to help oversee his offense after spending time on his staff in Phoenix and New York. It was expected that D’Antoni would trim and alter his coaching staff, though it’s not clear if it was expected the majority of his assistants would leave.

D’Antoni is expected to hire two assistant coaches and two player development coaches and could make hirings as early as next week. One possibility remains Alvin Gentry, who worked as an assistant for D’Antoni in Phoenix. But that hiring would hinge on whether Gentry would land a head-coaching spot, possibly with the Clippers.

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