Kobe Bryant's tragic passing came as a shock to the NBA community and over the last few weeks, the players have come together with a plethora of tributes that pay homage to the late star. Dwight Howard was one of the players who had a close relationship with Kobe, even if sometimes it wasn't on good terms. Over the past couple of years, the two had patched things up and Bryant was even supposed to help Howard in this year's dunk contest. With recent events in mind, Howard decided to change his dunk contest routine and added the number 24 to his Superman cape.

According to Tania Ganguli, Howard revealed what his plans were for Kobe, had he been there. Essentially, Kobe would have handed Howard the cape which would have had the number 24. It would have been an incredible moment although what Howard ended up doing was just as great.

Shaq is easily one of the funniest people in sports media right now and he is never shy to crack some jokes at someone else's expense. Last night, Shaq was on the NBA on TNT panel with Dwyane Wade and Candace Parker. At one point, the crew got to interview dunk contest competitor Aaron Gordon. Throughout the interview, Gordon appeared to be high out of his mind although no one can confirm if that was actually true or not. Either way, Shaq made sure to make fun of Gordon in the most subtle ways possible.

As you can see in the videos below, Shaq alludes to Gordon getting "high" on his dunks while the host next to Shaq asks Gordon to "smoke" the competition. At the end of the segment, Shaq tells Parker and D-Wade that he plans on cutting the weeds around his home. Parker and Wade were trying to hide their laughter although you could clearly spot them cracking up.

Patrick Beverley is known around the league as one of the more menacing defenders out there. This is mostly because of his trash talk and presence on the court. Some nights, Beverley gets 40 points put on his head although that doesn't stop him from trying to damage out on the court. Having said that, Beverley has a polarizing reputation with fans that ranges from fandom to downright hatred. Regardless, Beverley continues to play his own game and his teammates love him for it.

Today, Adrian Wojnarowski made a surprising announcement on Twitter as the ESPN reporter revealed that Beverley would be participating in the Skills Competition at NBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago. For now, it remains to be seen what field Beverley will actually be competing in.