Dwight Howard has become a role player for the Los Angeles Lakers this season with an understated presence at the age of 34.

But Howard will participate in the Dunk Contest and was the one to inmate the idea with the NBA. Howard reached out to Michael Levine, vice president of entertainment and player marketing for the NBA, to gauge the league's interest.

"I reached out myself and told them I wanted to be in it, so it was like, 'Oh, really?' I was like, 'Yeah,'" Howard said. "So here it is. I think I'm the oldest dunker in the dunk contest ever."

Howard lost 30 pounds in the offseason and will enter into an even stricter fitness routine leading to the contest.

"I just felt like I'm in the best shape I've been in my whole career," Howard said. "So why not go out there and give it, give it 135 percent, and see what happens?"

Howard is also trying to get Kobe Bryant to participate in the contest with him.

"I'm trying to get Kobe," Howard said. "So if I can get all the Laker fans to lobby to get Kobe to help me in the dunk contest, that'd be really good. That'd be awesome."