Latest / Bleacher Report / Dwight Howard | 2025 Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Full Speech

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Dwight Howard | 2025 Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Full Speech · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Oo long, Hey, before I started, let me get this
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: on that do hey, let me say this. My dad
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: made a bit that I was gonna not stick to
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  Speaker 1: the script, and he was already right. I didn't stick
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: to it from the beginning, So you're right, Dad, And
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: thank you all.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Right man.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, I really can't believe this, man, and I'm just
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  Speaker 1: so blessed to be able to stand here in front
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  Speaker 1: of all of you, honored as one of the greatest
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  Speaker 1: basketball players ever. First, I want to thank God, because
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  Speaker 1: without him, none of this will be possible. He has
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  Speaker 1: shown me time and time again what miracles look like,
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  Speaker 1: even before I was formed, when my mother lost seven
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  Speaker 1: children and he allowed me to bring sunshine into her life.
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  Speaker 2: Pops, Mam, I am an extension of you. I always
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  Speaker 2: have and I always will be.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: You instilled in me a faith in God and a
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  Speaker 1: belief in myself that has made me who I am.
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  Speaker 2: Pops. When I was ten, I.
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  Speaker 1: Said, I know I can be the number one pick
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  Speaker 1: in the NBA draft, and you believed in me as
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  Speaker 1: much as I did, but you wanted me to commit
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  Speaker 1: to it. I wrote down my goals and I placed
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  Speaker 1: them above my bed along with my cross, and you
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  Speaker 1: helped me work to achieve those goals day after day.
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  Speaker 1: Look at how life works, Pops, Mom, your son is
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  Speaker 1: in the Hall of Fame and I'm able to be
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  Speaker 1: walked out here by some of the greatest NBA legends ever.
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  Speaker 1: So first, I want to shout out to the.
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  Speaker 2: Chief, the Chief. My grandma used to love the Chief,
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  Speaker 2: so I want to give you a shout out for
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  Speaker 2: walking me out you. Also, my first year in the league,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: we went down to IMG.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: You was one of my biggest inspirations, So thank you.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Shout out to Bill Russell. May you rest in peace.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: This year marks fifty years since his enshrinement. Your book,
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  Speaker 1: Russell Rules allowed me to understand the game at a
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  Speaker 1: whole different level. That book taught me about leadership and
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  Speaker 1: the importance of staying committed to my goals. Also, rest
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: in peace to Ken Bamtombo, one of the greatest defenders
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  Speaker 1: and shot blockers ever.
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  Speaker 2: No no, no, you motivated.
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  Speaker 1: You motivated me the challenge every in battle for every shot.
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  Speaker 2: So thank you, Kareem. I wish you could be here
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  Speaker 2: because you are my goal.
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  Speaker 1: You are the only player in NBA history to have
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  Speaker 1: two Hall of Fame careers, one as lou Al Sender
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  Speaker 1: and the other as Kareem.
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  Speaker 2: I'm gonna give me a new name to come back
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  Speaker 2: and play. Y'all. Remember that, Dennis Robbin.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: I know you couldn't make it here today, but you
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  Speaker 1: one of my favorite players all time and the greatest
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  Speaker 1: rebounder ever. Watching you help me lead the league at
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  Speaker 1: five times and make sure every time I dominated the glass, Dominique.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Seeing you here in my first high school game made
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  Speaker 1: me believe that my NBA career.
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  Speaker 2: And my dream was at reach. So thank you for
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: inspiring me. Patrick.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: You and not only were you my coach, but you
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  Speaker 1: was my mentor in Orlando and every game I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to win so I can just walk around and do
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  Speaker 1: like this.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, there we go.
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  Speaker 1: Just being in your presence pushed me to want to
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  Speaker 1: be a great center, knowing that I was being coached
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  Speaker 1: by one of the greatest centers of all time, Shaq.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: We did not always see how to eye, but at highsight,
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  Speaker 1: I believe it was just sibling robberies. We are brothers
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  Speaker 1: in this fraternity of basketball, and sometimes brothers fight over
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  Speaker 1: the stupidest stuff.
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  Speaker 2: I really blamed Soldier boy, y'all. He was your but
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  Speaker 2: I just want.
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  Speaker 1: I just want y'all to know that the two original
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  Speaker 1: Superman is in the building to day, and it's a
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  Speaker 1: honor to have you walked me out into this arena
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  Speaker 1: of greatness. My hoop dreams began with nothing more than
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  Speaker 1: a basketball in my imaginations.
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  Speaker 2: Me and my brother, we didn't have a basket.
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  Speaker 1: It was just me and him in the street doing
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  Speaker 1: a schafing game while my sister was trying to cook
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  Speaker 1: some raining noodles.
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  Speaker 2: And ballogning telling us to come inside and eat the white.
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  Speaker 1: That game helped me to become a great defender and
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  Speaker 1: a complete player. Some people don't notice, but I was
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  Speaker 1: a five nine point guard until I broke my leg.
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  Speaker 1: That's why they say break a leg. But I knew
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  Speaker 1: early on that my talent would not take me that far.
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  Speaker 1: So that's why I was up out of bed every
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  Speaker 1: morning at four am working on my greatness. So I
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  Speaker 1: want to give a shout out to Corey mccraie, if
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  Speaker 1: he's in here. He was on the track with me
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  Speaker 1: and my pops every day. Dehonn Glover and Big Hat
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  Speaker 1: for coming from the Strip club straight to the gym
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  Speaker 1: to help me work out.
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  Speaker 2: So I appreciate y'all too. Wherever y'all at Dion, you
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  Speaker 2: still smell like a little hennessy, but thank you. I'm sorry.
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  Speaker 2: I love y'all.
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  Speaker 1: Because of this, I was growing as a person but
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  Speaker 1: also as a player. So I wanted to give a
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  Speaker 1: shout out to the people who helped me out during
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  Speaker 1: this time. My church, Fellowship of Faith Christian International Church,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: East Point, Georgia, my school Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, which
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: I attended from kindergarten, y'all all the way into my
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  Speaker 1: senior year Gold Warriors.
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  Speaker 2: I want to give a big thank you to Pastor
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  Speaker 2: Wayne C.
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  Speaker 1: Thompson and Gerald Deane Thompson for believing in us and
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  Speaker 1: it's stilling faith in us every day. I still hear
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  Speaker 1: your voice, Sister Jerry saying be great and walk in greatness.
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  Speaker 1: Reminded me to be great and everything that I do.
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  Speaker 1: Shout out to Coach Courtney Brooks. I know you in
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  Speaker 1: the building. I seen those braids against some hay time,
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  Speaker 1: so thank you. Felt just gonna be balled like me
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  Speaker 1: and my pops. Pops, I love you. Your Warrior workouts
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  Speaker 1: helped me get into the NBA. I want to shout
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  Speaker 1: out Wallace, Prayther May you rest in peace, the originator
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  Speaker 1: of the Atlanta Celtics, who helped me obtain my goal
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  Speaker 1: to becoming the number one player in the nation. I
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  Speaker 1: was that Little Engine that Could. That was my favorite
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  Speaker 1: book and my greatest inspiration. Like that Little Engine that Could,
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  Speaker 1: I used to repeat to myself, I think I can.
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  Speaker 1: Eventually it became I know I can. And in two
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  Speaker 1: thousand and four, I heard my name called as a
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  Speaker 1: number one pick in the draft, just as I wrote
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  Speaker 1: it down when I was ten. But the roller coaster
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  Speaker 1: was just beginning here. I was a young man, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: year old, a small town, a small church, and suddenly
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  Speaker 1: now I'm playing in the NBA. I'm the face of
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  Speaker 1: a franchise.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm playing in front of the whole world.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm facing legends like Shaquille O'Neill and Kevin Garnett.
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  Speaker 2: These are my favorite players growing up. Imagine playing against
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  Speaker 2: KG and you getting.
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  Speaker 1: A fight in one of your first games. One of
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  Speaker 1: these many learning lessons that I had in those early
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  Speaker 1: days of my career.
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  Speaker 2: Stan Van Gundy, I don't know if you hear.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: There, you go, oh man, y'all know I gotta do
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  Speaker 1: it later. But Andy Stan, I just want to say
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  Speaker 1: because of you, I am in the Hall of Fame.
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  Speaker 2: And as I said.
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  Speaker 1: Before, there is no Dwight Howard without stand Damn Gungy,
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  Speaker 1: you taught me what it means to stay ready. I
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  Speaker 1: still remember in the playoffs you had us doing plays
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  Speaker 1: for guys that never even got in the game, and
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  Speaker 1: I remember you saying.
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  Speaker 2: Listen, you never know. You never know, I mean, listen,
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  Speaker 2: but you was right.
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  Speaker 1: Stand in basketball and in life, you gotta stay ready.
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  Speaker 2: Y'all look crazy.
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  Speaker 1: All right, that's the last one staying I say also
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  Speaker 1: a lot of to my teammates, especially my bets who
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  Speaker 1: helped me out when I first started, Stacy Ogman, Tony Patti, Steve, Francis, Catino,
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  Speaker 1: Mo and Keon Dolan just the name a few. A
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  Speaker 1: big thanks to my teammates on the Magic team that
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  Speaker 1: we reached in two thousand and nine, Jamiir Nelson, Rashar Lewis, Hito,
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  Speaker 1: Turkelou Raphah, Austin Martine Gore, Tad, Michael Petrice and the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the squad that was a magical run. Most
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  Speaker 1: of all, I owe a lot up to the game
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  Speaker 1: of basketball. Because of basketball, my life has been an
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  Speaker 1: amazing journey. I've been blessed to go places around the
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  Speaker 1: world that I never would imagine. Thanks to basketball, I've
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  Speaker 1: been able to see the world at a whole different angle.
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  Speaker 1: This sport has changed my reality and it's opened up
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  Speaker 1: doors allowed me to make collections, connections.
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  Speaker 2: I'm sorry globally.
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  Speaker 1: Shout out to Taiwan even to the point of starting
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  Speaker 1: my own basketball league. My basketball Travis took me to
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  Speaker 1: Beijing in two thousand and eight as I was a
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  Speaker 1: part of the Olympic team. I want to give a
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  Speaker 1: shout out to all my teammates Redeemed team for making
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  Speaker 1: it possible to call myself for Gold Medagers.
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  Speaker 2: Squeeze o, I love you.
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  Speaker 1: My basketball Travels took me to Los Angeles, the last
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  Speaker 1: stop of my NBA journey, so I want to give
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  Speaker 1: a shout out. Oh did I always up a monster head.
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  Speaker 2: Lacer next year in the building? Okay.
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  Speaker 1: Shout out to doctor Bus and the Bus family and
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  Speaker 1: the Rambits family for always supporting me.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, thank you all.
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  Speaker 1: Lebron is here, oh Lebron.
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  Speaker 2: James and the field is all right. Thank you for
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: coming Bron here.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you to all my twenty twenty Lakers teammates for
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: making it possible to call myself a champion. Thank you
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: to the Nat Smith Basketball Hall of Fame for setting
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  Speaker 1: me into the basketball heaven and making it possible to
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  Speaker 1: call myself a Hall of Famer. Yes, this journey has brought. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: this journey has not been easy. I've been through many
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  Speaker 1: storms on and off the court, but I've never allowed.
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  Speaker 2: Those to wash me out.
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  Speaker 1: Instead, I kept smiling and shining bright because I knew
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  Speaker 1: it will only rain for so long. And I've never
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  Speaker 1: forgotten how blessed I am. My journey continues not to
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  Speaker 1: be a Hall of Fame basketball player, but a Hall
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  Speaker 1: of Fame person.
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  Speaker 2: I want to give a shout out to my kids.
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  Speaker 1: Bringing the Lalor my twins, Jay and Trade my rock
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  Speaker 1: and my faith.
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  Speaker 2: And David, my baby boy. I love you, boy.
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  Speaker 1: Shout out to my wife, Anne Borrose, not the woman
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  Speaker 1: the tattoos y'alling, not that one.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: People were saying that.
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  Speaker 1: Really, I just want to make sure not her right.
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  Speaker 1: I love you and I'm truly blessed to have you
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  Speaker 1: a part.
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  Speaker 2: Of my life.
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  Speaker 1: Lord, As I strive to be a Hall of Fame
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  Speaker 1: in everything I do, I leave you guys with this,
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  Speaker 1: this is your universe, this is your one song. How
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: do you want your song that sound when people hear
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  Speaker 1: it where they want to throw it out or run
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  Speaker 1: it back. And remember you only die once, but you
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: live every day.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you and God bless you all.