“She never been to a basketball game….” — Dwight Howard changed his statement for Daniella Karagach with the LA Lakers’ matchup against the Suns. The former NBA star, along with his DWTS partner and her husband, were in attendance when the men in Gold and Purple suffered a 105-109 loss to Kevin Durant & Co. Yes, the team they were rooting for lost the game. But the matchup seems to have had a hilarious impact on Karagach.

In an Instagram video shared by Dwight Howard and his DWTS partner, Karagach was seen trying to act as a basketball. Meanwhile, D12 mimicked dribbling her around like one. “Take @daniellakaragach to 1 game and now she’s a basketball 😂😂😂🙄” the ex-NBA star wrote in the comment section. 

It seems the much-needed mind refresher for Daniella alongside her husband has been delivered. For those unaware, her husband, Pasha Pashkov, faced elimination in week 2 of Dancing With The Stars. This came during a double elimination episode.

Failing to hold back her emotions, Karagach shared a TikTok video captioned, “POV: your husband gets eliminated on DWTS and you don’t have a filter.” Makes sense considering that the two stars have been married for nearly a decade and were dancing partners even before that.

Now, with Pashkov out of the DWTS, the hope of bringing a trophy as a family unit lies on Daniella alone. While she has elevated Howard’s dancing game, D12 is ensuring to lift her spirits to make sure they claim the victory.

How have Dwight Howard and Daniella Karagach countered the challenge of height difference between them?

The competition on Dancing With the Stars is heating up as D12 faces off against just six other contenders. Yes, even with the lowest score on Disney Night—a mere 24—Howard and his partner survived the eliminations. Thanks to audience support.

However, some may wonder how Karagach, standing at just 5-foot-3, manages to pull off those side-by-side moves with the towering 6-foot-10 ex-NBA star. Well, she’s got a secret weapon—the good old apple box! In a behind-the-scenes snap, Karagach shared the laughable truth, joking, “the apple box didn’t make the cut,” about the prop she uses to eliminate the two-foot height gap.

Daniella has even dubbed the box her “main character” on the show. Imagine that—an apple box in the spotlight! And it’s no joke! With Dwight being her tallest partner yet, it’s a total must-have. She’s worked with taller stars before and even won with former NBA star Iman Shumpert.

But even Shumpert falls short of the 3x Defensive Player of the Year. As Karagach admits, dancing side-by-side is one thing, but synchronized moves “in frame” with Dwight are a whole different challenge. However, with both stars lifting each other’s spirits up, as seen in Dwight Howard’s recent IG video, things seem to become quite easier to handle.