Lakers' Howard mourns loss of son's mother

MANILA, Philippines — As the world grapples with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Los Angeles Lakers big man Dwight Howard is fighting a personal battle.

The mother of Howard's six-year-old son, Melissa Rios, passed last March 27 after having an epileptic seizure in her home in Calabasas, California.

The Lakers' center narrated the difficulty of the situation to reporters in a conference call.

"It's extremely difficult for me to try to understand how to talk to my son, who's six years old, just about the whole situation," he said.

"[It's] something I've never experienced. So I wouldn't know how to talk to my son about it. So just with him being here and stuff like that, it's kind of given me some extra life," he added.

Per Dave McMenamin of ESPN, the experience caused Howard to "just be grateful for life".

Howard has a total of five children with five different women and has been in and out of the courts for custody battles.

He was averaging 7.5 points per game for the playoff-bound squad before the NBA suspended play last March — With reports from Agence France Presse