Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash to assist in pursuit of Dwight Howard

Lakers guards Bryant and Nash will be part of a delegation that will meet with free-agent center Howard on Tuesday in an attempt to persuade him to sign a five-year, $118-million contract.Without the reassuring voice of Jerry Buss, the late Lakers owner whose eleventh-hour phone call prevented Kobe Bryant from going to the Clippers in 2004, the Lakers are turning to two veterans to help keep Dwight Howard in Los Angeles.