Dwight Howard will become a member of the Houston Rockets organization on July 10, when the 2013-14 NBA season’s salary cap is officially set. While many have criticized the Los Angeles Lakers for their methodology in recruiting Howard to remain with the club, little has been said about the Rockets’ unique approach at persuading Dwight to head to Houston. A key part of that process was 24-year-old NBA forward Chandler Parsons.

“Chandler was relentless,” explained a source close to the situation to FORBES. ”[Chandler] called and texted [Dwight] every day, even face-timed and would answer every question Dwight could potentially have. We would drive to his house in the hills and talk to him. Basically Chandler Parsons recruited him like Nick Saban and a 5-star defensive tackle; they hardly knew each other at beginning of process.”

In May, FORBES noted that Chandler Parsons changed basketball agents, switching from Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports & Entertainment to Dan Fegan of Relativity Sports. At the time, there was no true indication that the addition of Parsons to Relativity Sports’ client list would have any influence on Howard’s decision making process. In hindsight, it appears that at a minimum it allowed Parsons access to Howard, which may have been a game-changer in bringing Howard to Houston.