Now that Dwight Howard is finally getting the respect that he deserves, including a first-ballot Hall-of-Fame induction, can we talk about his stint with the Lakers? Let’s be honest, the six-foot-ten center was a freak of nature in his prime. There was no stopping Superman in his Orlando days. We would see glimpses of Shaq in the way that he would dominate the paint, and throw down explosive dunks every single game!
However, his time with the Los Angeles Lakers didn’t exactly go as planned. Everyone expected the explosive center to dominate like he did with the Magic, taking them to the ’09 finals, but they forgot one crucial factor–Kobe Bryant. The Black Mamba wanted to win, but he wanted to win his way, and that’s exactly why he’s considered one of the greatest to have ever done it.
On The Dan Patrick Show, Dwight Howard talked about an important conversation he had with the late Lakers legend before teaming up with him. “I remember the last conversation I had with Kobe before we joined teams. What he wanted me to work on was those free-throw line and in jump shots and stuff like that. But today’s game, and when I was coming up in the game, that shot was taken out.” He said, and that’s so in character for the Mamba!
Even before Howard made his way to the Lakers, Kobe gave him work to do. Sadly, the Kobe & Dwight pairing didn’t really blossom the way everyone expected it to. The six-foot-ten center took on a more diminished role, and his physical constitution grew weary.
The two had a public feud, with Kobe growing increasingly unhappy with the former Orlando Magic superstar. However, it definitely got better over time! Dwight made a return to the Lakers in 2019, and they both let bygones be bygones, reconciling at last. The Black Mamba’s untimely passing hit Howard hard, as he reminisced on the interactions he had with the Lakers legend.
When Dan Patrick asked how their dynamic was, Howard showed that there was truly no bad blood between the two. “I wouldn’t say he was that tough on me like people would assume.” He said, pointing out that he was a hard-worker, and Kobe never had to worry about his efforts. “I just think we just, at the time, were in two different places in life. We didn’t see eye-to-eye, we didn’t give each other a chance to see eye-to-eye.”
One might think that Dwight Howard is looking at their dynamic through rose-tinted lenses, even though the two had actually sorted things out before Bryant passed away. But why exactly did Kobe Bryant not get along with Howard? Let’s find out.
Kobe Bryant’s perspective on the failed Lakers experiment with Dwight Howard
Kobe Bryant is a very particular person when it comes to basketball, and Dwight Howard is not. That’s the simplest explanation that we can give for the reason behind their rift, but it is a lot deeper than that. Bryant and the Lakers organization flirted with a theoretical super-team in 2012-13, adding Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, and Pau Gasol. However, the personalities just didn’t gel!
When it came to Howard, Kobe pulled no punches. He had high expectations from the former Magic star, and he wanted to push Dwight to his absolute limits. But Howard, on the other hand? He wanted a more relaxed environment in the locker room.
To his credit, Kobe Bryant tried as hard as he could to indoctrinate Howard to his ways. “I tried teaching Dwight. I tried showing him.” He said back in 2015, mentioning how Dwight had a particular image in mind of a championship-winning team, but the reality was something different entirely. “And I don’t think he was willing to deal with that uncomfortable and combative nature.”
However, all is well that ends well. Even after a rough and abrupt departure, Dwight Howard made a comeback in the Lakers jersey, ultimately winning a ring with LeBron James and company. Not only that, he and Kobe squashed any bad blood that might have been there before. It wasn’t a perfect ending, with the Mamba’s untimely passing. However, Howard paying tribute to the Lakers legend after getting a Hall-of-Fame nod shows how much love there was between the two players after all.
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