Dwight Howard has had an up and down relationship with the Los Angeles Lakers organization and their fans during his three stints with the organization.
When he was originally acquired in 2012, the hope was that he would pair with Kobe Bryant to bring more championships to L.A. Their first season together didn’t go well though as Howard dealt with back issues and Bryant eventually tore his Achilles trying to will the Lakers to the playoffs.
Howard then left to join the Houston Rockets, becoming public enemy No. 1 for Lakers fans until he returned and won a championship with the organization in 2020.
Now that he is years removed from the situation, Howard opened up about the challenges of playing with Bryant and how he originally did not want to be traded to the Lakers, via Gil’s Arena Live with Gilbert Arenas:
“It was difficult playing with Kobe. Because one, it’s the expectation of winning and then two, it’s like everybody expected me and Kobe to be like the new Kobe and Shaq. And I’m just coming off an injury, I’m still dealing with all the mental shit from Orlando and now I got to go to L.A. and I’m playing with Kobe Bryant. I watched him play, they beat us in the Finals. One, I was already pissed because I had to go to L.A. and nobody ever knew I didn’t want to go to L.A. I didn’t want to go to the Lakers because I wanted to beat the Lakers, they just beat us in the Finals. So in my mind, I was like why would I go to the team that just beat us? I wanted to go to Brooklyn and just start my whole career over. But I got sent to L.A. and I was like we’re gonna come back and try to win in L.A. It didn’t work out and I made an emotional decision to leave. I do regret that, just making a decision based off my emotions and how I was feeling… how the fans were, how I felt the organization was during that time with me and Kobe. I didn’t really make a smart, logical decision, I just made an emotional decision at the time.”
This is the most honest and open Howard has been about his first stint with the Lakers, discussing the challenges he faced and his line of thinking at the time.
Even though things didn’t work out with Bryant back then, it was cool to see Howard embrace his return to L.A. and win the fanbase back over with his hustle and hard play during the 2019-20 championship season.
When Bryant passed away that season it was an emotional time for everybody, including Howard, so him being able to mend those fences and rejoin the Lakers family was a great full-circle moment.
Dwight Howard blames Rob Pelinka for not keeping 2020 Lakers together
After that 2020 championship, it appeared that Dwight Howard would be returning to the Lakers in free agency although plans changed and he instead wound up with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Howard also recently spoke on that offseason and blamed Rob Pelinka for not keeping that championship roster together, believing they could have won more rings.
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