Along with those three, executives from TWC and AEG were present at the meeting as the Lakers were the final team to meet with Howard after he’d already met with the Rockets, Mavericks, Hawks and Warriors.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Kobe Bryant was very direct with Howard:
Source on Kobe Bryant’s message to Dwight Howard in Lakers meeting: “Straight forward. He talked about winning mostly.”
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 2, 2013
It’s not surprising that Bryant would try and sell Howard on winning as he’s already gone through free agency in 2004 and realized that staying with the Lakers would be the only sensible decision.
Howard stated that he hopes to make a decision by July 10, but it remains to be seen if he can make up his indecisive mind by then. Coming into his meeting with the Lakers, it was reported that the Rockets were in fact the favorites for his services, but things can definitely change instantly for him.
Regardless, Bryant sold him on what the Lakers do best and that’s winning as it’ll be interesting if he decides that he can handle all the pressure of playing in LA.
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