Lakers' Dwight Howard laments not telling Kobe Bryant how much he appreciated him
LOS ANGELES â Dwight Howard sat by his locker stall bearing a somber look. The Lakersâ center was still grieving Kobe Bryantâs death. It also has pained Howard that he never cleared the air directly with Bryant during their tumultuous lone season together nearly seven years ago.
âA lot of people thought me and Kobe hated each other. There were times we just didnât understand each other,â Howard said following the Lakersâ 129-102 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday at Staples Center. âI didnât get a chance to tell him how appreciative I was of our time together and how thankful I was to be back here in LA. Itâs pretty hard for me.â
Howard became the first on the Lakers to hear the news when the team was flying from Philadelphia to Los Angeles on Jan. 26. Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California. After alerting his teammates, Howard cried. Since then, Howard said he has felt âextremely hurtâ and that âthere were nights I was crying myself to sleep just thinking about it.â
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âAll year long, I wanted to show him that I was going to do whatever it takes to help this team win,â Howard said. âIâve been wearing his shoes since the season started. I wanted him in the dunk contest.â
Howard shared those wishes publicly following the Lakersâ win in New York on Jan. 22. Before that happened, Howard heard that Bryant expressed interest in helping him out during the NBA Dunk Contest in Chicago (Feb. 15). He called that reality âkind of heartbreaking.â
Because of those sentiments, Howard visited the Bryant memorials outside the Lakersâ practice facility only briefly because he found it âsuper hard to look at pictures.â Howard declined to visit the Bryant memorials outside Staples Center because he would have found it even more difficult to see.
Nonetheless, Howard still found it âmeaningfulâ that Bryant embraced him when he took his late 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, to a pair of Lakersâ home games. Then, Bryant praised Howard for his play on a reduced role on a non-guaranteed deal after having tumultuous exits from Houston (2013-2016), Atlanta (2016-17), Charlotte (2017-18) and Washington (2018-19). Howard has also publicly admitted regrets about his lone season with the Lakers (2012-13). Then Bryant and Howard clashed over their personality differences and roles.
Bryant took exception to Howardâs goofy personality, work habits and tendency to cite his surgically repaired back as a reason for his inconsistent effort. Howard resented Bryantâs demanding personality and high-volume shooting. Midway through the season, Bryant directly challenged Howard about his attitude, a turning point that led to the Lakers finishing the season with a 28-12 record. Howard also visited Bryant at his home after he tore his left Achilles tendon. But during the Lakersâ free-agency pitch meeting, Bryant confronted Howard and told him he needed to learn from him how to build winning habits.
âItâs super sad because I really wanted to tell him how much I appreciate everything heâs done and all the things heâs said,â Howard said. âWe didnât understand each other. But I saw a different Kobe. I even saw a change in myself. Iâm pretty sure he saw it. I want to be able to tell him how I felt about him. I never got a chance to. That was really the most heartbreaking part.â
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