Kobe Bryant’s Silent Treatment Sparked Dwight Howard’s Career Regret, Leading to Lakers Exit

Imagine a lineup featuring Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, Metta Sandiford-Artest, and Pau Gasol—all led by Kobe Bryant. Sounds like a championship contender, right? Well, it turned out to be anything but. The 2012-13 Lakers were a disaster, plagued by injuries and, more notably, the infamous tension between Bryant and Howard. The following season, Howard packed his bags and left for Houston. Now, over a decade later, he’s finally opening up about the regret that came with it.

Howard appeared on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast and shared a story of a private flight where Kobe even refused to acknowledge him. “We flew together. We was on the same plane and we didn’t even talk,” Howard recalled. “I’m like, yo, my ni***. It’s just me and you… We can’t speak to each other?”

That silence wasn’t just a one-time thing—it carried over into their time as teammates. “And then now we teammates, and it’s like, damn, this ni**a is on mute with me. Like, what’s going on? That was kind of rough,” Howard admitted. Still, he tried to push through, determined to prove himself—especially since he was coming off surgery. But that decision turned out to be his biggest career regret.

“I’m not going to worry about injuries, nothing like that. And that was probably my worst decision, trying to play through all those injuries, just to prove to fans and people that I’m not who they say I am,” Howard reflected. “And I thought that was stupid of me to do that.”

His attitude hurt his performance and ultimately led to the Lakers pulling the plug!

Howard joined the Rockets and quickly re-established himself as a dominant force the following season. Ironically, he faced Kobe and the Lakers in a season opener that Houston won 108-90. However, the game’s biggest highlight came in the fourth quarter when Howard inadvertently caught Kobe with an elbow.

The moment sparked a fiery exchange. However, Kobe shut it down in the post-match conference, calling Howard “a really nice kid.” And Howard also always maintained no real beef—just a difference in mentality.

No bad blood between Kobe and Howard?

Dwight Howard has been saying this for years. On the same podcast, Howard again made it clear that while there were “some moments,” it wasn’t about personal issues. “I never had no ill will towards Kobe Bryant,” he said.

What stung the most was how the narrative played out. “Was I upset on how the Lakers thing ended? Hell, yeah. Because this is, you know, you got the greatest, one of the greatest players to ever play. And, you know, people are taking anything he says or whatever at face value.”

He said the same in 2017. His and Kobe Bryant’s supposed feud was just media hype. “We didn’t beef. Since we were losing, they needed a story that would sell,” he explained.

However, in the recent podcast, Melo also backed him up, saying Kobe didn’t actually dislike Howard. Instead, he saw it as a test—a way to see if the big man had the hunger to win. And if that’s true, Howard admits things could’ve been different had they simply talked.

“I wish me and him was able to at that time of playing together,” Howard reflected. However, their lack of communication spilled onto the court, and the Lakers’ season ended in disappointment.