If you don’t remember back in 2012, Dwight Howard who was without a doubt known as the NBA’s most dominate big man at the time. He was involved in a mega three team deal that paired him with Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash, after they completed a sign a trade with phoenix in free agency.
However, with injuries, chemistry issues, and of course Dwight’s problems with Kobe Bryant’s high amount of shot attempts, the big three in LA didn’t workout.
The season that had Lakers fans believing that another championship could come back to Los Angeles turned out to be a complete disaster and the opposite of the dominate team they were projected to be. After a mediocre regular season (45-37), the Lakers were eventually swept in the first round of the NBA playoffs and the following summer, Howard decided to leave the franchise during free agency to sign with the Houston Rockets after the team denied his request to “Amnesty Kobe Bryant.”
On Sunday November 27, Dwight made his first return to Los Angeles since signing with the Atlanta Hawks this past July in free agency. Before the contest started, Howard had showed no interest in answering questions about Kobe Bryant then said “he’s not thinking about Kobe or the Lakers anymore.”
After the Lakers defeated the Hawks (100-94), Howard was forced to deal with a group of hecklers as he walked back from the court to the locker room . It was even said, that one fan called Howard a bunch of disrespectful words such as, ”b****” which obviously caused Howard to turn around and confront the fan.
As it forced a member of the Hawks staff to physically restrain Howard, while he had words with the fan. While challenging the Lakers fan to a fight, Howard would say “Come back here and say that” or “Come on back here. Come on.” Luckily, The Hawks staff members were able to get Dwight Howard back to the locker room before the situation got worst.
Dwight has to know that he will most likely receive a fine or another punishment for coming after a fan even though the fan started it. Los Angeles is one of the biggest markets in the United States with fans that are crazy about their Lakers.
Howard chose to leave them after not getting what he asked for and most people could even call that a selfish move. However, Dwight has to be one that has the sense to ignore the fan and keep it moving. Not only because of the bad history with the Lakers organization but the bad blood between himself and those Lakers fans.
