To sum up ... over the weekend, both Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld and Jarrod Rudolph of RealGM reported on a call that Kobe Bryant made to Dwight Howard in which Bryant purportedly told Howard he would have to accept that the Lakers were his team and that Howard could play a secondary or maybe tertiary role.
The conversation, along with Howard's desire to create his own legacy ... and not fulfill Shaquille O'Neal's ... has dropped the Lakers way below the Nets, with Kennedy telling Nets Are Scorching that partly because of this, "The Nets are the front-runners" and Rudolph going further, stating, " Howard's representatives have informed the Lakers that Howard would not sign an extension if they trade for him this season".
All this is too much for Matt Moore of NBC Sports who thinks it would be "crazy" for Howard to tell the Lakers they're done. He also suggests it all may be a "subterfuge" by the Nets.
Maybe, but everyone seems to have missed this: First word of the Bryant call came two weeks ago in an article written by two long-time and highly reliable beat writers for the Los Angeles Times. They reported, "One person with knowledge of the conversation said Howard came away feeling as if he wouldn't be the Lakers' top option, for obvious reasons. It's Bryant's team." Don't think the Killer B's are planting stories in the Laker locker room...yet.
- #NASTV: Alex Kennedy – "I do think (Dwight) ends up on the Nets." - Justin DeFeo - Nets Are Scorching
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Lakers Slip In Pursuit Of Dwight Howard - Jarrod Rudolph - RealGM
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Rumor: Kobe Bryant has blown chances for Lakers to get Dwight Howard by telling him he'll be third-option - Matt Moore - NBC Sports.