Getty Dwight Howard, Lakers
Back in late October, when the Lakers were scuffling on the court (as they are now), sideline cameras caught a heated argument on the L.A. bench between Dwight Howard and Anthony Davis. It was, as Howard said, a regrettable situation, but what bothered Howard beyond actual incident was the way the media jumped on the tussle—quickly and loudly.
None so loud, of course, as ESPN shouting head Stephen A. Smith, who warned Howard not to get on Davis’ bad side, saying, “You are lucky to be in this league.”
In a conversation with Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report, Howard said the initial confrontation with Davis was over quickly, but the media fixation that followed still sticks with him.
“It bothered me because of the way a lot of people in the media turned it, aka Stephen A. ‘Bald Head’ Smith …” Howard said, before stopping to laugh. “Ok, I’m just playing, let me stop. He said a lot of stuff.”
When Rooks paused to say, “Shout out to Stephen A.,” Howard stopped her.
“I’m not shouting him out in that way,” he said. “He said a lot of things and a lot of times, stuff like that, as men, when you are playing basketball and you have situations, you gotta find better ways to handle it and obviously in that moment, both of us was kinda heated. But I realize, everybody’s watching, everybody. So the best thing to do is, breathe. Calm down. I knew as soon as the next day came, it was going to be talked about.”
(Howard’s Smith comments begin at 28:38.)
Howard, Davis Settled Their Argument at Halftime
Indeed, the incident, which came in a home loss to Phoenix, became fodder for sports talk everywhere, coupled with the fact that rebuilt Lakers, stocked with six future Hall of Fame players, were 0-2 coming out of the gate. Howard, though, said that he and Davis had put it behind them by halftime. It was everyone else who kept running with the story. Here’s how Howard explained:
The crazy part about it was by the time the third quarter came, me and him had already went to the back, went to a separate room, had a conversation and squashed it,” Howard said. “But everybody else took it a further step.
It was just everywhere, everybody calling, ‘Y’all OK, what’s going on?’ I’m like, ‘Bro, you ain’t called me in two, three months and now you want to call me about this?’ So it’s like, everybody feeds off negativity, and we have to stop that.
Like I said about Stephen A. Smith, his comments on that, very negative. That’s one thing that I feel as though, there is no place for that. We already got enough negativity going on and obviously people say negativity sells. But how about we change that? How about we sell more positive messages and more positive things instead of always running to the negative.
Dwight Howard Also Has Beef With Suns’ Chris Paul
Howard also revealed that Smith is not the only guy with whom he has some things to iron out. He also noted that he would like to resolve his beef with Suns point guard Chris Paul, though he never exactly said what that beef was.
Howard discussed a chat he had with retired star Kevin Garnett, known for his on-court intensity which, at first, intimidated Howard. Garnett explained to him, though, that was strictly on the floor, that he viewed Howard as an enemy in the arena. Off the floor, he had no problem with him.
.@DwightHoward just wants to settle the beef with Chris Paul 🙏
Watch his full interview with @TaylorRooks here: t.co/CrEr4TwZoi
(@hbomax)
Rooks asked if there was a player he would like to have a similar conversation with. Howard said Paul.
“Just an understanding,” Howard said. “Just a very good understanding. A lot of people have had choice things to say about Chris Paul. So I just want to talk to him. That’s all I can say right now.”
Asked what his relationship with Paulwho came into the NBA in 2005, the year after Howard—was like now, Howard said, “We don’t have one. It’s just, for me, the fact that we are a fraternity, we are a big brotherhood and we have to set an example for not only kids that’s trying to get into the NBA, but adults and people around the world, even children around the world.”