The 2009 NBA Playoffs were certainly exciting. However, as most fans from that era will note, it would have had something akin to the showdown in a movie if LeBron James had won one more game. When Kobe Bryant and the LA Lakers sealed their place in the NBA Finals, absolutely everyone was expecting James’s Cavaliers side would meet them in a Finals clash for the 2009 NBA championship. Unfortunately for everyone with high hopes, things didn’t shake out that way, with Dwight Howard proving to be the indomitable villain of the story. Recently, 14 years after his now-infamous actions, he revealed how it was LeBron and Kobe’s $166,810,000,000-worth backer, Nike, that felled the first domino, leading to Howard’s rage and motivation.
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Tracking back to 2008, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers were looking to win their first title after the Shaquille O’Neal era. Unfortunately for them, despite their fabulous performances to get to the Finals, they would go on to lose in six games to Paul Pierce and the Boston Celtics. So, when they came back in 2009, the franchise steamrolled any competition in the West, with the intention of winning it all. Once they got to the Finals, like most fans, they were expecting the Cleveland Cavaliers to meet them at the summit. However, a motivated, prime Dwight Howard killed any hopes of a Kobe-LeBron final, in six games.
Dwight Howard explains his motivation to keep LeBron James and Kobe Bryant from meeting in the NBA Finals
In the late-2000s and early 2010s, Dwight Howard was one of the best players in the NBA, and arguably the best center in the league by a country mile. While the big man was known to be a light-hearted individual off the court, he would look to humiliate any opposition. And given his talent, once he wished such a thing, it was a foregone conclusion.
Despite knowing this, Nike aired a bold advertisement with the Eastern Conference Finals yet to be concluded. In it, while the company did not come right out and say LeBron James would be heading to the Finals to meet Kobe Bryant, any hints to it were anything but subtle. Take a look at the notorious advert in the YouTube clip by ‘alohawarriorchief’.
This was never going to go down well with Howard. Asked about it in a recent interview, 14 years after the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals, here is what he said, as seen in his Instagram post.
“I’m glad I ruined (a Kobe Bryant-LeBron James Final) because that wasn’t right! They pissed our whole team off. And I’m glad we went out there and showed LeBron and Cavs that ‘Hell Nah!'”
“The puppet gotta go! Because I’m like ‘How y’all going to have a whole Nike commercial about LeBron and Kobe in the Finals, and they ain’t even in the Finals yet?!’. We wanted to destroy LeBron and the Cavs because of that!… I could not wait to get on the floor with them.”
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Nike, the brand worth almost $166,810,000,000, is one of the biggest athletic footwear and apparel company in the world. They have ownership of some of the most well-known brands, such as Jordan, and are also tied up with extremely influential athletes, teams and organisations, resulting in their massive brand value.
It’s hard to disagree with the reason for Dwight Howard’s anger here. After all, while Nike was looking to market its athletes, the way they went about it was beyond disrespectful to a man at the peak of his powers. The 2009 Eastern Conference Finals series was anything but a foregone conclusion in James’s favor. Wanting to remind the world of that fact, Dwight Howard came out and recorded 40 points and 14 rebounds in Game Six to clinch the series, sealing the Magic’s trip to the NBA Finals.
Dwight Howard has since played with both players
After leaving the Orlando Magic in 2012 for the LA Lakers, Dwight Howard joined up with Kobe Bryant. However, due to a shoulder injury that the big man ignored for too long, and a general difference in mentality, the two never quite got along. In the end, similarly to how his duo ended with Shaq, the two would have a major fight, before Dwight was forced to leave.
When Dwight Howard came back to the Lakers, it was on the back of LeBron James’s alleged recommendation to have him on the team. However, rather than being the star, he was a high-value role-player who was assigned a set job. Coming off the bench behind Anthony Davis, Howard did his job exceptionally well during the 2020 NBA Finals. Due to his efforts, Dwight won his first and only NBA championship.
