LeBron James has kept a cool head through the many ups and downs as well as criticisms he has endured in his 22-year career. However, there is one word that consistently triggers the four-time MVP. Dwight Howard learned about it the hard way during his stint with the Los Angeles Lakers.
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The 2020 NBA champion recently hosted Mario Chalmers on his podcast. Both Howard and Chalmers had been teammates with LBJ at various points in their careers. Chalmers was on the Miami Heat roster alongside James from 2010 to 2014. Howard shared the locker room with the King in L.A. in the 2019-20 and 2021-22 seasons.
During their conversation, the two bonded over the consequences they faced for calling LeBron a ‘b***h’. Chalmers recalled his heated exchange with LeBron from 2013. “‘Stop acting like a b***h,’ that’s it,” he recalled, before revealing the context of his outburst.
The point guard wanted the team’s superstar to guard Paul George, who was heating up for the Indiana Pacers during a regular season game in December. Though it got Chalmers benched, he justified that using James’ trigger word was worth securing the win.
Unfortunately, Howard faced a harsher reaction for using that word with the King. “I said that man and I got kicked off the Lakers,” the three-time Defensive Player of the Year revealed.
“That’s the year after we won the championship, man. It happened on defense, and I was like, ‘Yo, you gotta get back’. And he got mad ’cause I said something and I was like, ‘Yo, stop acting like a b***h, man, goddamn’. All we doing is talking. It ain’t like I’m trying to come at your manhood,” Howard added.
Chalmers was relieved to hear that he wasn’t the only one to be chewed out by James. In Howard’s case, his words led to an unceremonious exit from Los Angeles — one that both parties suffered from.
Ever since the team parted ways with their veteran big men like Howard and JaVale McGee, Anthony Davis was forced to play 5 for the team. Throughout his career, AD had thrived at playing the 4.
Even in his last weeks with the Purple and Gold, Davis continued to ask the team to get him a true center. The Lakers were at their best with a big like Howard or McGee, as it allowed AD to play at his natural position.
Meanwhile, even years after his exit, Howard continues to lobby for an eventual return to the NBA.
Howard shares the reason for his NBA exit
Every off-season, Howard makes public announcements about his availability, hoping to land a roster spot in the NBA. The 39-year-old believes that there’s a reason no team has taken him up on his offer yet.
“I feel like all of us go through this period where, once we come into the league, they build us up. Then, when it’s time for us to leave, they try to find a way to put us out. And I feel like I just got put in that same category,” Howard explained while talking to Carmelo Anthony on 7PM in Brooklyn.
It’s an unfortunate ending to a career that aged rather gracefully. Dwight won the 2020 bubble championship with the Lakers, and the following season, he signed a 1-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers.
He returned to LA in 2021-22, though, for his third and final stint. His production, though in limited minutes, was still highly effective as he tallied 6.2 points and 5.9 rebounds in 16.2 minutes of action per game. Since the end of that campaign, Dwight has been playing overseas.
