“What Did I Do?”: Dwight Howard Opens Up on Kobe Bryant’s Distant Attitude, Reveals How Mamba Didn’t Speak to Him

It would be somewhat of an understatement to say Dwight Howard’s relationship with the late Kobe Bryant was anything but harmonious during their lone season together with the LA Lakers in 2012-13. Their highly anticipated partnership went downhill, as the two never truly found their collective rhythm on the court.

Kobe Bryant scored 27.3 points per game that season, while Dwight grabbed 12.4 rebounds. The LA Lakers finished 45-37, landing 3rd in the Pacific Division and 7th in the Western Conference. San Antonio ended their playoff run fast, sweeping them 4-0 in the first round. Dwight bolted for Houston that summer, leaving behind bruised egos, unmet expectations, and unanswered questions.

Over a decade later, Howard still carries that friction in his heart. While visiting the PBD Podcast, host Patrick Bet-David prodded the former No. 1 pick to revisit those raw memories. He opened with Smush Parker’s story, sitting next to Kobe without hearing a word. Then he pivoted, almost gleefully, to Howard’s year in purple and gold.

Howard took the bait and shared a story: “I had a moment with Kobe where we were on the plane together during the season; I was playing with the Lakers. We were on the plane together, me and his family, and he didn’t really speak.”

Howard did not lash out, as Patrick Bet-David may have hoped (looking for a pseudo-viral moment), but he did sound confused. Still piecing it together, he said, “But at the All-Star game, when we played on the same team, he didn’t speak [to me]. It’s like he didn’t want to be next to me at that time. So it was a little weird because I’m like this: Kobe, my teammate. I looked up to him. I came out of high school; he came out of high school.”

Bet-David pressed for negativity, but Howard kept it classy. Instead of slandering Bryant, he reflected calmly. “He’s a lot older than me, but then again, it could have been something like: hey, I’m trying to see where his head is at,” Howard said.

Even now, Howard wrestles with that disconnect. His voice softened as he tried to make sense of it. “I’ll never know. I’m a young guy at the time. I’m thinking, why would my teammate not talk to me? What did I do that was so bad?”

That moment revealed a different Howard—a vulnerable eight-time All-Star still wrestling with silence from a legend. With Kobe gone, he may never get the answers he once hoped for.

While Howard was able to redeem his time in LA, winning a chip with the Lakers in 2020, he was seemingly never able to bury the hatchet with Bryant, who passed away early in 2020.