The late and great Kobe Bryant was notorious for, at times, not getting along with certain teammates. A player without a hard-nosed mentality wouldn't suffice next to the Black Mamba as history showed. His best bet came in the Bryant–Shaquille O'Neal duo during O'Neal's time in LA. Even then the two Hall of Famers would constantly butt heads, though it was in correlation to the overwhelming level of competitiveness that brewed from both players and their desires to win on a different level.
So naturally, when the big-hearted Dwight Howard came to town, the expert prediction was for the two stars to naturally collide given their extreme mismatch on the personality scale. For a moment in time, that was the story, but it wasn't the entire story. After not being able to help the Orlando Magic achieve their championship aspirations, Howard was traded to the Lakers in a deal that's still regarded as one of the largest in NBA history. Originally, the Lakers were set to bring on both Chris Paul and Howard, but some then-heavily regulated rules against “superteams” prevented such a trade from coming to fruition. As such, Bryant was stuck with making an off-balanced duo work with Howard alone.
The duo was able to make some magic happen, though. Though Kobe Bryant often required the ball in his hands as a dominant scoring guard to make plays happen for the Lakers, he was sufficient in throwing lobs to Howard on many a nights, and the two looked to be turning a corner in terms of how far they could go in the Western Conference. At the time, Howard was 27 and arriving at his prime stage, while Bryant was 34, searching for the remaining championships to tack onto his already-legendary legacy.
Howard averaged 17.1 points along with 12.4 boards during his lone season with the Lakers, granting him his seventh straight All-Star appearance. Even so, the tensions between Bryant and Howard had already started to mount. Howard had began to take the familiar role that was tasked to O'Neal: sit in the post and wait for the ball to come to you. Bryant often voiced how he felt that O'Neal should've been more mobile, which was certainly a repeat situation with Howard. For Howard, he never was a second or third option with the Magic; for Bryant, he was the first and second option for the Lakers.
As the tale is told, Howard's time in Hollywood didn't last long, as he decided to sign with the Houston Rockets in the following offseason. The Lakers had left much to be desired through his one-year stint. They were below .500 for the year, and then-head coach Mike Brown was fired shortly after the season had begun with both Howard and Bryant on the floor together. Even so, the Lakers believed that they could've built something successful with Howard in the fold, and to a degree they were right. Though it was seven years later, Howard was able to make good on his promise to help return the Lakers to championship status.
Even so, the Lakers may have been able to make more out Howard's usage in his more youthful years. Instead, he was assigned the role of a journeyman before eventually finding a landing pad with the Lakers once more, only this time with LeBron James. As told by Bryant in an interview with CNN following Howard's departure, the two just weren't meant to mesh.
“It just changes the dynamic of the team,” stated Kobe Bryant when asked on the environment after Howard's departure. “… I have a way that I think winning should be done, which is hard work and a challenging nature. … A lot of times that makes people uncomfortable. … I think he [Howard] had plenty of opportunities. I just think philosophically, that relationship was never going to work.”
Those same tensions carried over into the following season when Howard and Bryant got into a mini shoving match as Howard returned to LA with the Rockets to face off against his former teammate. The famous “soft” GIFs that've been associated around the world were born all because of the tense moment he shared with Howard during that game. Bryant even went as far as to call Howard a teddy bear following the outing.
If the Lakers were somehow able to secure both Paul and Howard to go alongside Bryant, the conversation could be a lot different at the moment. Howard could've found a long-term home with the Lakers versus the current route. With a little bit of ego checking, the two stars could've also possibly coexisted together.
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