Dwight Howard Confronts Lakers’ Fans

The following story was written by Bottom Line sports writer Kevin Parrish Jr., and it originally appeared on the website NBA Lead.

Do you remember Dwight Howard? He was, without a doubt, known as the NBA’s most dominate big man back in 2012. Howard was involved in a mega-three team deal that paired him with Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash after they completed a sign and trade with Phoenix in free agency.

However, with injuries, chemistry issues, and of course Howard’s problems with Bryant’s high amount of shot attempts, the big three in LA didn’t workout.

The season that had Lakers fans believing that another championship could come back to Los Angeles turned out to be a complete disaster, and the opposite of the dominate team they were projected to be. After a mediocre regular season (45-37), the Lakers were eventually swept in the first round of the NBA playoffs, and during the following summer, Howard decided to leave the franchise during free agency to sign with the Houston Rockets after the team denied his request to “Amnesty Kobe Bryant.”

On Sunday, Nov. 27, Howard made his first return to Los Angeles since signing with the Atlanta Hawks this past July in free agency. Before the contest started, Howard showed no interest in answering questions about Bryant, then said, “he’s not thinking about Kobe or the Lakers anymore.”

After the Lakers defeated the Hawks (100-94), Howard was forced to deal with a group of hecklers as he walked back from the court to the locker room . It was even said that one fan called Howard a bunch of disrespectful words, including, ”b****”, which obviously caused Howard to turn around and confront the fan.

This confrontation forced a member of the Hawks’ staff to physically restrain Howard while the player had words with the fan. While challenging the Lakers fan to a fight, Howard said, “Come back here and say that” or “come on back here. Come on.” Luckily, the Hawks’ staff members were able to get Howard back into the locker room before the situation escalated.

Howard has to know that he will most likely receive a fine or another punishment for going after a fan, even though the fan started the argument. Los Angeles is one of the biggest markets in the United States, its fans are crazy about their Lakers.

Howard chose to leave LA after not getting what he asked for, and most people could call that a selfish move. However, Howard has to be one to ignore the fan, and to keep moving – not only because of the bad history with the Lakers organization, but because of the bad blood between himself and LA fans.