Dwight Howard Says Harsh Remarks Towards LeBron James Got Him Kicked Off Lakers

The former Lakers champion thinks that some comments helped get him off the Lakers for good.

Jan 17, 2022; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard (39) is met by Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (6) in the first half of the game against the Utah Jazz at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Lakers were able to win the 2020 NBA championship thanks to some solid play from multiple players. They were able to use their bench for key minutes in the bubble, which really put them over the edge.

Dwight Howard was a member of that bench unit and actually gave them some key minutes. Even though he didn't put up huge numbers, he provided them with some much-needed size.

The Lakers kept Howard around for another year and then decided to move on from him. They decided to get some other players to fill up that backup big man role.

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Howard seems to think that there was one specific moment that led the Lakers to not bring him back. He thinks that one comment towards LeBron James got him kicked off the team.

Howard called James a "b----" and he thinks that's the moment that led him to no longer be a Lakers player.

“I said that man, and I got kicked off the Lakers… That’s the year after we won the championship, man.”

Howard believes that had he not said that he might have been able to stay with the Lakers the following year. Instead, he signed with the 76ers before coming back for a final season with the Lakers.

James certainly has a lot of power in the organization, so it's certainly possible that he decided to talk to the front office about Howard's future. Howard was a polarizing figure on that team for a lot of reasons.

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The Lakers wanted to have someone else come in who they could rely on a little more than Howard. They ended up replacing him with Thomas Bryant and Tristan Thompson before bringing him back one more time.

While the Lakers weren't able to get another title, they still think they made the right decision. Howard wasn't going to be very effective in the next few years.

James has a lot of say on which players can help him win games. Howard isn't a guy who was going to help them win many games moving forward.

In his career, Howard averaged 15.7 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game.

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