Kobe Bryant Predicts Dwight Howard Stays With the Lakers


Los Angeles Lakers superstar guard Kobe Bryant knows how important Dwight Howard is to his basketball future. Bryant says the Lakers have to “lock in” the free agent big fella, and seems to think they will this summer. Per ESPN: “There’s always so much talk going on, especially with big-name guys going here, going there, but that happens once in a blue moon,’ Bryant said. ‘I think at the end of the day, everybody stays.’ By ‘everybody,’ Bryant was referring to Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard and Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul. […] However, Bryant already has begun the pitch process of bringing back Howard. ‘I spoke to him maybe a couple weeks ago, just to check in with him, see what he was doing, see what he was up to, see how his summer was going,’ Bryant said. ‘But I haven’t spoken to him since. I know he’s got a big decision to make and I’m sure he’ll take the visits and talk to the players from the teams that he’s considering. We’ll touch base a lot more.’ […] ‘It’s not like you have guys like Dwight Howard just walking around every day,’ Bryant said. ‘Those guys are hard to find. They don’t grow on trees. I think when you have somebody like that, with his talent level, you have to, you have to be able to keep him and lock him in with this franchise, and with the history that this franchise has of having great centers, this would, in my opinion, be the perfect spot for him.’ Even if Howard decides to stay in L.A., it remains to be seen how long it will be before Bryant joins him on the court. Bryant, who underwent surgery to repair a torn left Achilles tendon in mid-April, admitted he might not be ready to play by the start of the regular season in late October. ‘I’m shooting for November, December [at the] latest,’ Bryant said. ‘That’s my goal in my head. That’s what I’m shooting for. I’m really, really determined about getting there. When they think the tendon is strong enough for me to be able to progress to doing really heavy weights and more conditioning and things like that, then it’s on me. I won’t have any fear or any worry of the tendon rupturing again. There’s nothing I can do about it. If it goes again, it goes again. But once I’m ready to go, it’s going to be on.'”