Kobe Bryant Asked Dwight Howard if He Didn’t Like Playing With Him

The Los Angeles Lakers’ season from hell keeps getting worse and more entertaining by the minute, it seems. Games are being lost, trade chatter is swirling, and management is pointing fingers. After a report came out that Dwight Howard had mocked Kobe Bryant‘s bad shooting games behind his back to teammates, Bryant reportedly confronted Dwight this morning and asked him what his problem was. Howard’s response isn’t known to the outside world, though he did apologize for his behavior when talking to the press today. Per the LA Times: “They held a clear-the-air team meeting before Wednesday morning’s shoot-around, with Kobe Bryant very directly asking Dwight Howard if he disliked playing with the long-time Lakers star. ‘Guys went at each other a little bit,’ said a person who witnessed the meeting. Coach Mike D’Antoni started it by saying he was tired of reading newspaper stories about players questioning his offense or wanting more touches. Bryant and Howard each fell under that category after the Lakers’ lifeless 95-83 loss Monday in Chicago: Bryant said the offense needed to slow down while Howard expressed displeasure after taking only five shots. D’Antoni then told the team to stop worrying about offense and start playing better defense. The Lakers are fifth in scoring (102.6 points a game) but 26th in defense (101.4 points a game). He then asked players to speak up. Steve Nash went first. [...] Bryant also spoke up, acknowledging he could be ‘hard to play with’ and asking Howard if that bothered him. Howard’s answer was unclear, though he did not engage Bryant in nearly as vocal a manner as Bryant engaged him. ‘He didn’t go back at Kobe,’ said the person who witnessed the meeting. It was not known how long the actual meeting lasted, but the Lakers’ shoot-around went an hour longer than expected.”