It's obvious that Dwight Howard made the right choice by leaving the Los Angeles Lakers. After all, he's still talking about it two years after the fact.
The Sporting News reported on a tweet from ESPN's Baxter Holmes about a conversation he had with the Rockets' big man in Los Angeles as his current team beat his former team 99-87 at Staples Center on Sunday night.
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According to the Sporting News, Holmes asked Howard, who was sitting out the game with an ankle injury, about the state of the Lakers, who likely will be without Kobe Bryant for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury.
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Baxter tweeted Howard's response.
Dwight H. on Lakers: “As I look around their team, I see nothing but untapped potential.” ? "I don’t know. I just saw it in a commercial.”— Baxter Holmes (@BaxterHolmes) January 25, 2015
As The Sporting News noted, Howard's response was a reference to a GEICO Insurance television commercial in which Pinocchio plays the part of a motivational speaker.
Both Pinocchio and Howard were lying about their responses.
Subsequent tweets show Howard trying to show more class. In a question about Kobe Bryant's legacy, Howard said, "Five championships, Hall of Famer, that's Kobe Bryant."
The two had a run-in on the NBA's opening night this season, also in Los Angeles, when Bryant swiped at a Howard rebound. Howard responded by swinging his elbows to fend off Bryant, and one of the elbows caught Bryant in the face.
The two exchanged words after Howard was called for the foul.
Howard previously had taken exceptions to comments new Lakers coach Byron Scott said about Howard lacking Bryant's seriousness about winning NBA championships, insinuating Howard may have been afraid of Bryant.
"I didn't leave L.A. because I was afraid of Kobe Bryant," Howard told the Houston Chronicle at the time. "I went to a good situation for myself. I can't change people's opinions, but I did what I had to do for myself."
Howard added, "It's over with now. There's no need to continue to talk about it. It happened. We played together for a year," Howard said of his time in L.A. with Bryant, according to the Chronicle. "The whole team was injured, didn't really get an opportunity to do what we all set out to do.
"Things happen. Life happens. I think everybody needs to move forward from the situation and worry about their respective teams."
Which contradicted his joke on Sunday night. To be fair, he was asked about the Lakers. But he didn't say, "No comment."
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