Earlier today we shared the story of Kobe Bryant urging Dwight Howard to play through some pain while claiming that the Lakers’ center “worries too much” about media and fan criticism. Well Dwight Howard has responded to Kobe and critics. This isn’t looking good.
According to Dave McMenamin at ESPN:
Dwight Howard is fed up and let it be known that he is tired of other people trying to assess the severity of his shoulder injury.
“I want to play,” Howard said after participating in shootaround in advance of the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Boston Celtics on Thursday. “I mean, why wouldn’t I want to play? But at the same time, this is my career, this is my future, this is my life. I can’t leave that up to anybody else because nobody else is going to take care of me. So, if people are pissed off that I don’t play or if I do play, whatever it may be, so what? This is my career. If I go down, then what? Everybody’s life is going to go on. I don’t want to have another summer where I’m rehabbing and trying to get healthy again. I want to come back and have another great year. That’s what I want to do.”
Kobe Bryant publicly challenged Howard to return, telling ESPNBoston.com’s Jackie MacMullan on Wednesday, “We don’t have time for [Howard’s shoulder] to heal. … We need some urgency.”
Howard dismissed Bryant’s stance.
“That’s his opinion, that’s it,” Howard said. “He’s not a doctor, I’m not a doctor. That’s his opinion.”
