The Atlanta Hawks will face the Los Angles Lakers tonight, and this will be one of the first games Howard will go against one of his former teams in a Hawks uniform. As we all know Howard had a short stint with the Lakers that didn’t end so well, as him and Kobe Bryant could never get on the same page. Howard left the Lakers and joined the Houston Rockets the following year. Bryant has been on the record calling Howard “soft” after Howard gave Bryant an elbow during a game between the Lakers and Rockets in 2014. Howard still doesn’t want to talk about Bryant as he was asked would it look strange that the five time champion isn’t in uniform tonight.
Howard was asked Wednesday morning if it was weird to play the Lakers without Bryant.“Not really,” Howard said.
When it was stated by a reporter that Bryant was an institution with the Lakers, Howard first responded with a long pause. Then he offered a simple non-answer. “Let Kobe retire in peace,” Howard said.
Howard did the smart thing to ignore that question, that era of his career is over now and he has nothing to gain by still answering questions about the Lakers and Bryant, as he looks to uplift his career and start playing at the level he’s capable of with the Hawks.
