Photo Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Dwight Howard Passed On Sneaker Deal Because He Wanted To Continue Wearing Kobes
The superteam that wasn’t!
The Los Angeles Lakers started the 2012-13 NBA season as one of the top contenders after going all out in the offseason.
Steve Nash – Kobe Bryant – Metta World Peace – Pau Gasol – Dwight Howard
The starting lineup consisting of 5 NBA All-Stars was planned to be the counterpoint to the superteam in the East, the Miami Heat.
While the Heat ended up winning the title (rebound Bosh, back out to Allen, BAAANG…), the Lakers season ended early. The team never got it going, had to fight through injuries and dysfunctions among players – mainly the fights between Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard.
This Lakers superteam experiment ended after this sole season and Dwight Howard signed with the Houston Rockets. Seven years later, Dwight Howard is back in LA, wearing purple and gold, and things have finally worked out.
Even Kobe and Dwight made up after all these years and their relationship had gotten to a point where Howard, who was part of this year’s Dunk Contest during All-Star Saturday, was asking Kobe for some contest help.
But a couple of weeks before All-Star weekend, Bryant was tragically killed in a helicopter crash.
Howard, who was devastated by Kobe’s death, like the entire NBA world, wanted to continue honoring his former teammate by wearing Kobe sneakers, and even passed on a six-figure sneaker deal offer because of it, according to ESPN’s sneaker-guru Nick DePaula.
Dwight Howard passed on 6-figure sneaker deal offers back in February because he wanted to continue wearing Kobes, per @NickDePaula pic.twitter.com/qjcxwXlxpG
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) October 1, 2020
