Dwight Howard is apologizing to his former Orlando Magic teammates after the Lakers star appeared to disparage them in a recent interview.
Speaking to CBS affiliate KCAL earlier this week, Howard said: “My team in Orlando was a team full of people who nobody wanted, and I was the leader, and I led that team with a smile on my face.”
Though it appeared that Dwight Howard was knocking his Magic teammates , Dwight clarified that he only meant to say that they were underdogs.
“Nobody really talked about our team,” Howard said. “It was underrated. Everybody overlooked us for the whole time I was there in Orlando and I hated that. We all hated that. We thrived off that. My comments were never to say anything disrespectful to those guys. Those were my teammates for years. They helped me become the player that I am today and we all got to the Finals because of that.”
Howard added that he would never say anything disrespectful to his Orlando teammates and that his words were twisted in a negative light. Still, his words weren’t taken too kindly by Jameer Nelson and Rashard Lewis, who both earned All-Star bids while playing alongside Dwight Howard.
Howard may be pining for the days of toiling away in relative obscurity since he joined the Lakers. Los Angeles has been the NBA’s version of a soap opera, starting with the team’s woeful start and firing of coach Mike Brown and going through some public spats between players and with new coach Mike D’Antoni.
Howard himself was the subject of many trade rumors amid reports that he was butting heads with teammates and management, but Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak recently committed that Howard is indeed the future of the Lakers franchise .
Dwight Howard might get a chance to apologize to his remaining Orlando Magic teammates in person. The Lakers are headed to Florida to take on the Magic this weekend.
