More Lakers drama: Dwight Howard mocks Kobe at All-Star Game, Kobe doesn’t care if Dwight is traded

There has to be some type of cosmic shift happening in the universe. Maybe that meteor crashing in Russia last week was the final sign. We all know things in Laker land have been beyond shaky this season and there doesn’t look to be any let up in sight. Dwight Howard was notably MIA during All-Star weekend outside of the events he’s required to attend. Now comes word that Dwight was reportedly mocking Kobe Bryant in the West’s locker room on Sunday.

Details provided by the New York Post:

Relations between Kobe Bryant and his Lakers teammate Dwight Howard were beyond icy during the weekend’s All-Star game in Houston — with Howard mocking Bryant behind his back in the locker room, sources exclusively tell Page Six. Amid other reports that the Lakers’ chilly on-court chemistry was spilling into the locker room, we’re told that Howard “grabbed Kobe’s uniform, put it on, and imitated him in front of all the other players on the West team. He was joking and berating Kobe” to fellow NBA stars, including the Clippers’ Chris Paul and Blake Griffin and Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant. The source added Bryant later arrived in the locker room, “said hello to everyone on the team except Howard, grabbed his stuff and moved as far away from Howard as he could.” Despite a recent clear-the-air meeting in Memphis, relations haven’t thawed.

I mean, that sounds like something Dwight might do, yes? Remember that’s his “thing” though, imitations. If you caught the sideline interview with Dwight during the game, he clearly had run out of f**ks to give… But maybe he was just uninspired. But it’s clear, things aren’t cool between Kobe and Dwight. Check out Kobe’s statement to the LA Times about Dwight possibly being traded this week:

“Howard said Friday that Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak had told him he would remain with the team through Thursday’s trade deadline. On Sunday, Bryant said ‘it doesn’t matter’ what his team does with the six-time All-Star. ‘I don’t know what they are going to do,’ Bryant said Sunday at Toyota Center after helping the West defeat the East, 143-138, in the All-Star game. ‘But at this point …, it doesn’t matter. what matters to us is what we do on Wednesday [against the Boston Celtics] and go from there. That’s the most important thing. That’s my message to the team is that you can’t worry about the future, you can’t worry about the past, you just have to focus on the present and we really have to maximize every single game.’”

Once again, not literal shade but clearly, Kobe doesn’t deem Dwight’s presence as the key to the Lakers success. With the passing of Dr. Buss on Monday, there are more pressing details on Jim Buss’ plate.