Clutch Points: “Why didn’t the Lakers just bring us back? We just won a [2020] championship… They went and got Marc Gasol and Montrezl Harrell. That was their way of saying, ‘we got younger and better at the [center] position.’” —Dwight Howard (via @MATHHOFFA) pic.twitter.com/uTz6hexoUD -via Twitter @ClutchPointsApp / August 3, 2023

Speaking on Math Hoffa’s Expert Opinion podcast, Dwight Howard detailed the stark contrast between the personalities of the two Lakers greats. “LeBron’s almost at like somebody from the south side of Georgia. We actin’ kind of like twins. Joking, silly, have a good time. We get on the court, we still gonna have a good time but we’re gonna dominate. Kobe, he not bulls**ting with nobody. He might not come to the locker room to talk. So he’s just gonna walk all the way past us,” Howard recalled. -via Clutch Points / August 2, 2023

Dwight Howard then added that, despite not seeing eye to eye with Kobe Bryant during the Lakers’ 2012-13 season, he now understands that the Black Mamba’s demeanor was the way it was so he could get an unfocused, veteran team to lock in. As one would recall, adding Howard was supposed to vault the Lakers into legitimate title contention. Instead, they won just 45 games, and Bryant had to pour everything he had just to get the Lakers to that position — costing him his health in the process. -via Clutch Points / August 2, 2023

Per Ramona Shelburne on “NBA Today”: I think the Sixers have been pretty clear in that they’re going to entertain conversations for James Harden because he has asked them to and Daryl Morey’s relationship with James Harden goes back so far and they’ve done a lot of things together in this league that he feels like he owes it to him to entertain trade conversations, but he’s also made it very clear we’re not going to trade James Harden for anything less than a player that they think puts them on the same percentage to win a championship and in Philly, they have this ‘What is your percentage to win a championship with the roster that you have?’ -via Sixers Wire / July 31, 2023

If the Clippers acquire James Harden in a deal with the Sixers this year … Baron Davis tells TMZ Sports he thinks it could lead to a title for Los Angeles at the end of the season. “I think that’d be dope!” the former NBA star said. -via TMZ.com / July 29, 2023

Being willing to take the Van Vleet risk rather than the Harden one says a lot about how the latter is viewed right now. Even the Clippers, Harden’s preferred destination, have been fairly unserious about what they’re willing to give up in order to acquire him. The prevailing sentiment seems to be that Harden is still valued, but on the team’s terms, which is a shift from the franchise-defining clout Harden had at his peak. -via Philly Voice / July 28, 2023

Clutch Points: “Bron’s more involved with everybody, with everything. On the bus he’s social, on the plane he’s social. I sat next to [Kobe on the plane]… He never talked, he was real to himself.” D’Angelo Russell compares LeBron and Kobe’s auras 👀 (via @PatBevPod) pic.twitter.com/0QQuIevJjS -via Twitter @ClutchPointsApp / August 3, 2023

D’Angelo Russell: “My Kobe was old; my Kobe was on his way out… I’ll just go from an aura perspective. Kobe was on his way out, but LeBron is more involved with everybody and everything. On the bus he’s social, on the plane he’s social, he’s just more sociable. When I was with Kobe, I sat next to him on the plane and we sat in one of the back seats… I sat next to him every time and just watched and studied him and just chill next to him – he never talked. -via TalkBasket / August 3, 2023

“On the floor, he was on his way out so he didn’t really have that youthness to him where he was bouncey, he was just getting to it. Bron obviously still has a different motivation, he’s still writing his book (career). Kobe already decided he was retiring that year. Our team was, everybody was on a one-year deal and there weren’t a lot of young guys so our ‘win now’ moment wasn’t there…” Russell stated. “It was a fun little run, but we got Kobe on the way out when he was happy-go-lucky and his spirit was a little different. Everybody always said like ‘Man, you lucky you got Kobe on his way out versus when he was still through the grind because he was nasty and competitive’ and everything you say he brought that into it.” -via TalkBasket / August 3, 2023