Valuetainment - June 21, 2025


＂Still Hurts Me To This Day＂ - Dwight Howard UNLOADS On Lakers' BETRAYAL After Championship Run


Episode Stats

Length

7 minutes

Words per Minute

188.41438

Word Count

1,378

Sentence Count

135

Misogynist Sentences

3


Summary

Former Laker Kobe Bryant joins Jemele to discuss his career in the NBA, his career with the Lakers, and what it means to be a Laker today. He also talks about his relationship with Kobe and Kobe's legacy, and why he thinks he should have been traded.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 As a diehard Laker fan, okay, and you know Lakers,
00:00:04.960 if you're a Laker fan, you're a Yankees fan, you're a Patriots fan,
00:00:09.620 you're a Steelers fan, you're kind of spoiled.
00:00:11.760 It's either you win or you don't, right?
00:00:13.260 I mean, that's like this standard.
00:00:14.240 Celtics is in the same category.
00:00:16.520 You come on.
00:00:17.760 The first time you come with Kobe and Nash, that doesn't work out.
00:00:21.900 Okay, cool.
00:00:22.340 You come the second time around, and you're playing loose.
00:00:25.500 You actually look like you're having fun.
00:00:28.060 You're happy.
00:00:29.980 You're like, hey, come off the bench?
00:00:32.440 I don't care.
00:00:33.080 How do you need me?
00:00:33.660 Put me in.
00:00:34.080 They put you in, boom, you're dominating.
00:00:36.100 Playoff, you showed up in a major way.
00:00:38.660 You guys win a chip.
00:00:41.100 I sincerely, as a fan, thought they're going to sign him for probably two or three years.
00:00:45.100 He's going to stay here and play this role.
00:00:47.180 It's tough to find guys like you in the league.
00:00:49.440 You just can't find them.
00:00:50.820 And then all of a sudden, boom, nothing happens.
00:00:53.500 Yeah, that's what I felt.
00:00:54.700 I was like, oh, man, I come in and do my job.
00:00:57.940 I'm secure in two more years.
00:01:00.580 That's all I was thinking about.
00:01:01.820 That's what I thought about.
00:01:02.320 I was like, man, if I can secure two more years, that's it.
00:01:05.400 I don't need to go nowhere else.
00:01:06.760 I can get me a small little crib in L.A.
00:01:09.880 A small little crib.
00:01:12.780 35,000-scripted crib.
00:01:13.820 I have that at home, so I was saying I don't need a big space.
00:01:17.440 I just have something nice for me and my son and my daughter while we're there for the games and stuff like that.
00:01:23.240 But then I can go back home, so it's fine.
00:01:25.660 But then when I never got the deal, I think it still hurts me a little bit to this day.
00:01:31.640 So, you know, the stories we hear, right, from the outside, we're not on the inside.
00:01:36.100 So we don't know anybody in the Lakers organization, Buss, or any of these guys.
00:01:39.780 The story is, you know, LeBron fired a lot of coaches.
00:01:45.440 And LeBron will say, I've never done anything to get coaches fired.
00:01:48.440 A lot of coaches get fired because of LeBron.
00:01:50.520 Fine.
00:01:50.800 You hear great players have that reputation and they go through it.
00:01:55.220 I think Jordan even had it with Doug Collins back in the days, if you remember, when he's like, just shut up and give him the money.
00:02:00.520 What is it?
00:02:01.140 Just give him the fucking ball, right?
00:02:02.860 Remember when Doug Collins said that.
00:02:04.240 Get out of his way.
00:02:04.880 Get out of his way and give him the fucking ball.
00:02:06.240 So what call did you, what play did you call?
00:02:09.700 I just told everybody, you know, get that fighter.
00:02:11.800 Iso, get out of the way.
00:02:13.500 So it's like, ah, it's kind of cool, but do you win a championship?
00:02:16.060 Phil comes, the rest is history.
00:02:17.640 How much of this was LeBron calling the shots to move on and how much of it you think it was management?
00:02:23.680 This one is so weird to know because I don't know if it could be management because I'm like, they're the ones who first brought me in.
00:02:36.300 But then I'm like, it can't be LeBron because this is something that he wants to win, so he's going to get the best available pieces.
00:02:45.060 So I'm like, these were the best available pieces.
00:02:50.360 So I really don't truly understand why none of us really came back the next year, especially those core guys who really, I think, got us over the top.
00:03:00.200 You know, you got the Rondos, the Avery Bradless who didn't even play in the finals or in the championship run in the bubble,
00:03:07.660 but he was so significant all year, Avery Bradley, in his defense that, you know, bringing somebody like that back.
00:03:17.160 He came from Celtics. Did he come from the Celtics?
00:03:18.460 He came from the Celtics.
00:03:19.720 He was a beast defender. It's tough to find guys like that.
00:03:23.200 But why do, I mean, you have to have these conversations together to say, Rondo to me, was Rondo a good locker room guy?
00:03:29.960 Yes. All of us are. Like, just think about this.
00:03:33.220 How can you say somebody is a cancer in the locker room?
00:03:37.040 You're going to call Draymond a cancer if he's mad that they lose and he goes off on his teammates?
00:03:41.380 Kerr would never call him that. Kerr would never call him that.
00:03:43.320 You know what I'm saying?
00:03:44.420 So, you know, sometimes passion might look like ego to people on the outside when they see like a DeMarcus in the locker room mad at his teammates or something,
00:03:56.780 or, you know, say, hey, y'all got to step it up.
00:03:59.360 You know, they might take that as this is his ego, but not saying it like maybe this is the only way he knows how to show his passion.
00:04:08.380 I'm going to use him as an example.
00:04:10.740 I can use myself as well.
00:04:12.180 You know, there's been times where I've been labeled as a locker room cancer because of my passion.
00:04:18.760 You know, I'm not going to let nobody just run over me, but at the same time, I'm going to speak, you know, my mind.
00:04:24.880 You know, and a lot of times in, you know, the sports world, when you do speak your mind, you go out of what, you know, the team may want or you can get penalized for it.
00:04:39.540 You play with Kobe and you played with LeBron.
00:04:42.960 And you played with both of them at their peak, right?
00:04:47.520 Can I say that?
00:04:48.160 Yeah, I think you played with both.
00:04:49.380 Right?
00:04:49.660 And Olympics.
00:04:50.420 So you went 08 Olympics.
00:04:52.460 That's right.
00:04:52.760 So the one where Kobe ran through Pau Gasol.
00:04:55.240 Yes, I was there.
00:04:56.280 Okay.
00:04:56.880 So question becomes, you know, the story with the Lakers when you play with LeBron locker room.
00:05:05.940 Are you getting the vibe where it's like, dude, this guy's happy for me to be here.
00:05:11.280 We're meshing.
00:05:12.560 Rondo's mission.
00:05:14.160 Everyone's meshing.
00:05:15.220 If the Lakers win, don't you think the guy that's the face of the league has the authority to call the Lakers and say, guys, don't get rid of him.
00:05:23.140 Don't get rid of him.
00:05:23.880 Don't get rid of him.
00:05:26.140 I'm pretty sure he does.
00:05:28.220 And I'm pretty sure he did.
00:05:29.600 But, you know, we'll never know if it was something personal or it was just, you know, they're moving in a different direction.
00:05:40.300 I don't think we'll ever really get a true and honest answer.
00:05:43.500 Have you ever asked LeBron directly?
00:05:44.380 Have you ever had a chance to ask him?
00:05:45.420 I haven't asked him.
00:05:46.400 That's a good word to ask.
00:05:47.760 But it's like, at this point, it's like water under the bridge.
00:05:51.900 Like, why even ask him, you know?
00:05:54.040 It would have been, by the way.
00:05:56.220 He would have had a chance to have him.
00:05:57.200 How many does he have right now?
00:05:58.160 He's got four, right?
00:05:59.080 So he wins two more.
00:06:01.200 That's six.
00:06:02.160 Michael six, Kobe five, Magic five.
00:06:04.340 That's like a good argument.
00:06:07.800 You know, it's a good argument to ask because that would have put him in a complete different situation.
00:06:12.040 What's up, y'all?
00:06:12.980 This your boy, Dwight Howard, a.k.a.
00:06:14.860 the Hall of Fame Superman in the building.
00:06:18.140 If y'all want to connect with me, ask me any questions, just go to Manectin.
00:06:22.240 I got all the answers for y'all.
00:06:25.040 Yeah, I can tell you how many women.
00:06:27.020 Wilt Chamberlain.
00:06:27.600 No, that was just fake.
00:06:28.520 But guess what?
00:06:29.460 I got all the expertise.
00:06:31.500 Basketball, chess.
00:06:32.820 If you want to learn how to do Snapchat, if you want to learn to get that jump shot silky smooth like me,
00:06:38.020 if you want the fresh fade with the nice hair, come check your boy out.
00:06:42.580 We got expertise in a lot of areas.
00:06:44.600 Remember, Manect and connect.
00:06:46.880 I'll see y'all there.
00:06:48.620 Peace.
00:06:49.860 If you enjoyed this video, you want to watch more videos like this, click here.
00:06:52.900 And if you want to watch the entire podcast, click here.
00:06:55.660 Bye.
00:06:56.280 Bye.
00:06:56.540 Bye.
00:06:56.980 Bye.
00:06:57.800 Bye.
00:06:57.880 Bye.
00:06:58.640 Bye.
00:06:59.680 Bye.
00:07:00.240 Bye.
00:07:01.100 Bye.
00:07:01.960 Bye.
00:07:02.200 Bye.
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00:07:03.700 Bye.
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00:07:05.560 Bye.
00:07:10.320 Bye.