NBA Trade Rumors: Bogus Dwight Howard Rumor Killed by Kobe Bryant

A couple days ago, a rumor started floating around the Internet that Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant had tried and failed to make a sales pitch to Orlando Magic superstar Dwight Howard.

That would have been questionable enough, but the fact that the rumor included Kobe comparing Howard to Tyson Chandler made it awfully suspicious. Surely Kobe wouldn't disrespect Howard like that.

The rumor came from RealGM.com. Per a source, this was the site's scoop:

"

Bryant told Howard that he wanted him to come to Los Angeles and help him win two more championships, but not as an understudy. He wanted Howard to be the team's third option behind himself and Pau Gasol, according to a source. Bryant tried to sell Howard on being his "Tyson Chandler" and made it clear that Los Angeles would be his, but only once Bryant decided he was done playing.

Howard was turned off by the idea.

"

And Howard would be turned off by the idea. With all respect to Chandler, he's nowhere near as talented as Howard is. Howard is the best center in the game by a pretty wide margin.

The rumor circulated for a couple days, but Peter Vecsey of the New York Post decided to do everyone a favor by finding out if it was true by contacting Bryant himself.

Vecsey reached out to Kobe via email. Kobe initially dodged saying the rumor wasn't true, but he eventually came out and said it.

“It’s not true,” he wrote.

For the record, Kobe dodged saying it wasn't true because he first didn't know what was going on, and then because he was annoyed at having to get involved with it.

“As far as what? I have no clue what’s even being said. I have a lot to deal with as it is,” read his first email.

“omg! I’m not getting mixed up in this kiddy drama spit, bro. too old for that spit,” read his second email.

In a nutshell, there goes another Dwight Howard-to-the-Lakers rumor.

These rumors will keep coming, but the credible ones are going to be few and far between. As it is, the last credible Howard-to-LA came from Alex Kennedy of HOOPSWORLD, who reported that the Lakers have been informed that Howard will not sign a long-term extension with the Lakers. If that's true, he won't be traded there. That simple.

Will Howard be traded eventually? That's anyone's guess. Frankly, I don't know. I will say this much, though: If a team does trade for Howard, it won't be to get a third option who can serve as a Tyson Chandler clone.