Kobe Bryant On Defensive After Telling Dwight Howard to Play Hurt; Howard Responds

In the latest twist to come out of Lakers Nation, Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant is denying that he is putting any pressure on teammate Dwight Howard to return from his shoulder injury, after making comments this week indicating otherwise--while at the same time, Howard is firing back.

Bryant, a five-time NBA champion and former league MVP, raised some eyebrows Wednesday in an interview with ESPN when he said that Howard, who is out with a torn labrum in his shoulder, needed to play through some pain and get back on the court in spite of his injury.

"We don't have time for (Howard's shoulder) to heal," Bryant told ESPNBoston.com. "We need some urgency."

Bryant further added that Howard, who played with the Orlando Magic for eight of his nine seasons in the NBA before coming to the 16-time NBA champion Lakers via trade last summer, has never been in a position where excellence was constantly demanded of him.

"(Howard) has never been in a position where someone is driving him as hard as I am, as hard as this organization is," Bryant told MacMullan. "It's win a championship or everything is a complete failure. That's just how (the Lakers) do it. And that's foreign to him.

"When you think about it, there aren't many organizations that look at it that way. There are only two that can really honestly say that's what they live by -- Los Angeles and Boston."

His comments were not well received by Howard, who said Thursday that he while wants to play, he wasn't going to rush back when he wasn't ready.

"I want to play," Howard said during a team shootaround on Thursday. "I mean, why wouldn't I want to play? But at the same time, this is my career, this is my future, this is my life. I can't leave that up to anybody else because nobody else is going to take care of me. So, if people are pissed off that I don't play or if I do play, whatever it may be, so what? This is my career. If I go down, then what? Everybody's life is going to go on. I don't want to have another summer where I'm rehabbing and trying to get healthy again. I want to come back and have another great year. That's what I want to do."

Regarding Bryant's statements about the All-Star center's shoulder, Howard said, ""That's his opinion, that's it. He's not a doctor, I'm not a doctor. That's his opinion."

Reports of infighting between Howard and Bryant have been gasoline to the fire behind the trade rumors circulating around Howard leading up to the Feb. 21 NBA trade deadline, added on top of reports of Howard being disgruntled with the offensive system of the Lakers.

And yet, Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak declared this week that the Lakers would not be trading Howard before the trade deadline expires, while other in the Lakers organization are still holding out hope that they can sign Howard when he becomes a free agent this summer.

Despite his comments, Bryant said Thursday that he wasn't putting any pressure on Howard to return despite the status of the big man's shoulder.

"Not even a little bit," Bryant said, questioning the tone of the ESPN story at the same time. "In this case, it's not legitimate. I was shocked."

ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, who spoke with Bryant on Thursday, also weighed in during a segment on what the 15-time NBA All-Star's thoughts were regarding this latest development.

"Kobe is livid because Kobe's mentality is that 'What is the news in all of this?' Smith said. "He said 'Anybody who comes to the Los Angeles Lakers and puts on the purple and gold understands that championships is how we are measured.'"