Report: Kobe Bryant Will Meet With Dwight Howard, Will Not Try to Convince Free Agent to Stay With Lakers

Kobe Bryant is willing to meet with Dwight Howard. But that is as far as the two-time NBA Finals Most Valuable Player will go.

Bryant will attend Tuesday’s meeting between the Lakers and Howard, when the team will make its pitch to the free agent center about why he should stay in Los Angeles. Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak, members of the Buss family and possibly coach Mike D’Antoni will try to convince Howard to re-sign with the Lakers, Yahoo! Sports reports.

Bryant won’t, but not because he wants Howard to leave.

“It has to be his decision,” Bryant said in an interview with the Lakers’ official website. “The last thing you want to do is convince a person that they want to be here. If you have to convince them, when challenges or adversity comes up next season, it’s very easy to say, ‘Well, they had to convince me to be here anyway. I don’t really want to be here. I’d rather be [somewhere else], but they sold me on it.’

“You want it to be his decision. When it’s something that’s rooted inside of him, it’s something he champions. I just want to be there to assist his decision.”

The Lakers will get one of the last cracks at speaking with Howard, who tipped off his free agency by meeting with the Rockets on Sunday night. Houston and Dallas are thought to be the front-runners, with Atlanta a distant possibility. Howard is thought to be “unlikely” to re-sign with Los Angeles.