Upon Further Review, Did Kobe Bryant Call Dwight Howard A “B**ch-A** N***er?”

After watching the video we posted earlier today showing Kobe Bryant cursing out Dwight Howard during the Rockets-Lakers game on Tuesday, one of Dime‘s employees claims Kobe allegedly follows up the aforementioned curse of Dwight with, “bitch-ass n***er.” If so, and the NBA higher-ups somehow watch the video and come to the same conclusions, he could be fined.

Here’s the video one more time:

In a semi-related incident from last season, Matt Barnes was docked $25K by the NBA when he called out his teammates while using the n-word in a tweet following his ejection from the game. Charles Barkley chimed in on the use of the n-word by Barnes, as is his custom on racial matters now, and the whole story blew over pretty quickly. If Kobe somehow gets fined because of this video and the *alleged* use of the n-word on the court, we’re guessing it’ll be a much bigger deal.

On the periphery of Kobe’s alleged comments, comes an interesting look back at the early-Twitter days of NBA players. A redditor recently delved into the first tweets of famous NBA players in early 2011 (players include college Damian Lillard, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Ty Lawson, and others). The tweets came before the mainstream media had caught on to the social media site as a source for news. Homophobia and a casual use of the n-word is littered throughout their 140-character missives, in the time before a PR firm or a rep usually kept an eye on such things.

We’re not personally offended by the early NBA tweets, or by Kobe’s purported comment towards Dwight. We’ve heard a lot worse on the playground, and all NBA players have, too. Most people commenting on the video in question are praising Kobe, but there are a lot of Kobe fans out there.

Regardless of what happens — or more likely, doesn’t happen — to Kobe for his purported put-down of Dwight in Tuesday’s game, in this day and age of camera phones, it’s best to treat most moments like they may become public.

What did Kobe say?

Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.

Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.

×