Lakers News: Stephen A. Smith's Choice Words For Dwight Howard Are Reductive

Stephen A. Smith with something loud to say? Go figure.

Everyone following the NBA knows about Anthony Davis' and Dwight Howard's sideline scuffle during their loss to the Phoenix Suns this past Friday. If somehow you still missed it, here it is.

Thankfully for Laker fans, both Howard and Davis said they 'squashed their beef' and nothing is wrong with their relationship anymore. This does happen and Laker fans should probably not think too much of it.

Leave it to Stephen A. Smith to do that for everyone. If there was no real wedge between Davis and Howard, Smith is sure trying to drive on there. He had some choice words for Howard. 

“You’re Dwight Howard. I like Dwight Howard. Look at me right now Dwight Howard. I would strongly advise you not to get on the nerves of Anthony Davis. You are lucky to be in this league. Now I think he should be, don’t get me wrong. I think he’s a major contributor when he’s focused. But if you find yourself on the outside looking in and Anthony Davis got a problem with you, remember it wasn’t too long ago where Dwight Howard was wondering whether or not he’d have a job in the NBA. Landed with the Lakers, won a title, ended up going to Philly, they bring him back. You’re still making veteran minimum over two million dollars. This is Anthony Davis we talk about here. Do not mess that up.”

There are some valid points in Smith's rant. You have to clean up the bravado and redundancies, but Smith is basically saying Howard should be defaulting to Davis' leadership since Davis is the superstar who will lead the team to success. This has some merit but it's reductive. It takes the human equation out of the disagreement. Howard knows Davis is 'the man' of this Lakers team. That doesn't mean Howard will or should kowtow in a disagreement. We're all human. What if Davis was honestly being unreasonable? That isn't a bad thing, he's human and we all are like that sometimes. 

Overall, Howard should take a passenger seat to Davis when it comes to the direction of the team, but we don't know exactly what that disagreement was. Smith should have taken that into account before he took the elevator to his soapbox.