The Los Angeles Lakers are the 2020 NBA champions, making them a 17-time championship-winning team. This is also a time for celebration for Dwight Howard, as the Laker player received his first NBA championship in his sixteen-year career. However, the NBA champion has been in news headlines a lot lately for everything but his career highlight.
As it has been for a majority of people this year, 2020 has been tough for Howard. While finding a seemingly perfect home in LA as he’s a part of the Lakers squad, he went through trials and tribulations in his personal life. The mother of his six-year-old child passed away around the same time that Kobe Bryant passed away, which also hit him on a very deep level.
“This year has been one of the craziest years that I’ve ever experienced in life,” Howard said in an interview with Shams Charania. “It’s been good, it’s been bad, it’s been ugly, it’s been torture. It’s been every kind of emotion that you could possibly deal with. The good thing about it is throughout everything that has happened, not once have I ever thought about giving up or quitting. We’re almost at the finish line. It’s been awesome to go through this journey. Life is a crazy journey. Through it all, for me, instead of complaining and sulking in defeat, just stay strong and true to yourself.”
The news of the latest championship win elated fans throughout social media that joined in celebration with Howard. Fans hailed him with comments of praise and encouragement as he took to Instagram live in with an emotional message. “Everybody out there, don’t ever give up on your dreams!” Howard stated. “You can f**kin do it, I swear! Just keep fighting. I swear, don’t ever give up on yourself. Look at this sh*t bruh!”
“Everybody out there, don’t ever give up on your dreams! You can f**kin do it, I swear! Just keep fighting. I swear, don’t ever give up on yourself. Look at this sh*t bruh!”
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) October 12, 2020
– An emotional Dwight Howard after winning an NBA Championship 🙏🏽pic.twitter.com/J8nB4YwCI9
During his social posts, however, an accidental post of a screenshot showing a text exchange with him and a lady friend may have pushed his child’s mother, Royce Reed, to share a few words herself. For years, he and his Basketball Wives ex shared a contentious relationship and although it’s been peaceful lately, trouble is afoot.
Taking to Instagram, she wrote, “Imagine having to text a 3rd party to try and find out if this person plans on seeing their 2 kids that live here and that they haven’t seen since July or SPOKEN to since August before they leave the city and the response is ‘I don’t know, I gotta see what the team doin. A multimillionaire who can catch any flight with a choice to spend a couple hours with children who want to think he’s their own personal Superman. A child who REALLY NEEDS HIM RIGHT NOW!”
Continuing, she added, “But… I hold this little boy at night through tears and anger. I comfort him. I raise him with love not through money. So anyone who has an issue with that F— YALL! Straight up! Braylon will always cause my lioness to come out! PERIOD!” She also made claims in a post that their son wants to change his name and had been crying because his father was “in his same city but won’t call, text, visit, or send note by pigeon.”
It’s been that the NBA player has fathered around five children by five different women. Another one of his children’s mothers, former gospel singer Christine Vest, shared the sentiment of Reed in a post of her own, echoing that Howard has also been neglecting their son. “Imagine watching the love of your life or someone you care/cared about become a terrible parent, ignore their child’s emotional needs for the sake of ego and pride and literally leave their other child to be taken care of by a babysitter for, say, 2 months,” Vest wrote on her Instagram story. “Imagine they Ignore their children and neglect speaking to them. Would you root for them if they won anything? Would you support that person publicly?”
Now in a heartbreaking turn of events, his son with Royce Reed, 12-year-old Braylon, came forward with his own message. He took to Instagram to share Vest’s message to his own account, adding in his own words, “From my brother mom…My dad isn’t a real dad. He don’t even talk to me and he know I’m sad and need him. I’m almost 13 so I can talk now.”
Howard hasn’t publicly responded to his children’s mother’s, or son Braylon’s claim. We hope the family can work the issues out together.