The No. 1 overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft is making a big claim this week about the No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft.

Dwight Howard. Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

On the latest episode of his podcast “Above The Rim with DH 12,” eight-time NBA All-Star center Dwight Howard spoke out on his time with the Los Angeles Lakers.

During his remarks, Howard made the claim that he was kicked off the Lakers over a comment that he made to LeBron James in the middle of a game during the 2019-20 season.

Howard had ex-NBA guard Mario Chalmers, a former James teammate on the Miami Heat, on as a guest and Chalmers told the story of how he once told James to “stop acting like a b—.”

“I said that [too] and I got kicked off the Lakers,” said Howard. “So I know how you feel.

“You can’t say that,” Howard added. “I said that one time, and I was off the team … It was after we won the championship, man. It happened on defense. I was like, ‘Yo, you gotta get back.’ And [LeBron] got mad because I said something. And I was like, ‘Yo, stop acting like a b—, man.’”

You can see the full video clip here.

Howard and James were initially teammates during the 2019-20 campaign, which culminated with the Lakers winning the NBA title in the Orlando bubble. After that season, the Lakers let Howard leave in free agency to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers.

The claim from Howard may not be entirely believable because the Lakers did bring him back for another stint with James in 2021-22 (with the two having some lighthearted moments together).

Howard has also voiced more of these conspiracy theories of sorts in the past, once claiming that politics kept him off the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team.

But what we do know is that James really does not like being called a ‘b—.’

That word was at the heart of his beef with Draymond Green in the 2016 NBA Finals (that led to Green’s suspension for a pivotal game), and James indeed nearly tore Chalmers’ head off for calling him that word on the Heat a few years earlier.