LeBron James empowered his agent Rich Paul to meet with several teams to Klutch’s offices in Cleveland for free-agent presentations without him present.

Those meetings were leaked to the public and the perception was that they were conducted to garner attention to their agency.

The Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks met with Paul, in addition to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“Just used as props to get attention and publicize their business,” one league executive told Yahoo Sports. “Maybe that’s smart to some people, but you have to deal with the same people again and again in this league. Those things can come back on you eventually.”

An elbow from Dwight Howard to Kobe Bryant's chin initiated a scuffle during the fourth quarter of Tuesday's 108-90 win by the Houston Rockets over the Los Angeles Lakers.

The two immediately began trash-talking each other and had to be separated.

"He elbowed me in the face, and I'm gonna let him know, I don't like that," Bryant said after the game. "It's that simple."

A Lakers source said Bryant repeatedly called Howard "soft."

"It's fantastic," Bryant said. "That's the game. That's all part of the game. Elbows are a part of the game. Trash-talking is part of the game. I don't know where the NBA became so sensitive. It's all part of it."

Howard refused to go into specifics when asked about the incident by reporters.

"What do y'all want me to say, because I'm not [going] to give y'all nothing," Howard said. "It's stupid. We won the game. It's over with. I mean, there's no need to go into it. We won the game. It's about basketball. I mean it's over with. It's nothing. I'm not even focused on it."

Byron Scott believes Bryant and Howard simply do not like each other, but Bryant disagreed.

"You can't help but like him," Bryant said, smiling. "He's a teddy bear. You can't help but like him. I really meant that. He's a really nice kid. But you know, when you're competing, you have a goal in mind. I know one way to get there. There's certain times when we didn't see eye to eye, but that wasn't one of those situations."

Ahead of the Houston Rockets' opening night game at the Los Angeles Lakers, Dwight Howard said his free agency decision in 2013 had nothing to do with Kobe Bryant.

"I didn't leave L.A. because I was afraid of Kobe Bryant," Howard said Tuesday, according to the Houston Chronicle. "I went to a good situation for myself. I can't change people's opinions, but I did what I had to do for myself."

A report from ESPN's Henry Abbott last week suggested Bryant was part of the reason why Howard left, while Byron Scott also theorized on the departure.

"My outside perspective is Kobe is a real serious guy and wants to win championships," Scott said Monday. "I don't know if Dwight is that serious about it. I know No. 24 is. I think that probably was the clash."

Howard told reporters he had "no response" to Scott's comments.

"It's over with now. There's no need to continue to talk about it. It happened. We played together for a year," Howard said of his time in L.A. with Bryant, according to the Chronicle. "The whole team was injured, didn't really get an opportunity to do what we all set out to do.

"Things happen. Life happens. I think everybody needs to move forward from the situation and worry about their respective teams."

The Houston Rockets have waived Jeff Adrien, Ish Smith and Earl Clark, the team announced Monday.

Adrien and Smith signed guaranteed deals with the Rockets in free agency.

The Houston Rockets have claimed forward Earl Clark off waivers.

Clark (6-10, 234, Louisville), a sixth year forward appeared in 54 games during the 2013-14 season with Cleveland (45 games) and New York (nine games) averaging 4.8 points and 2.6 rebounds in 14.2 minutes.

Clark was waived by the Memphis Grizzlies during this training camp.

The Houston Rockets have signed Geron Johnson and requested waivers on Akil Mitchell.

Johnson (6-3, 203, Memphis), appeared in 67 contests at Memphis University holding career averages of 9.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in 28.3 minutes.

Mitchell (6-9, 230, Virginia), appeared in 133 contests and held career averages of 6.9 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.1 assists as a Virginia Cavalier.

Veteran forward Josh Powell has been waived by the Houston Rockets, a league source told RealGM.

Powell had a non-guaranteed contract for 2014-15 as part of the multi-year deal he signed late last season. Despite the likelihood of his release, Powell entered training camp as one of the Rockets’ locker room voices, a close friend of Dwight Howard who trained with the All-Star center in Atlanta throughout the offseason.

Powell appeared in one game a season ago, scoring five points, grabbing four rebounds and recording one blocked shot.

In parts of seven NBA seasons with Dallas, Indiana, Golden State, both Los Angeles teams and Houston, Powell has averaged 3.9 points and 2.5 rebounds. The 6-foot-9 big man served as a contributing role player in the Lakers’ back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010.

Chris Bosh was close to signing a four-year, $88 million deal with the Houston Rockets, but ultimately decided to remain with the Miami Heat on a five-year, $118 million contract.

Bosh would have returned to his home state of Texas to form a Big 3 with Dwight Howard and James Harden.

"I still had to finish conversations with the Heat," Bosh said of those hectic hours on July 11, when he handled his negotiations by phone from Africa, where he was on a vacation and promotional tour. "Everybody was aware, all parties were aware. It was always continuing conversations. I never made any commitments. I never wanted to put anybody in the position to make them feel like I said something and I reneged on the whole thing. So I just kept it open.

"LeBron (James) made his choice and then that kind of cleared things up, as far as negotiations are concerned."

Bosh had spoken with management and players on the Rockets.

"I talked to everybody," he said. "I like to get a feel for everybody, feel them out, see what they're thinking and just hear it from them."

Bosh admits that money was a factor in his decision to stay with the Heat.

"It's always business," he said. "Nothing is ever personal. I think 100 percent of those dudes would have taken the deal I took.

"It's not always about money," Bosh said. "But you do want your full market value. If you work your butt off to get to a certain point, you want to be rewarded for that."

The Houston Rockets plan to utilize the NBA Development League heavily this season for their two draft picks, Clint Capela and Nick Johnson.

“The Vipers have been great for us,” Kevin McHale said. “We sent guys down here. It helped them. D-Mo was down here. Terrence came down for a while. It really helps their game a lot. I like it. Like this year, will be a huge year for Clint Capela down here. That will be fantastic. Nick Johnson will be able to uses this to improve. It’s been fantastic for us."

Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas developed in the D-League with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in 2012-13, while Isaiah Canaan and Troy Daniels played with the Vipers most of last season.